Here is an article I came across rummaging through the archives of the Credena Agenda site. I would have made a link to it, but it was just too much work.

Ethical Math Skills
By Douglas Jones

Mathematics has been described as the "science of patterns." In order to solve a problem, you find all the relevant patterns and dismantle it according to general principles. To find the patterns, you have to look past all the particular, tricky details and grasp the big, abstract picture lurking in the background.

This sort of reasoning disciplines one's judgment to deal in the world of generalities and abstractions. If, however, you just look at the particular details, you won't be able to solve the problem (and vice versa).

Over the past decade, the government schools of many states, especially California (of course), have focused on "particularizing" mathematics. That is, they've adopted curricula which try to minimize abstraction in mathematics and make it more "understandable" and friendly by obsessing about particulars, manipulables, and images for years on end. No doubt such things can be helpful at points, but when you try to develop a mathematical mind over years by minimizing abstractions, then you are asking for trouble. It won't happen. You will miss half of the story. And as one could predict, parents and critics are already lining up in various states to complain about this gutting of mathematics. They want to know why students continue to lack mathematical abilities.

The real fight here though isn't about algebra. Even if you never want to be an engineer, mathematics provides a discipline for all other types of practical reasoning, especially ethics. Think about legal reasoning in its simplest terms. A conflict between two persons comes before a judge and/or jury who have to determine whether a general rule applies to the details in the conflict. Is this a case of negligence? Is it an instance of a general prohibition? Cases turn on such judgments.

We do the same thing when we have questions in personal ethics. We look at the facts and judge whether this is a violation of God's commands. Is it an instance of a general prohibition or requirement? Ethics is like a giant word problem.

If you just focus on the particular details, you won't be able to make any ethical judgments. Thus we get a wonderful argument for the practicality of algebra and calculus far beyond engineering. It might even contribute to our sanctification, our discipline in working smoothly with ethical abstractions. And it might also help explain why mathematical ignorance fits so nicely with moral decadence.

Now of course this can't mean that math students are morally superior to other students. In fact, those who only live in mathematics tend to think all the world is a clean mechanical, engineer's dream, which can create even worse problems. Ethics is more messy and complex than calculusit desperately needs the poet's touch. And a good balance between math and poetry is what we used to call a liberal education.