sometimes, when i sat with my dorm mates, chatting with them, one of the most exasperating topics is that although we regard chinese as a very intelligent nation, among those geniuses who solved the world's most difficult and confusing mathematical problems are french people, germans, british people, japanese, but no chinese.
it is true that chinese students often come first in the international mathematics competition. but among those young masters, how many will go on developing their talents? very few. in fact, some of them only use this kind of competition as a stepping stone, which could make their way to top universities easier. and they will never want to touch a single mathematical figure again after their goal is achieved.most of them seem to have reached their peeks in high school and before they could practically contribute to the world of mathe matics.
among the seventy years' history of the fieldz prize, the only winner born in china is chou tongcheng, who is now a professor in harvard university. once after chou interviewed a candidate for a post in one of the most prestigious universities in china, he was astonished, "if a student behaves like this, i would not even give him a master's degree. it's not that i am pessimistic, the problems really exist."
why should the reality be like this? i think the answer is rooted in our education system. after 12 years' education in china, the students are familiar with all kinds of question types likely to appear in the examination and mastered corresponding methods to answer these questions. that's why almost all prizes of those competitions are taken by chinese. but where the chinese education fails is how to empower the students with the ability to find proper problem solving methods by themselves.those young masters spend most of their time doing vast quantities of exercises with their development of creative abilities neglected. they work like a computer with a pre installed program.they perform very well on the problems they have been programmed for. but if they meet something new, they just break down.
if we want to make our country a powerful nation, measures have to be taken to make our students more creative. the education system should be less pragmatic and more innovative,students should be developed individually rather than be molded into the same shape. and many good practices in western culture should be introduced. there is really a long way for us to go.the most urgent thing is, to start to reform immediately.
