Nearly 100 members of Academia Sinica have signed a petition against halving the required number of mathematics credits for senior-high school students as proposed in the draft 12-year national education program guidelines.
They said the reduced course load would weaken the nation’s competitiveness.
Four mathematicians who are also members of Academia Sinica held a press conference at National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei yesterday to announce that the petition, which calls on the government to reconsider its plan.
Photo: CNA
The petition has been signed by 93 academicians, including renowned historian Yu Ying-shih (余英時) and former Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲).
“Mathematics is widely recognized as a fundamental tool of science and technology” and a “math course is not only about attaining mathematical knowledge, but, more importantly, about training one in logical thinking and deductive ability,” the petition says.
Under the draft guidelines, the number of required math credits would be cut from 24 to 12 hours.
Math courses will only be required up to the first semester of grade 11 and become electives afterward, but “no country only requires senior-high school students to take math courses until the 11th grade,” NTU math professor Lin Chang-shou (林長壽) said.
“Allowing students to have one-and-a-half years where they do not have to take a math course could be seen as the state giving up on them,” he said.
While students from better-off families might be able reinforce their math education, students from disadvantaged families will be deprived of adequate education that could help them enter better universities, Lin said.
Yau Shing-tung (丘成桐), a former Harvard University professor and a Fields Medal winner, said the plan would damage the cultivation of Taiwan’s talented youngsters, because mathematics is the basis for excelling in science, engineering and other disciplines.
Yau showed journalists a letter from a Harvard professor about Taiwan’s plan to reduce the math course requirement, which reads: “that is shocking. In the US, high-tech companies are complaining that math education is too weak … have they considered what downgrading the role of math in high schools will do to Taiwan’s economic health?”
“Mathematic ability usually takes a long time to build up, so it is harder to reinforce the students’ ability after they enter college,” Harvard professor Yau Horng-tzer (姚鴻澤) said.
“But as more aspects of life are being digitalized, mathematic ability is becoming ever more important in various fields, including finance, biostatistics and big data,” Yau said.
National education should at least provide students with the basic ability to understand mathematics, and good mathematic skills also create high value-added industry for the nation, because the global trend is toward more dependence on digitalized technology, Yau said.
The petition’s supporters believe senior-high students should have at least four required credits of math each semester, two sets of math education programs designed for senior-high students of different learning orientations, and at least one math class per day for elementary and junior-high students, Lin said.
A mechanism to enhance the training of mathematics teachers to ensure teaching quality is also key, Lin said.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS