Selective schools debate (1 Viewer)

s97127

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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
 

idkkdi

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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
getting smarter is never a waste of time.
 

s97127

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hmm..i'm talking about math olympiad and you two were talking about advanced math and 'getting smarter'. There are some areas of math that are useful in uni but it's definitely not the stuff that you learn for math olympiad. I was a member of an Asian math olympiad team 25 years ago and i believe i know what i'm talking about.
 

idkkdi

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hmm..i'm talking about math olympiad and you two were talking about advanced math and 'getting smarter'. There are some areas of math that are useful in uni but it's definitely not the stuff that you learn for math olympiad. I was a member of an Asian math olympiad team 25 years ago and i believe i know what i'm talking about.
math olympiad makes people get smarter.
 

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).
 

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