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.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting