VietNamNet Bridge - Nearly all the talented students who finished math major classes at high schools for the gifted have succeeded in their lives and business.

Mathematicians meet on December 20

The most successful mathematics talents (about 20-30 people) were born in the 1950s and later, after math majoring classes for the gifted were established, according to Prof Nguyen Huu Viet Hung from the Hanoi University of Natural Sciences.

However, Hung said, this does not lead to a conclusion that the system of general schools for the gifted in math are needed to train successful mathematicians.

Hung, a well-known mathematician, noted that the majority of successful mathematicians in the world did not come from math majoring classes for the gifted. They are citizens of countries with developed sciences such as the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, where math majoring classes do not exist.

“As they are the best, in Vietnam will surely succeed with their math studies or succeed in other fields, no matter if they follow math majoring classes at general school,” he said.

Vietnam spends a lot of money to build and maintain math majoring classes for the gifted, because it believes that young talents will have bigger opportunities for success if they receive training soon.

However, Hung noted, in many cases, the students who study math intensively at general school do not continue math study at higher education levels.

State-owned universities organize special high-quality classes which aim to cultivate math talents. However, the classes seemingly don’t have much significance. A lot of students study abroad just after one or two years of studying after they receive scholarships. 

Many others continue studying there until they finish school, become assistant lecturers at the schools, or try to obtain scholarships to study abroad, and will not return to Vietnam.

“If I could make choice once again, I would still decide to become a mathematician, but I would not go to math majoring class, because I do not want to feel pressure during my childhood,” he said.

Hung said the training quality has decreased in the last eight years.

Phan Thi Ha Duong, a renowned mathematician from the Vietnam Mathematics Institute, agreed that math majoring students tend to do more badly at the university level, but she believes that the problem lies in unreasonable teaching at university, not in the existence of general schools for the gifted in math.

Ngan Anh