There is a lot of cyber discussion about the article ‘Singapore maths questions leave adults stumped’ published on Edvantage. Adults are presented with three maths problems from primary level 3 maths books and asked to solve them. Most adults shown are shocked at the difficulty level of the problems for young children. If you watch the second video on the website we can see a primary level girl solving a complex number pattern activity. The video leaves me perturbed. Is this mathematics? Is it problem solving? Recognizing patterns? Or is it just that this child has a number of tools at her disposal to decode such problems – or are they ‘tricks’?

What I can say with certainty is that there is little chance of challenge of this (or any) sort being presented in an Irish primary level mathematics text book. Our text book publishers have a different philosophy when it comes to primary years mathematics education. No complicated questions that challenge children; no complicated questions that might invoke maths anxiety. Nope. Our 8 year old children are still colouring in pictures of the seasons in their maths books. And it isn’t even colour-by-number.

Watching this video ‘Race to Nowhere’, an effort to challenge assumptions on how to best prepare young Americans, provided painful insights into the pressures placed on young people to perform well academically. What struck me is that this is not,unfortunately, a problem unique to the United States. Irish young people are also placed under severe pressure in our exam-driven senior cycle in secondary schools. It might be less tragic if our young people were encouraged to (and rewarded for) …. develop their problem solving and reasoning skills …… to be articulate …. to communicate … to present an opinion ….