Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!torsqnt!tmsoft!masnet!rose!david.lloyd-jones From: david.lloyd-jones@rose.uucp (DAVID LLOYD-JONES) Newsgroups: comp.edu Distribution: world Subject: Subtle Math Questions Message-ID: Date: Sat, 4 May 91 10:03:00 EST Organization: Rose Media, ON, CANADA Lines: 30 Replying to : ssingh@watserv1.waterloo.edu ( Ice ) >Orga: University of Waterloo > >So what are some examples of countries which have good math programs? > My daughters, now 14 and 8, are in the regular Japanese school system, and the older one was able at the age of seven to tell me that her mean time to math error was about three weeks. Shortly after, in fourth grade, she explained to me that the way you solved equations was "by paying attention to the X, because that's the answer." The Japanese system, generally bad-mouthed as authoritarian and mindless, seems to me heavy on playfulness, thoroughness and deep understanding. In international comparisons of children's mathematical abilities, the Hungarians come out close to the top, up there with the Japanese. Anybody got anything to report on Hungary. (And am I correct in noting the oddity that the Hungarian and Japanese languages are related, rare members of the Somethingorother Altaic family?) -dlj. ---