This essay, written in 2002, first appeared in ";Devlin's Angle,"; a monthly web column of the Mathematical Association of America, MAA Online. Keith Devlin, the column's Editor, is the Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University and The Math Guy on NPR's Weekend Edition. According to Devlin, Lockhart's Lament ";is, quite frankly, one of the best critiques of current K-12 mathematics education I have ever seen. Written by a first-class research mathematician who elected to devote his teaching career to K-12 education.";