Mathematics is part of everyday life

Why are Kenyans so keen to see the ‘end’ of maths? Why does that possibility excite us?

First, maths is perceived as hard. And many would drop it given a chance. In my earlier and innocent life, I studied mathematics up to the undergraduate level and taught it in two continents.

The subject behaves like a virus; it keeps mutating and finding its way into other subjects with fancy names like business statistics, educational statistics, and biostatistics. I wish we informed students early enough about that mutation.

Hardness is not based on reality but perception; the cult of hardness is passed from one generation of students to the next, with maths teachers getting their share of nicknames, from Cartesian to Piriton. Why is the subject hard yet it’s both an art and a science, even in the old A level system?

In reality, the difficulty comes from the way the subject is taught. Fear is one pedestal on which the subject stands. There is little humour in the subject, and the examples given are often too removed from students and their world. They rarely see ‘X’ in their lives.

Which other subject lesson ends with “solve the following problems”? Students see maths as full of problems.

More friendly language and student involvement would make the subject more homely. Ever tried playing background music to students as they work on maths problems? Why can’t we inject some fun into the subject?

I recall using a set of quadratic equations and the line Y= mx +c to draw cupid on Valentine’s Day!

Compulsory subject

You can’t be an inspirational math teacher if you are not inspired yourself. That’s why only first choices should be admitted to a bachelor of education degree. And why is the first degree called ‘bachelor's’ in a continent where marriage is still cherished?

The second reason why maths is disliked is familiarity. It’s compulsory and taught every day. Think of the emotional torture of weak students in the subject.

One would have thought that by allowing the use of scientific calculators, maths would become friendlier. Anecdotal evidence suggests the problem with the subject was more than calculators. Did performance improve after calculators were allowed?

Are we more informed because of our access to the internet? Are we more punctual after buying cars?

The third reason for the dislike is that we rarely demonstrate to the student the lifelong importance of the subject. We should make students appreciate early in life why the subject is compulsory: its practicality and lifelong use. And it does not matter your career in life. Even lawyers have their day with maths as they study for their diploma.

The importance is not just in giving one more career choice but making your life easier, you are more flexible and versatile.

At national level? The growth of Japan, China, South Korea, Europe and the USA before them was partly driven by the application of maths in science and engineering. India and China are now the pharmacy and workshops of the world. I have never met citizens of these countries studying political science or sociology on campus. Just visit University of Nairobi’s Chiromo campus and see the difference.

Think of the world’s biggest companies, from Apple to Alphabet (mother to Google) or Amazon. There is some math behind their operation.  Some will quickly add that it’s all software and computers. But that’s where the maths and its logic are needed.

Should mathematics be optional in CBC high school?

I support making maths optional at senior school, just like in the old A-level system. We must start by ensuring students have studied enough maths at junior high school to take them through life and careers, something close to the current KCSE maths.

We could also have a subject in senior school such as ‘applied maths’ or ‘maths for non-mathematicians’ and compulsory for non-STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) pathways to give them skills to navigate the non-mathematical subjects. Believe me, even at PhD level nothing gives students more headache than anything mathematical, from statistics to data analysis.

We should not create the impression that we are ‘releasing’ students from an intellectual prison if they drop maths. We should not use populism in such a critical decision. History has a way of repeating itself, we had such a debate in the early days of Moi’s regime when we dropped ‘new maths’, postponing the Kenyan ICT revolution by several years.

We must keep in mind that lots of jobs are created by Stem through innovations. Graduates of STEM are more marketable globally. Stem is a universal language. You can ‘export’ a computer programmer or pharmacist more easily than a PhD holder in political science (no pun intended).

What I can predict is that students who take the STEM pathway will have a head start, even if they are average. The bigger question is if we have opened enough Stem pathways by building more labs and employing more science teachers.