Bringing Up a Mathematical Child

(Photo courtesy : http://plus.maths.org )

Mathematics is always a fascinating subject to me. I liked it a lot since my early childhood but sad thing was I was not good at it. It is like a desire which cannot be fulfilled at any cost. In my primary can secondary education, I got through mathematics subject in flying colors only due to my dedication and hard work. After reaching my advanced level education in school, I have chosen mathematics subjects. The real nightmare came at this point. I was lost in that vast world of higher mathematics. Advanced level examination is the hardest exam for anyone in Sri Lanka and mathematics stream is far the hardest of the four streams; Math, Bio, Arts and Commerce. It was like putting to sea without knowing how to swim. I was shattered, broken and sank in to despair in a downward spiral.

Years have passed, but my life was not better at all. I couldn't reach my goals even I tried my best. I’ve changed paths frequently without success nothing was able to explain me what had happened to me in Advanced level Math education. . It took a long time to establish myself in another educational stream and open the door to tertiary education.

 Finally I realized what was wrong with me at that time. I couldn't bridge the gap between secondary education mathematics which I've learnt up to grade 11 and Advanced Level mathematics. Since there is a great difference in the content of these two studies, unprepared student can’t survive in it.

It is a well known fact that not everyone can be a Math genius. Even in primary classes we can see students who can understand mathematics clearly and students who can’t. The latter has difficulty in understanding how numbers and pattern form, how they behave overtime and how can we use them. That is why most of the students complain about mathematics learning difficulty. In some cases like mine, students tend to learn mathematics my explicitly memorizing (cramming) concepts. This method will work until some level but for advanced mathematics which we learn in Advanced Level classes, this can’t be applied. To learn and understand mathematics, a person needs a math trained brain. 

Mathematics can be learnt only through understanding the concepts and making them a part of brain. When a child is born, his mind is tuned to work in a pre-programmed way. That means the child contains special skills and interests in a particular field. For example, some children are clever in mathematics, some are music, some don’t have special tendency for anything. This phenomenon created people with different skills and competencies. Future mathematicians and musicians are created in this way. It is good to keep the balance of people’s skills but real problem here is mathematics knowledge is required in every aspect of life. This included analytical skills, problem solving skills as well. In order to secure a job, a person must have a sound mathematical knowledge. In another words, it is not wrong to say that this new competitive world is only for math geniuses, not for anyone else.

So every newborn child need to be transformed in to a math genius in the future. This poses a tremendous challenge to parents and adults because not every child’s brain is hardwired to mathematics. The good news is the mind of a child is like a piece of clay. We can mold and shape that in to anyway we like. In other words we can create a mathematician or a musician out of our child by gradually programming his mind.

Mind programming is a delicate task. This should be done carefully. Shaping the mind should begin as early as possible. Most of the time, we ignore the need to exercise and stimulate a child’s mind. In animal kingdom, learning skills to walk, to hunt, to feed begins as early as possible. Most of the knowledge comes to animals from playing with their peers. Humans also should stress on giving mathematical and problem solving skills in a game form to children. Almost all of the children are keen to learn and explore. They don’t know the fear and shame of failure. It is a well known fact that the creativity of a child hinders when he/she gets old. Unfortunately, today what humans need most is creativity. A program is needed to extract children’s hidden creativity.

Games may hold key to children’s mind training. Surprisingly parents are ignoring the need of quality toys and games for their children. Lego Blocks are a good tool because it enhances the creativity. Mathematical games are also available. Teaching mathematics need to start from kindergarten. Our mind is similar to any other muscle in our body. It only strengthens and grows when we exercise it. School curriculum also need to change giving more and more weight to mathematics and science.

Certainly we can’t be satisfied with the present generation’s creative ability and knowledge of mathematics. As the engine to power up human civilization lies on mathematical minds, powering up the future generation is needed desperately. That shall be our duty today. Are we ready for that? 

