I appreciate Caroline's comments below, but I would say that the
source/responsibility for the frustration lies at our doorstep.

1. On Gordon Brown: if you read the BBC article,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6589263.stm , the headline does
not reflect what he said - I see him as being self-deprecating about his
mathematics. He did study it for one year at University, and it could
very well be that he was turned off by the way many universities
(globally, not just in the UK) teach mathematics. This is an excellent
opportunity to probe whether that was the case with him and use it to
promote the HE curriculum theme of the moremathsgrads project.

2. On coordination with the RSC: Dr Jo Tunney of the RSC sits on the
steering committee of the moremathsgrads project. The issue we may need
to address here is that some of our 'high-level' coordination and
steering committees do lip service on true coordination and on steering.


If you have the time, have a look at two of the other HEFCE projects,
Physics at
http://www.iop.org/activity/education/Making_a_Difference/Stimulating%20
Physics/page_7887.html and 
Chemistry at http://www.rsc.org/Education/CFOF/index.asp 

Their 'partners' and 'committees' are much more closely aligned to their
subjects than at moremathsgrads. We just don't seem to have the
courage/will to acknowledge if some of our ideas/experiments have not
quite worked out and then re-address them.  

Vinay
--
Clothworkers' Fellow in Mathematics
The Royal Institution of Great Britain
--
-----Original Message-----
From: Mathematics Promoters list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Caroline Davis
Sent: 27 April 2007 09:45
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: May be we should set a chemistry question?

It's frustrating that in the week with the more maths grads launch, the
BBC carried two maths stories - this one, and one about Gordon Brown
admitting he was a bit rubbish a maths and dropped it at university.
 
The chemists do seem very good at getting stories out. This story just
shows how important it is for us to work with other STEM organisations
and hopefully, in future, have some input when they issue this sort of
release.
 
Caroline

________________________________

From: Mathematics Promoters list on behalf of Alice Rogers
Sent: Wed 25/04/2007 14:50
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: May be we should set a chemistry question?



The effect of league tables on maths and some other subject's uptake is
a serious issue.  By coincidence I just had an applicant to one of our
courses here at King's  (we had an open day today) fulminating about how
his school had sold him the idea of doing media studies (along with
maths and biology) with the result that he is now, in his gap year,
desperately trying to get physics A-level by self study. Some
universities have rejected him out of hand because his AAB grades are
not all in subjects they judge to be good basis for a maths degree.

Alice

Vinay Kathotia wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mary Wimbury [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 25 April 2007 08:25
> Subject: I see the chemists have been busy!
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6589301.stm#chinese
> 
> http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2064607,00.html

--

Dr Alice Rogers                  email: [log in to unmask]

Department of Mathematics, King's College London,
Strand, GB London WC2R 2LS
My office:   Room 522 Strand Building            Tel +44(0)20-7848 2242
Departmental office: Tel +44(0)20-7848 2216/7 Fax +44(0)20-7848 2017