Mathematics in Malaysia (2) - Overemphasis of Practice

Note: This post is adapted from my comment in ReCom, and I think it is an apt continuation of an earlier post.

From my personal experience and brief scanning of math threads in ReCom, I observed that many teachers advocate "practice makes perfect" philosophy in the teaching of mathematics. And as someone who loves maths and wishes to see higher mathematical aptitude in Malaysia, the prevalence of such mentality in our schools disturbs me profoundly.

Maths is about understanding, logical reasoning, critical analysis and creativity. NOT rote memory and algorithmic drills. Among all our subjects in secondary and primary schools, maths is arguably the subject that requires the highest degree of comprehension. Ironically, among all subjects, it also tends to be the subject where the most number of teachers give their students a daily drill of "do more practise and you should do better in it", instead of "think and learn more about it to understand it better".

Now, I fully understand and empathize that not everyone is able to fully understand all mathematical concepts taught in school, as each and every one of us are born with unequal talents in different fields. You may be a fine artist but flunk your math tests on a regular basis; I may ace math tests but draw like crap. So in this regard, I understand that it's indeed necessary for teachers to make practice an essential component in mathematical education, as it is indeed the easier, if not the only way for many people to do well in maths exams.

However, I have a feeling that practice has been overemphasized in our schools, to the extent that it has now supplanted understanding which is the essence of mathematics. You often hear people giving advice like "do more, more and even more practice until you are sick of it, and that would be the highest level you could achieve in preparing for maths tests". But you don't often hear, "hey my friend, let's work together to understand what this formula actually mean, why it is true and how it actually works". From my personal experience, when faced with such approach of teaching, many people simply turn it down and say "hey skip the crap, just tell me how to do it from the first step to the last". It seems that understanding is now relegated to something that only Olympiad maths participants should be interested in, the rest of us should aim more at buying more practice books.

Practice is good for SPM exams, this fact nobody can deny. However, when understanding is being increasingly perceived as an unnecessary evil, and practice being supposed to be the most economical approach for good exam scores, I fear that we will do badly when it comes to "real world maths". When you go to university, you would realise that "step by step" and "practice" is no longer relevant - understanding is the key. With years of incessant practice and scarce attention to understanding, I fear that many people, even those who actually have the intellectual capacity in the first place, would have been blunted in their creativity and comprehensive faculty, and consequently face hindrance in their further studies.

I hope that this post doesn't come down as being elitist, but this is something I care deeply about so I would love to hear from others about this.