This is the final in the three-part series in which Career & Education talks with educators about the importance of mathematics and getting students excited about the subject. This week, Career & Education speaks with Dr Sam McDaniel, lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and holder of a PhD in Biostatistics and Infectious Diseases as well as a Master’s in Biostatistics from Harvard University. He is, too, the holder of a BSc in Mathematics and a Master’s in Statistics.

Why is math important?

It’s the nucleus of the scientific world – all the physicists, the chemists, the economists, the biologists, the agronomists, the climatologists need it. They draw on mathematics every day, especially when it comes to research and development of new products or services. And of course, a by-product of mathematics training is that the population becomes more critical. Students question things more and are more analytical in their thought processes. You can use mathematics to get into just about anything; it is like a spring-board for any career.

Why do Jamaican students have a negative attitude to math?

It is the first thing you hear when you can understand and comprehend things: ‘Mathematics is just difficult’. Nobody gives mathematics a fair chance. I am not a clinical psychologist, but I suspect that plays a big role in it. Also, I have three children in school and I read their books and I have seen where we have to put some of the blame on who we have teaching the students. I put a question mark behind the competence and method of some who teach in the schools. I have taught, and successfully, at the CSEC (Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate) level and the CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam) level and I have children at the GSAT level, and sometimes the children say: ‘Is this miss was trying to say? Why she never tell me that?’

How can the situation be corrected?

We have to address the problem at the primary and prep school level. We have to train and re-certify teachers at that level. We have to do an overhauling of the entire mathematics system and make sure that whoever we are putting out there go through rigorous training, not just in terms of pedagogy but also in terms of content. As it is right now – and I understand that this is for resource reasons – in most cases you have the same teachers teaching a variety of subjects. But you find that many of these teachers don’t really like mathematics either and it goes across to the students. You find, too, that they just do less mathematics. So when we talk about an overhaul, maybe you have to have specialists – good, trained teachers – roving the schools as a short-term measure. (At the same time), we need to train and ensure we have qualified people at the CSEC and CAPE levels.

Are you satisfied with the way mathematics is being taught?

We really have problems at the CSEC level. (The techniques of teaching may be there) but I know for sure that there are content deficiencies. I have children doing CXC right know and I have seen crap and fundamental crap. At the CXC and CAPE levels, there is a preponderance of teachers who are not teaching the topics that they do not like, or they do them in a cursory manner. These topics include: vectors, matrices, circle geometry, earth geometry. Those are the main ones that they run from. And to a lesser extent functions and trigonometry.

Why are these topics important?

The way CSEC is set up, there is a compulsory section and an optional section. Even though these topics tend to be in the optional section, you can run but you cannot hide. (Also), if you want to do mathematics at the higher level, namely the CAPE level or the university level, these topics are most fundamental to moving forward. These are basically foundation courses for higher-level mathematics.

How can parents who are weak at mathematics help their children?

Parents can try to identify people in whom they have confidence and whom the students have a liking and appreciation for. What we need to seriously think about, too, is utilising parents who know mathematics; ask them to give one or two hours after school to help children at the primary level. The reality is that they (students) may not otherwise have the support when they get home.