Of course not.
On all these accounts, then, we must not omit this branch of science, but those with the best of talents should be instructed therein.—Plato.
Republic [Davis], Bk. 7, chap. 8.
[1621]. Arithmetic has a very great and elevating effect, compelling the soul to reason about abstract number, and if visible or tangible objects are obtruding upon the argument, refusing to be satisfied.—Plato.
Republic [Jowett], Bk. 7, p. 525.
[1622]. Good arithmetic contributes powerfully to purposive effort, to concentration, to tenacity of purpose, to generalship, to faith in right, and to the joy of achievement, which are the elements that make up efficient citizenship.... Good arithmetic exalts thinking, furnishes intellectual pleasure, adds appreciably to love of right, and subordinates pure memory.—Myers, George.
Monograph on Arithmetic in Public Education (Chicago), p. 21.
[1623]. On the one side we may say that the purpose of number work is to put a child in possession of the machinery of calculation; on the other side it is to give him a better mastery of the world through a clear (mathematical) insight into the varied physical objects and activities. The whole world, from one point of view, can be definitely interpreted and appreciated by mathematical measurements and estimates. Arithmetic in the common school should give a child this point of view, the ability to see and estimate things with a mathematical eye.—McMurray, C. A.
Special Method in Arithmetic (New York, 1906), p. 18.