Selective schools debate (3 Viewers)

idkkdi

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by the first axiom, assume true
it's honestly very hard to prove that math olympiad makes people smarter because the correlation/causation argument will always be present. From personal observations of others, I do notice that people become sharper.
 

s97127

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uh you sure you counted that right?
yes. I'm here to learn high school stuffs again so that i can teach my son. I'm still surprised that all good coaching colleges keep tight grip on their resources even though they copy most of them from somewhere else.
 

Drdusk

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it's true to some extend but spending 2-3 years solving math olympiad problems is a waste of time.
Why is that? Soo many of the worlds most talented people do it.
 

s97127

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Why is that? Soo many of the worlds most talented people do it.
if they do it for a wrong reason (i.e getting gold medals) then it's a waste of time. If they have a real passion for maths and want to be a mathematician then it's not. People who have real passion for math do not waste too much time on those math olympiad problems. Instead they start learning advanced math and try to solve problems that nobody has done it.


 

idkkdi

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if they do it for a wrong reason (i.e getting gold medals) then it's a waste of time. If they have a real passion for maths and want to be a mathematician then it's not. People who have real passion for math do not waste too much time on those math olympiad problems. Instead they start learning advanced math and try to solve problems that nobody has done it.


????? didn't you say you were a member of an asian maths olympiad team 25 years ago?
 

dasfas

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I've been told at Sydney Grammar, students do not share notes with each other either
During year 12, yeah, not really, unless you ask your close mates. After trials though, we literally made a google drive and everyone uploaded their notes
 

seremify007

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>> I would say this probably does build creativity. All the worlds creative geniuses in Maths and Physics started at a very early age and just kept on >> doing problem after problem to answer their curiosity. Isn't that in essence what they do in Asian countries?

Unless you have a real passion for math (i.e you want to solve problems for the rest of your life), math olympiad is a waste of time. Most Asian students do it because of its prestige and rewards that come with it: the biggest one is a scholarship from an Ivy League school. Chinese IMO team has been producing so many gold medalists but none of them cannot translate it to a greater success while Australia has done pretty well. You can check out the Noble Participants table from the link below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_International_Mathematical_Olympiad_participants
There's prestige in doing Maths Olympiad? Nah, I just did it because I was the modest 3u student who was invited to do it with all the smarty 4u kids (and I still remember one of them snickering at me asking me if I was in the right place).
 

idkkdi

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There's prestige in doing Maths Olympiad? Nah, I just did it because I was the modest 3u student who was invited to do it with all the smarty 4u kids (and I still remember one of them snickering at me asking me if I was in the right place).
AIMO <<<<<< AMO <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< IMO

if u were invited to do olympiad in yr 11/12 that sounds like AMO stage. Maybe selections were different in your day? AMO is based off AIMO prize/amc medal right now and some other ways which i'm not too sure about.
 
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seremify007

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AIMO <<<<<< AMO <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< IMO

if u were invited to do olympiad in yr 11/12 that sounds like AMO stage. Maybe selections were different in your day? AMO is based off AIMO prize/amc medal right now and some other ways which i'm not too sure about.
I have no idea (and don't even know what those acronyms stand for)... I never really thought much about it (the world was a simpler place?) and I just had to go to various lunch meetings, and do various activities/questions. I got out of going to usual classes though.
 
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I don't like the selective system, because

[1] it assumes that most children matures at a similar rate at a narrow point of time in year 6. Sure there are chances later but in the main that's when most people get in.

[2] It put children in a hot house situation when they should be more free to just play, which i *feel* impacts on life long stress and creativity levels

[3] Sport must miss out somewhat

[4] It monetizes a whole sub culture of swat schools, which feeds back into public schools slacking off as they "see" students are doing well no matter what they do. So the taxpayer as usual has to pay twice.

[5] Children are always studying rather than enjoying life a ta time when life should be really really enjoyable

[6] Your marks are scaled by your cohorts performance, so if your at a academically poor school unless your a few standard deviations out your screwed. This has synergy with [1].
In our school we were required to drop sports in Year 11
 

idkkdi

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Only 10 people in my school cared about sports. Around 20 people swam in swim carnival while majority either skipped or played cards for the day. Cross country was compulsory and most people skipped or just took half an hour to walk the 5km and still managed to place top 10. Not many people signed up for representative sport so we usually didn't have enough people for a team. Most people chose chess as a sport or just faked injuries to avoid sport. But high school was still fun
10? wtf.
 

Eagle Mum

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AIMO <<<<<< AMO <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< IMO

if u were invited to do olympiad in yr 11/12 that sounds like AMO stage. Maybe selections were different in your day? AMO is based off AIMO prize/amc medal right now and some other ways which i'm not too sure about.
AMC, AIMO (Yrs 7-10) & Senior AMOC (Yrs 7-11).
 

SylviaB

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Only 10 people in my school cared about sports. Around 20 people swam in swim carnival while majority either skipped or played cards for the day. Cross country was compulsory and most people skipped or just took half an hour to walk the 5km and still managed to place top 10. Not many people signed up for representative sport so we usually didn't have enough people for a team. Most people chose chess as a sport or just faked injuries to avoid sport. But high school was still fun
How can most finish in top 10? Are there 15 people at your school?
 

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