I found this article through del.cio.us about the state of math. It's quite a heavy read (25 page PDF essay) so I did you all a favor and summarized it.
Basically its about how math should be an art form, not "curriculum" and how mathematics the school teaches right now is obsolete and useless in real life (which I strongly agree in, when am I required to calculate the amount of ways Spiffy the spider can put on its socks and shoes...).
To revitalize that "vapid, hollow shell that remains," the author suggest that we treat it like art where "its a playground for their minds." Instead of rote memorization, how about letting the kids discover the math themselves. Why bother with textbooks when the students could collaborate, and with the input of a knowledgeable teacher, discover mathematics!
He gives a perfect example. Take a 
box, and draw a triangle in it (with one edge on the rectangle's edge) and try to figure out the area.
Sure this might take a longer time, but it will be entrenched in the mind of the kid. Some might argue why ask the kid to rediscover math when such genius as Pythargerous (?) and Euler already found it but this would not be discovering, this would be uncovering (my own quote... does it make sense?).
Later, the author cracks at how teachers should function and how the "ladder" should be used, argueing that todays series of Alg I, Geo, Alg II, Pre-Calc and Calc is stupid and should be change.
Go read it, it's an easy read (though as I said before, it's long.)
Tip: You can either zoom in by putting your mouse over the down arrow and clicking the + button or click full page.
-runiteking1
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