The relationship between math and future - Research Paper Example

The relationship between math and future The education of a country’s workforce will be critical to a country’s competitiveness in the future and math will spell the difference between its success and failure. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology even stressed that math, being part of the STEM science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is important to a country’s success because the ideas and skills of its population are critical in determining its future (Anon). A country’s most important asset is its people and if these assets are capable in adapting to the need of the 21st century which is math intensive, then there is a greater probability that a country will succeed. Indeed an education in math is critical for the population because this is the kind of education that will make a difference in the future. Without mathematics, engineers, programmers, architects and other technology oriented professionals will not be able to formulate the basic algorithm in creating technology nor will they be able to build any structure that will facilitate technology and it follows that a given country will not have anything to engage in trade to make itself progressive and prosperous if it lacks the aptitude in math. Indeed mathematics is the necessary knowledge in the future as it would become the primary enabler in industry not only on a national scale but also on a personal level. The world is getting technology oriented and we can even feel it today. Technology permeates and affects every dimension of our life and it is expected that this trend will not only continue in the future but will become more intensive. Virtually almost all product s will have a component of technology and engineering and as long as technology and engineering is involve, so does mathematics because technology and engineering speaks the language of numbers which is the domain of math. Thus it can be inferred that a country’s competitiveness is directly correlated with its aptitude in math. A country which has strong score in math tends to have a strong technological base to create industry such as the case of Japan who is the leading country in manufacturing electronic products (section for interview) and thus will have a greater chance to prosper. Inversely, countries which have low aptitude in math cannot progress to manufacture technological products due to its shortcoming in math. A classic example is the Philippines whose economy is still playing a catch up despite the fact that it is known to be proficient in English. It still played as a catch up because its Math education deteriorated where its students only get a mean average of 34.41% in math (BusinessWorld). As a result of this deficiency in Math, it does not have its own industry but is rather limited to assembly and outsourcing of manufacturing functions where the high paying industry still eludes the country because it is not yet capable to engage in technology based industries which are math intensive. As expected, it has high unemployment rate and low per capita income. Math’s importance is not only limited to national scale but can be equally important on a personal level. An aptitude in math will tremendously boost an individual’s success in the workplace because he or she has the necessary solid skills (math) to get things done. In the new economy of globalization, this skill is indispensable because almost all aspect of work in a business organization involves a varying degree of computation which is an area of mathematics. In addition, jobs that are high paying also involves heavy math such as programming, engineering and positions in technology oriented organization which requires a steep aptitude in math and analysis before being hiring an individual. Without question, Math indeed is the language of construction and industry. By construction, it does not only mean the building of infrastructure which is also the field of math but rather the process of creating something - be it a process, system, product or service. The relationship between economic success and even personal success and mathematics are also directly correlated and this correlation is established by facts. Countries where its citizens have high aptitude in math were known to enjoy a higher standard of living. We can infer from the experience of Japan that despite of its lack of natural resources and miniscule size as a country, it still enjoys high per capita income where its citizen were known to be one of the most affluent people in the world. At one time, they were even the second largest economy in the world despite the small size of their country and lack of resources. This became possible because its citizens are one of the top scorers in Math in the whole world. This aptitude enabled them to create industries such as Sony, Toyota Shimano etch. that did not only propel theirs economy towards affluence but also introduced methods and systems that improves productivity such as Lean Manufacturing system of Toyota which is again math based and analysis intensive. In the same vein, countries which have low median in math such as the Philippines does not have the technological base of Japan because of its low level of proficiency in math compared to Japan. And it follows that if a country does not have a technological base, it cannot create anything because it lacked the knowhow to do it. Such, it does not have anything to trade that is patently its own but rather merely assembles the products of other countries or take outsourcing jobs (such as call center and medical transcription which does not require heavy math). Since it does not have a solid industry, it is expected that there is a widespread poverty in the Philippines as there is not enough industry to employ its people. Math is not only associated with national and personal success in the future. It can also help an individual in everyday challenges. Tasks such as computing and planning personal finances, managing time or schedule will be effectively done if one is well equipped to do computation which is again an obvious area of math. Such, instead of seeing math as a mere subject or a subject that has no application or too difficult, government, teachers, school administrators and students alike should prioritize math and see it as a way to better their future. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology recognizes this importance in math to national success and even made the following recommendations to upgrade the level of mathematics in its schools in an article entitled “Prepare and Inspire K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education for America’s Future”. This recommendation however can also be applicable to other countries who would like to upgrade the mathematical capability of their students so that their national competitiveness in the future will be enhanced. Their recommendations are focused on preparation and inspiration which included; a) Coherent strategy and sufficient leadership capacity for K-12 STEM education b) Enhance shared standards in math and science c) Recruit and train more STEM teachers over the next decade d) Recognize and reward top STEM teachers e) Create advance research projects agency for education f) Add more STEM based schools in the next decade These recommendations in the article only validate how important and integral math is in the future success of a country because even the largest economy in the world is not sitting on its laurel on how its students perform in Math. Despite its current stature in the world economies as the largest, it is still not contented with its current performance in math as it still pushes the mathematical capability of its students knowing that this aptitude will spell the difference between the country’s success and failure in the technology based future. It knows that inorder to secure their success in the technology driven future, they have to attune their schools towards mathematics to make it more capable in adapting to the needs of the future. It is now evident that math and future are directly link in many ways. On a national level, it enhances the countries competitiveness because its workforce is attuned to science and technology which is the building block of industry where trade and business can be made possible. When there is trade and business, a country has industries to employing its people and a means to generate income for its treasury that will be used to fund its other developmental and social projects. Thus, it goes saying that a math intensive country would be a progressive country in the future. On a personal level, it was also shown that math can better the prospect of an individual’s future because many of the high paying jobs involves heavy application of math. In addition, almost all aspect of work involves hard skills which includes math. Lastly, a deeper understanding in math enables us and our future generation to better cope with everyday challenges as math helps solve even the most mundane problem. This only shows that math is important in our lives because it helps us even with the simplest of tasks. . Read More