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Cyber World, Its Future and Challenges

The world has become a global village. With the emergence of the Word Wide Web and Internet, information has become an essential commodity for humans like food, water and shelter. People collaborate like never before making way to a digital revolution. Computers and communication devices are getting smaller and more powerful. General notion that a computer is a lager device which is to be stored in a large room has long been gone. Today's ubiquitous computers and mobile phones (now we call them smartphones) have become a part of human body. Communication between those devices themselves outsmarted human collaboration.

Computing power, development in communication technology and internet created a parallel word; a society withing the large human society. We call that "Cyberspace". Cyberspace is a virtual community consisting of people connected to the internet. Internet is noting but a set of computing devices connected together by communication media so it is not wrong to say that the Cyberspace is filled with people who operates the above devices. Note them as cyber-community just for the reference. There are collaborating places for the cyber community starting from internet chat rooms and forums. Cyberspace collaboration reached its pinnacle with the introduction of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google Plus and so on. Facebook in particular is the largest online community in the world. The fact that one in 7 persons in the word being its member shows how popular social networking is.

To live in the online world, a person needs a new online personality but it doesn't need to do an exact copy of his/her real life. Anonymity is guaranteed in cyberspace up to some extent so one can create a brand new personality just for being in the cyberspace. Most people have entirely different personalities ranging from using aliases for names to changing their behavior and even gender. For example a shy and fearful mama's child can become an internet hero. A person who can't even look at girls in the real life can acts as a playboy in the internet or a virgin in real life can even have cyber-sex.

We may sometimes face with question of what will happen to the alleged cyber personality when a person die for real. The person will be physically dead but his/her cyberspace personality may remain. Cyberspace personality is always linked with an online account for which only the owner has access to so no one can access to that account making the online personality freeze in time as a memory to the dead person. It is obvious that those cyber personalities of dead people always cause problems. Online bank accounts and other internet money related accounts may create legal problems. Intellectual property rights issues are common for online content because of the lack of legal framework for cyberspace content. Many social and ethical problems arise when dealing with a dead person's social networking accounts. A third party can hack into a dead person's account and control it. Imagine receiving a Facebook message from your brother who is already dead for couple of years. It may give an unimaginable trauma for you and your family members.

Some social networks hand over the control of a dead person's account to his/her relatives upon a court order but this varies from country to country. Law relating to cyberspace is still in its infancy. Although laws against cyber crimes are strong, the lack of legal framework covering the entire cyberspace and information sharing is a daunting  problem. In developing countries this problem is severe but the irony is that those are the countries which has a rapid expansion of cyber community.

It is not easy to develop a universal law applying to all the aspects of cyber community ranging from internet monetary transactions to digital intellectual property rights and social networking conduct. Giving legal recognition to cyber personalities and linking them with their real persons may sound controversial but we have to take bold decisions and innovative strategies to keep our foothold in this vast and rapidly changing cyber front.  

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Discovering the Leader in Me

Leadership can have a broad meaning. The ability to take charge of a group of people, the skill of handling people or the will-power to take the responsibility when things go wrong can be considered as leadership. Do we have the leadership skills ? Most of the Sri Lankans may not have the leadership gene in their pool. Situation among school children and university students is even worse. We are a backward nation lacking necessary courage to take risks, admit our mistakes and develop our personalities. Something had to be done. We had to treat the root-course; our youth. "Leadership and Positive Attitudes Development Program for University Students" aka "Leadership Program" was introduced as a cure for the above problem.

I was privileged to have selected for the Leadership Program because I was one of the lucky few who got admission for government universities based on the advanced level examination 2012. When the Leadership Program was first introduced for the students of A/L batch 2010, most of the people looked it with suspicion. I myself shared the same attitude towards it. The main reason for the lack of warm welcome was that the program was to be conducted in military camps with the help of military instructors and in military style disciplined environment. Although Sri Lankan military was venerated for their service in defeating the Tamil Tiger Terrorists, civil society preferred to keep a safe distance from them. No parent was willing to send their children to attend to this so called military training. The first batch was entered before starting universities in 2011. Attendance was made virtually compulsory and the only way out is to give a medical report saying he/she is unfit for training. First batch had to undergo 21 days of training for which the feedback of students was mixed. Students didn't like to have stressful physical training and drill practices but they liked other activities and lectures.

