Professor Rubinstein, the tocsin was sounded a few years ago with regard to our parlous understanding of mathematics. A few years back bookmakers operating at racecourses moved from displaying traditional odds to those put up by the TAB. What a joy it was to watch Eric Conlon, one of the bookmakers, write the betting ticket as the punter spat out the bet. For example, Eric's board might have shown a horse at 11/8 and the punter wanted to put $5 on the horse. Eric would have the ticket written almost before the punter had finished speaking. The reason for the change was that young punters couldn't work out the odds. How sad to think that a simple division problem became a Sisyphean task.

Our universities produce a lot of lawyers who add nothing to the national good. Lawyers cause escalating insurance costs, look what they done to public liability insurance. Their training seems based on hiding truth by manipulating language. Their litigation promoting culture is weakening our society.

Why don’t we close some of the law schools and divert money to maths and science education where it will benefit us all. I think it is obscene that law graduates earn more than engineers and mathematicians. Law school is a soft ride compared to these courses

The crisis is not in maths, but in our universities, being totally incapable of doing their job.
A few years ago, my daughter was one of 12 kids signed up for combined B Sc/ B Ed [physics major], with the Gold Coast campus of a large Uni. They all wanted to be maths/physics teachers.
Upon arival, they were told that, due to a problem with the physics professor, they would have to do environmental science [with a bunch of OP18s] instead. They found themselves doing high school, grade 10 maths, plus the gobble gook, that passes as science in these courses.
After attending only 10 lectures, she got 3 distinctions, the course was so onerous.
Five of them transferred to an inner city Uni, in july, where they at least got the course they signed for. They had however, missed 6 months of "real" maths, & were struggling, trying to catch up.
After 5 weeks of desperately trying to make contact with a maths tutor, & failing completely, three of them quit, rather than cop another 6 months Hex fees, for nothing.
Nothing is not quite correct. Having been screwed by 2 of our public institutions, she is now a very tough , & successful young lady. In fact, I will be suprised, if she does not make them pay for their incompetence, at some time in the future.
So, if you wish to see why there is a lack of maths students, & teachers, look no further than your own institutions

As a former mathematics teacher I have read this article with great interest. As principal in my last two secondary schools I was also the most qualified mathematics teacher. It is a crying shame.

The fault for this problem lies with a number of initiatives that have taken place over the last 30 years. There has been a decline in the quest for strict academic excellence in the overall physical science / mathematics arena with teachers encouraged to go soft on correct use of grammer and spelling and not drill students on number combinations and tables. In addition there has been an emphasis on such things as "life skills" and other soft options.

In universities courses on all sorts of "fancy" matters such as "feminism" have diminished the importance of mathematrics and the physical sciences.

In Western Australia a new approach to Year 12 through Outcomes Based Education will see all courses of study considered of equal difficulty. That is, courses such as woodwork will be considered as equal for tertiary entrance purposes as courses that are based on Calculus or Physics. As a result there will be smaller proportions of students who elect to study these much more difficult subjects. This will add to an already unsatisfactory situation.

I have no idea what the answer is to the problem, but until we rid ourselves of systems such as Outcomes Based Education which devalue strict academic achievement, Australia will have to import most of its mathematics experts.

I'm sorry but his argument does not add up.

On the criticism that Universities are pushing maths teachers and minor subjects, in general maths department, which appears to affect the standards of tertiary general mathematics, the comment has a credible point. Universities should know that in undergraduate studies, the actual fields in their integrity need to be upheld in their own right. Those that decide to move to maths teaching in high school should be encouraged into post graduate Bachelors or Master in Teaching, later down the track, with no fees, as encouragement. Those who want to continue in pure mathematics can then continue to do so with more scholarships to encourage them.
It is also true that we have a mathematics high school teacher shortage. This is a disaster, as maths is a base of intelligence.
In both problems, there is another issue in the mix. Many smart mathematics people, and teachers in general, are not valued in this country and are overworked and underpaid. Naturally, many emigrate to the UK, the US or Canada. The University of Sydney encourages them to do so. The brain drain continues.
Mathematics is a base line in intelligence. If this country values being smart, we need to reward smart people more before they abandon ship. Business and Government Departments need Mathematics specialists for sound corporate decisions. In other words, we are left with out own stupidity, the Universities encourage them to leave for better opportunities elsewhere, and we can't keep the smart people here.

