French documentary questions 'new math'
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French mathematician Cedric Villani, right, speaks during an open talk with the audience at the Indie Space theater in Seoul, Tuesday. / Korea Times
By Kang Hyun-kyung
A critically acclaimed French film tackles a popular belief that mathematics is a difficult subject to learn and useless once people pass the test to enter university.
The documentary, dubbed “How I Came to Hate Math” screened during the EBS International Documentary Festival (EIDF) in Seoul last week, demonstrates that math remains an important field with a far-reaching impact on all aspects of people’s lives but that its significance is largely undervalued.
Careless misuse of math knowledge, unprofessional, experimental teaching methods and short-sighted policymakers are factors responsible for cementing the misleading belief that math is no more than an assessment tool, the film suggests.
The documentary highlights failed reforms in math education in various countries during the 1970s, following a surge of students during the Baby Boomer era, as one reason behind the absence of mathematical thinking.
Due to a shortage of math teachers, those who didn’t major in mathematics in university were assigned to teach the subject in school.
Under the slogan of new math or modern math, education authorities rewrote math textbooks using detailed explanation of graphs and formulae. But this only added to confusion about math.
Some interviewees blamed the short-sightedness of the government, saying that policymakers didn’t invest in helping students to think.
Director Olivier Peyon interviewed numerous mathematicians from France, the United States, Germany, India and other countries to get answers to the question of why students around the world struggle with math.
French Fields medalist Cedric Villani is one of the experts who appear in the film.
The French Institute in Seoul, in collaboration with the EIDF, hosted a screening of the 2013 documentary at the Indie Space Theater in Seoul, Tuesday.
During the weeklong festival, 50 films from all over the world were showcased there. The film festival ended on Sunday.
During an open talk with the audience at the theater after the screening of the 103-minute documentary, French mathematician Villani commented that the documentary is “very French.”
“You will see that the film is very different from typical Hollywood movies. Hollywood films tend to send a consistent, clear message but the French director tried to send a subtle message to his audience by allowing many mathematicians and scientists to have their voices heard in the documentary,” he said through an interpreter.
“There are neither heroes nor villains in the documentary. The director didn’t intend to take any particular side but tried to send the message that there are different interpretations as to the question of why people find it difficult to learn math and all of them deserve due attention.”
hkang@ktimes.co.kr
Villani, who won the Fields medal at the International Congress for Mathematicians in 2010, said that director Peyon is not a mathematician and the way he handled the topic was very different from what mathematicians would have done.
He said director Peyon shed light on the surroundings, debates and controversies involving math and mathematicians rather than focusing on math itself.
Tens of high school students, aspiring mathematicians and film lovers joined the film screening at the theater.