Now two programs completed in two years. The content of the program was gradually improved. Ministry of Higher Education and the military learned their lessons so I was hoping for a better program than the first two. I was selected to the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Gannoruwa, Peradeniya. I've never been inside an army camp before for an extended period of time so I was really nervous. Being away from home was not an issue for me but with all the reassurances, the feeling of loneliness burned me from inside out.

Gannoruwa army camp was neat and tidy. The registration process went smoothly. We were assigned billets for accommodation. There were 259 students, two third of them were girls. Students were divided in to two companies; Alpha and Bravo. Each company was subdivided again in to four platoons and each platoon was divided into three sections for ease of control.

We had to adapt to rigorous time table. We woke up at about 4.00 AM in the morning. Activities such as physical training, drill practice, lectures, sport activities and aesthetic session were scheduled from dawn to midnight. We had less than four hours of sleep per day for the entire three week period.

It is true to say that I've learned almost all the things on how to be a more organized and structured person. Our physical, mental and social skills were gradually improved. We were taught the best practice in even doing the basic day to day chores ranging from arranging beds to cleaning the lavatory. Dining room etiquette, how to dress properly and even how to greet a person were taught.

The best thing I got from this training program is the way how to be a good leader as well as how to be a good follower. We may not be a leader always. Sometimes we have to obey someone and do the duties. I befriended with many people coming from all over the country from different economic or social backgrounds and from different races and religions. Since we wore the same type of dress and we were given the same training, accommodation and food, a sense of harmony and equalism were prevailed among us. All of the students regardless of the gender were bonded like a band of brothers.

We have extended our bond even to the officers and other staff of the Gannoruwa army camp. They were like our brothers and sisters. Although they addressed us "Mister" and "Miss", I'm sure in their hearts they have felt us like their own kith and kin. Their level of tolerance was admirable. To tell the truth, we were always not in our best behavior but the staff tolerated it even they got scolded by their superiors.

Our safety was the priority of the officers and other staff. All the physical activities were bearable and our safety was assured. We we not forced to undergo even a single day of physical training or drill practices. Anyone can fallout from the above activities if they are not fit. Medical facilities were readily available at the camp. Kandy and Peradeniya hospitals were on full alert for any serious medical conditions and we would be receiving treatments there.

The most heartbreaking thing happened to us at the camp was the sudden demise of our friend, Lahiru Sandaruwan. He had undiscovered medical condition which lead to his death. We we really shocked and tormented but faced that grave situation with courage. We were crying at our hearts but putting a brave face in the midst of this situation. I can assure you that this training was not responsible of causing Lahiru's death. We did religious activities for him and even went to his house to pay him our last respect. 

Last but not least, it is my duty to appreciate the leadership given by the commandant of the School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering - Gannoruwa, Lieutenant Colonel S.A.Pathirana. He was like a father to us. We were always safe in his hands. He steered the leadership course in the midst of grate obstacles and hardships. His leadership qualities were highlighted when Lahiru passed away in the middle of the training program. The way he handled that crisis alone can be a guidebook for a future leader.

Everything was a challenge to me. Waking up in the early morning, ice-cold showers, sleeping in a dormitory, speaking in front of a large crowd, drill practice,  and the hardest of all; handling more than thirty unruly students when I got the chance to be the leader of the platoon for a day. When I look back, I can't even believe I've done all those things.

In conclusion, I may say that this leadership program has changed me for good. It revealed a hidden part of myself. Now I can endure the hardships of life, face challenges, confront my fears and be more structured person. This is one of the best things ever happened to me. I recommend this training course to every prospective university student. If you get the chance to participate in the leadership program, take it because it may be the turning point in your whole life.

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