Mathematics vs. High School Standard

On February 8, 2011, a regular meeting of the Moscow Mathematical Society ( http://mms.math-net.ru/ ) was held at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, at which the draft high school standard was discussed ( http://standart.edu.ru/catalog.aspx ?CatalogId=4100 ). The lively discussion was attended by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, President of the MMO Viktor Vasilyev, Professor of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University Vladimir Zorich, Rector of the Independent Moscow University Yuliy Ilyashenko, Director of the Moscow Center for Continuing Mathematical Education Ivan Yashchenko and other mathematicians. The result of the debate in real life and by email was the IMO resolution, which we publish below. Let us recall that from 1996 to 2010 the Moscow Mathematical Society was headed by Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Arnold.

Resolution of the meeting of the Moscow Mathematical Society on 02/08/2011, dedicated to the discussion of the draft Federal State Educational Standard for General Education

Having reviewed and discussed the draft “Standard”, the Moscow Mathematical Society [1] states:

1. An outrageous encroachment on the child’s right to receive a broad education is the prohibition, which clearly follows from the current wording of the document (p. 56), from choosing to study simultaneously physics, chemistry and biology, or the Russian language, literature, algebra and geometry. The developers' recent explanations, which boil down to supposedly incorrect commas in this key place, are obviously fatal to their business reputation. If left unattended, these commas could have an effect no less devastating than the notorious phrase “execution cannot be pardoned” or than a single incorrect number in the instructions for filling a rocket. The tragicomic nature of the main list of compulsory subjects given on the same page does not need justification.

2. The decision on the new structure of the curriculum proposed in the “Standard” for high school (p. 56) destroys the tradition of the national school. The level of general culture is sharply declining, many items will virtually disappear. The declared program of individual choice is not feasible: one or two students will not be taught a course of their choice. The proposed revolutionary measures have neither serious theoretical nor experimental justification.

3. The plight of our school education (leading to failures in some international tests and serving as an ideological motivation for permanent modernization) has, first of all, social roots: the unpopularity and economic unprofitability of the teaching profession, the poor condition of schools, the destruction of teacher education, as well as the reduction of hours for content disciplines that do not allow them to be completed at an informal level.

To this should be added the disproportionate prestige of unconstructive and speculative activities (and the corresponding lack of prestige of accurate knowledge and skill) in a resource-based economy. Therefore, the fight against fundamental knowledge inherent in this standard is based on an incorrect diagnosis of the diseases of our education and distracts from the treatment of their real causes.

4. The adoption of the “Standard” in this form will have disastrous consequences for school mathematics education. There is no explicit indication of the expected number of hours devoted to studying mathematics [2], but it is clear that we are talking about a sharp decrease. The draft, prepared for primary schools, specifies 4 hours per week instead of the traditional six. Thus, degradation is programmed: the necessary skills in counting and solving word problems will not be formed, which predetermines the failure of the majority of students to master the course at the next levels. The situation is aggravated by combining two subjects with different goals into one course: mathematics and computer science.

5. The expansion of the system of specialized mathematics education proposed in the “Standard” is not feasible in the current situation. Over the past 10 years, practically nothing has been done at the state level to develop schools that implement such education: there is no appropriate system for training teachers and a regular system for exchanging experience, the production of books and magazines for teachers and students has sharply fallen, both in the number of titles and in circulation.

The Moscow Mathematical Society, representing the opinion of professionals in the most internationally recognized field of Russian science and education, expresses doubts about the pedagogical competence of the developers of the proposed standard, in particular in connection with the concept of the priority of education over education expressed in it. The role of specific knowledge and educational work is underestimated, the role of “educational activities” and the mastery of poorly tested “universal educational activities” is extremely exaggerated.

An extremely dangerous consequence is an actually programmed sharp reduction in educational time allocated to meaningful subjects. It is impossible to “learn to learn” in such a way as not to learn anything concrete properly.

The Moscow Mathematical Society considers the underlying use of education as an instrument of social equalization based on results (unlawfully replacing the radically different constitutional principle of equality by birth) to be fundamentally harmful. This policy always actually comes down to leveling at the lower level, to a system of obstacles that prevent children of any background who are capable and willing to receive such an education from receiving the best possible education. As a result, it leads to the mental, moral and civil degradation of society, destroys hopes for building a knowledge society, for the creation or at least meaningful use of high technologies, deprives our country of the prospect of worthy competition with economically developed and rapidly developing countries, and guarantees rapid economic and political catastrophe in the event of a fall in oil prices.

In conclusion, let us quote from the speech of Academician V.I. Arnold at parliamentary hearings in 2002: “This plan gives the general impression of a plan for the training of slaves serving the raw material appendage of the dominant masters: these slaves are taught only the basics of the master’s language so that they can understand orders,” the Moscow Mathematical Society believes that the words spoken then by one of the world's greatest scientists also apply to the proposed educational standards.

The Moscow Mathematical Society supports the online open letter http://starushkalarina.livejournal.com/60329.html on all major issues .

The Moscow Mathematical Society appeals to the leaders of the Russian state and education:

a) recognize the draft educational Standard as unsuitable;

b) organize the work on preparing the Standards anew, including the best school teachers and world-famous scientists in the new team of performers.

V.A. Vasiliev,
Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
President of Moscow
Mathematical Society

1. The Moscow Mathematical Society, founded in 1864 “with the aim of promoting the development of mathematical sciences in Russia,” coordinates the activities of the Russian mathematical community, promotes the development of mathematical science, and improves the teaching of mathematics. Its presidents were the world's leading mathematicians: A.N. Kolmogorov, I.M. Gelfand, I.R. Shafarevich, S.P. Novikov, V.I. Arnold. The IMO Prize for Young Scientists is one of the world's most highly regarded awards in the field of mathematics.

2. The main content of the project text is several hundred abstract, usually unverifiable and often ambiguously understood good wishes. This makes the document unconstructive. As V.I. rightly stated. Arnold, to be applicable, a document of this kind must contain an indication not only of the specific facts being studied, but also of a model list of tasks that a student who has successfully completed the training should be able to solve.