介绍:
【特别感谢热心听友“就是一块牛腩+李珊”帮忙听写本篇文稿】
He Yang: A recent online survey has shown that over half of the respondents think that mathematics is too hard to learn, even in the primary school level. Do you agree with that? And also why should we devote so much of our energy into learning math? And that is one thing that I think most Chinese people can resonate with. Guys, would you tell me more what is going on with this survey talking about math being so difficult first.
Luo Yu: Well, recently, the 21st Century Education Institute and The Paper, a Chinese news organization, launched an online survey on "why we learn math" and "how hard we should learn in mathematics". Altogether more than 4700 netizens answered the survey and the result has been released saying over half of the respondents think math is difficult or very difficult to learn. At the same time, what is interesting about this survey is that -a fortunate thing- although over half of the respondents think math is difficult to learn, 54% of respondents like the subject, 30% like it very much, only 15 % out of the respondents dislike the subject.
Sam: The thing is that’s great that we’ve got a scope to show how many people find the subject of math difficult and how many people like it. But just going back to what Luo Yu said at the very beginning is this survey is about why we learn math and that is the question they post and that’s the question they are trying to answer. I read a fantastic research paper on the BBC. The British government did a great study that showed the correlation between mathematics and income. And they found that on average in the United Kingdom, if you compare people that have a good grade at math at the age of ten and someone doesn’t have a good math grade at the age of ten, the person that was good at math on average will make 7 % more at the age of 30 than the person bad at math regardless of them being in the same industry. It is essentially saying if me and Luo Yu, we have the job right. If I was good at math at ten and he was bad, it will be expected for me to at least be making on average 7 % more than him despite doing the same job. It showed why we learn math. It really does benefit you in life. People often think well if I do it great in math, I have to work in finance, or I have to be an accountant, or I have to do a job that is related to numbers. No!
Luo Yu: Definitely! I have something to say. I think math is the quantitative way to measure everything in the universe, both real, like the nature or we talking about all the abstract things like money. You know it’s not only about the calculus, radiators radius or diameters. It’s about nurturing your thought and improving your overall thinking and with your overall thinking, for one thing, practically speaking, it can be applied in a lot of future professions, like any science or engineering subjects you have to have a solid math background.
Sam: And also the subject helps you develop how you are and how you think about things in general. Because remember math regardless of how difficult, it’s always going to be based on logic. You know one plus one is always going to be two; it’s never going to be three. And also another great thing about this subject is that it really helps people develop problem solving skills. And that can be applied to almost anything. You know if we have a problem with the microphone, you want people in your radio station that are good at keeping calm and solving problems. And that is the stuff you do develop when you are studying math and it’s just in a different medium. Despite being difficult, we should be pushing the younger generations to do.
He Yang: And talking about pushing people to study math and excel in it, China has been doing it since forever. I think Chinese students sometimes have math fever or something. And is it really doing us that much good? I do have a question there. I think certainly studying math, getting all logical and training your mind in a logic way, all the things. That’s great. But it’s not the kind of quality that you can’t get by studying some other stuff. Math is not the only road to Rome in that sense. (Luo Yu: But math is the mother of every science subject.)
Sam: I actually do agree with He Yang, because I suck at math. I’m terrible. I really am. If you were hoping for me to solve a math problem to save your life, I’d be busy all doingordering your grave stone. I’m that bad at the subject. But it is a regret of mine. It’s not something I say proudly. It’s something I wish I was better at. But like He Yang, I know these foundation skills are important, but I also realize maths for me is not the best medium to learn it. So I’m also around thinking of an alternative I could study as opposed to studying math extensively, because you got to work towards your strength.
Luo Yu: Probably there are some alternative subjects for example physics or chemistry, but still you have the foundation in mathematics, am I right? At the same time, you know one thing I don’t like the Chinese education system is that you can’t use calculators in school. And I think my stance is quite simple in the this regard. If you have mastered algorithm behind how to make the simple computation, you can resort to calculators, probably at secondary school level. I mean not like in our Chinese system, even a lot of college students can’t use calculators in their exams. And I think it is totally rubbish.
Sam: In the UK, we have two math exams at GCSE level. We have calculator and non-calculator exam in the UK. And the calculator exam are questions designed to push students despite having access to a calculator.
He Yang: I think what the UK, for example, the calculation bit has sort of been decided by the authorities as, not something you have to do with your brain. You don’t need to waster your brain power on that, because a calculator a machine can do it perfectly, but in China you really have to work your brain muscles and you really have to work your calculation skills.
Luo Yu: I mean it’s all about mental arithmetic (心算,口算)
Sam: The advantage is that Chinese students that come to Britain. They feel god-like, they know the subject material in the UK is ridiculously easy for them because they are used to a much harder system.
He Yang: And our Wechat listeners 阿彬,勇敢的闪闪 and someone else, I can’t find you sorry right now. You all say you don’t like math and you are not very good at it. You suffered from mathematics being such a primary and important part of testing and judging how good a student you are. And I think that’s a valid point and that should be changed.
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