"Dumbing down" and "discovering age-old principles on their own" are not necessarily the same. There is definitely value in learning to do creative work in math and science, beyond just rote memorization and learning to regurgitate what the teacher tells you. It pretty clear that many people with high grades in school are poorly prepared for situations where you actually have to do original work, like grad school. Of course, there has to be a balance between base skills and that.<p>Also, for another take on math education, see <a href="http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_08.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_03_08.html</a>