I honestly think that maths and science education in Australia is a total joke, the fact that linear equations isn't really taught till year 8 is bad, so, so bad.
Year 9 at my school haha :/We started in year ten really...
Proof that Australian maths sucks:
I was successfully able to teach myself the entire year 10 maths curriculum in year 5. In my spare time, in primary school, by myself.
Now come on. Any self-respecting maths curriculum should not be self-teachable by kids five years younger than the intended student age.
Haha, dont disbelieving you, but doing that will mean you are some kind of master?
Ever tried Olympiad Mathmatics, maybe you could self teach your self before the comp?
I just took the time in primary school when everyone else was off playing with their friends.The inference there isn't nice. Play is really important for primary school kids.
The fact that I can't do Olympiad Maths disproves the notion that I'm some high-achieving kid.
The fact that I can't do Olympiad Maths disproves the notion that I'm some high-achieving kid.shit I should go back to primary school, looks like I was never qualified to graduate :(
I just took the time in primary school when everyone else was off playing with their friends.
The fact that I can't do Olympiad Maths disproves the notion that I'm some high-achieving kid.You're absolutely right. In fact, you're actually about the state median in terms of mathematics. Everyone should find it as easy as you did, the problem is simply that they don't try hard enough.
I just took the time in primary school when everyone else was off playing with their friends.
Australia really needs to up the education, to decrease the amount of "lads" you see going around.
I totally agree with increasing the level of education in Victoria/Australia though, I know as a fact a lot US high schools study specialist math's level of calculus when they're around 15-16 years old... And this is just your 'average' math, it's nothing regarded more highly than other maths like spesh is in VCE.Factually wrong
I personally find it ridiculous that texts such as A Christmas Carol (which my school actually studied in year 7...), is available on the VCE English exam text list and I'm sure if other countries heard of our curiculum, they'd laugh at us as well.We're at about the same level as most Western countries
(Like our current broadband speeds... South Korea's internet speeds are 14+ Mbit/sec on average... Our average internet speed after the NBN will only be 12Mbit/sec... And this will cost us and take us billions of dollars and well over 5-6 years... By then South Korea's internet speeds will have increased again...)Wrong and irrelevant
Not sure about math, but I know we're pretty behind in the sciencesClick me!(http://i.imgur.com/f9I5caH.png)
Just going to leave this here.
It comes down to one thing - there is no need to make the maths curriculum harder. Perhaps at the primary level, so the transition to secondary schooling is smoother. But the level of secondary mathematics education in Australia is about the same as in the rest of the world.
Factually wrong
We're at about the same level as most Western countries
Wrong and irrelevant
I totally agree with increasing the level of education in Victoria/Australia though, I know as a fact a lot US high schools study specialist math's level of calculus when they're around 15-16 years old... And this is just your 'average' math, it's nothing regarded more highly than other maths like spesh is in VCE.
Why do we need to be on the same level as other Western countries? I have been informed by students from Singapore that they do our equivalent of first-year university physics in year 10 there and I'm not surprised. Our physics course could offer so much more for its students.
Suicides are common - amongst frigging 11-12 year olds - although not often talked about (this is anecdotal though).
There's also the idea that mathematics can be beautiful, which from mathematics education in school isn't conveyed very well. I'd like to see the kind of concepts you see in those recreational/popular mathematics books (John Stillwell etc.) taught in younger year levels: some level of number theory, graph theory, game theory, the concept of infinity, simple fractals etc. You could work in some 20th century mathematics that way, and deal with a lot of fun, interesting problems (e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Bridges_of_K%C3%B6nigsberg etc.).From memory there is a brief mention of that bridges problem on the first page of a chapter in the Essentials Further book. You don't do anything with it unfortunately, it's just there to read about.
I reckon articles written by people like Marty Ross (http://qedcat.com/ed-articles.html) or Keith Devlin are worth reading. It's probably easy to see how much my opinion is heavily influenced by them and similar writing that I've come across.QEDCAT! :D