PRO-MATHS

by Dr Gavin Hitchcock

There is an international crisis in mathematics education. In Zimbabwe there is a desperate shortage of good mathematics teachers, and we all know that the public standing of maths in our country could hardly be lower. There must be many brilliant young could-be-mathematicians out there who never get a taste of what fun --- what creative delight and irresistible challenge --- there really is in this subject. They are deceived by routine mind-numbing school lessons into thinking it's ``sums'' (and there's a right answer and a right method and all you have to do is imitate and learn --- never guess, never ask why, never think of alternative methods...) and ``formulas'' (dropped from above, to be learnt by heart, jiggled around and used to cough up answers when the right numbers are plugged in --- never ask who discovered them, why they work, how you prove them, what happens if...

For those hard-working and caring teachers in our country who hate this counterfeit mathematics and do strive to communicate a love of the subject, we are deeply grateful. Their pupils are the lucky ones. But what happens to all those might-have-been mathematicians whose gifts are never recognised -- whose mathematical minds are not awakened? They go off and find other outlets for their creativity --- and are lost to mathematics, which would have given them far greater satisfaction and has far greater need for them.

Much of the motivation behind the international Mathematics Competitions movement---including our own ZMO (although admittedly there are elitist and nationalist tendencies in some countries) derives from the belief that a big rescue operation has to be mounted, and that a good juicy problem offers the best bait in any mathematical talent-search. So we willcertainly keep dangling such bait in front of our Zimaths readers.

Now, will you, our enthusiastic reader, join us at Zimaths in setting out to eliminate the counterfeit and celebrate the real mathematics?

• Are you PRO-MATHS? Will you be a Mathematics Public Relations Officer?
• Will you join us on a PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFENSIVE for mathematics?
• Will you be MATHEMATICS MISSIONARIES?

Firstly, pass on problems like those in the Zimbabwe Maths Olympiad to your friends -- get your whole class interested in them. Also, here are a few ideas for you to use in making stickers (with brightly coloured paper and stickistuff) to stick on doors, windows, car bumpers, bus-backsides, bus-stops and everywhere you can think of to communicate the message. Send in your sticker ideas --- we'll publish them in each issue. We may even print your best ideas on T-shirts and offer them as prizes in our Zimaths competitions!