The other problem in attracting good mathematicians to the noble vocation of teaching is that it's too easy to earn a good living in another field. My son is a first year out Engineer, and he earns almost as much as me in my 35 th year of teaching. He would be a brilliant teacher, but he just wouldn't consider it because of the low pay, and the terrible system that is being foisted on teachers in Western Australia. Both of my twins were considering doing teaching and Maths was one of their strongest subjects in Year 12 last year, but the more they saw how silly the system their dad was in, the less inclined they were to follow that pathway. Now they are happily enrolled in the medical faculty at university.

If we want good mathematicians to embark on a teaching career, we need to provide them with incomes to match what they can get elsewhere, and provide them with a curriculum that will provide the students with appropriate challenges while at school, and all the skills and processes they need to succeed in further study.

Why would smart people want to teach in an ill disciplined system that doesn't appreciate them?

I see a major cause of Maths illiteracy eminating from our Primary schools where the basic concepts are not taught and many children end up hating what they cannot grasp.

Maths is a language in itself and we are not using a repetition of key words to convey important concepts.With children we need to work from the concrete to the abstract.Mostly we confound children with abstractions and expect them to assimilate them into their concrete world.There are many very intelligent people who detest Maths with good reason.

We should be building on concepts and not rely on the interaction of meaningless symbols with equally meaningless rules.

I think this is an interesting point on the younger generation. They do have a problem of a low concentration span, an expectation of instant results, like they expect with computers.

I have taught in a dozen schools as a casual mobile teacher in NSW, and I admit, I have had to teach mathematics in emergency "out of field" in this current shortage crisis. I have also taught in about 4 schools in Queensland, one in far north Queensland.

I must say that one school community there was absolutely breath-taking in how they used a "partnership model" involving the whole community, to help the teachers and students. I have never seen this in NSW.

This model is absolutely magnificent, and I think to some degree, private schools already use volunteers from their churches in a similar way.

Now I think we could embrace a partership model as a standard, in state school mathematics and literacy learning. How?

We have an abundance of intelligent retired people who could be more than happy to help out, but have never been asked. They might just sit next to one or two kids and point the pencil back to the book, even if they say over and over: "stay on task", "we can work this out", "It is OK, we can ask the teacher", or "maybe we can try doing it this way" and to those interupting: "you stay on task too"....and so on. We underestimate our retired population. We need help in mathematics and literacy. Retired intelligent people are an absolute gold mine, to be treasured and welcomed into schools to help out. And I think they would really enjoy a rewarding contribution to the future. Especially the aunties and grandmas and grand dads in the Aboriginal communities, and those from various community groups.

Just a thought for our Professor Rubenstein,why not spice up the subject of Maths with that of others areas of logic.Maths in essence is the language of logic and these skills permeate our entire lives beyond the world of numbers and algebra.

We use logic to solve all manner of problems in our lives.Maths would become far more sexy in our schools if it is intergrated more into our daily lives.Mostly it is avoided by Teachers at an elementary level because they have failed to grasp the basic concepts themselves.

Arjay

You ever watch the TV series "Numbers" - it is an example of using maths to solve real life problems. Also a fan of Mythbusters.

I agree that maths needs 'sexing up' for the average student. Where to find the inspirational teachers? Wages are crap, not everyone can end up as principal so the career path is limited. Teachers are the scapegoat for everyone with an issue about education. Finally, the costs of obtaining a teaching degree is out of reach for many.