Standardisation of Maths Teaching: 5*3 != 3*5 ?

[Harald]

One thing to keep in mind is that most teachers are not interesed in teaching students to think for them selves and to gain an understanding of the subject, they mearly try and give them recipies to find solutions to know problems.
As soon as a student thinks outside the box and shows some inteligence he becomes a nuisance.

I am confronted with people who can not find solutions to new problems quite regulary in my job as an engineer, and I am sure it is due to the way they were tought at school / university.