Status of a math teacher
It was quite a while, yes.
Since the last posting I happened to obtain the new book Sacred Geometry by Tony Rothman and Fukagawa Hidetoshi. The book is exceptional in the breadth and depth of its coverage of Japanese mathematics starting with its origins in China and evolving into wasan, especially during the period of seclusion. I have reviewed the book elsewhere.
Curiously, the authors never met; we learn about how they manage to write the book from Rothman's Preface. There is also a Foreword by Freeman Dyson, which is of interest in its own right. The previous Fukagawa's book was co-authored by Dan Pedoe, who happened to be Dyson's teacher who, in turn, is a colleague of Rothman. This is how Rothman has been introduced into the sangaku in the first place. So Rothman never met Fukagawa, but Dyson did and he tells us the story of the meeting right in the Foreword:
Fukagawa Hidetoshi has been a high-school teacher in Aichi, Japan, for most of his life. During school holidays he has spent his time visiting temples all over Japan, photographing sangaku as works of art and understanding their meaning as mathematical problems. He knows more about sangaku than anyone else in the world. Unfortunately, in the hierarchical academic system of Japan, a high-school teacher has a low rank and is not highly respected. He was not able to interest high-ranking professors in his proposal to publish a book about his findings; without support from the academic establishment, his work remained unpublished and unknown. After many years he finally found a publisher outside Japan, with the help of Daniel Pedoe.
... In 1993 I was invited to Japan to give lectures at Japanese universities, and I finally had a chance to meet Fukagawa in person. Dan Pedoe made the arrangements for our meeting. My academic hosts expressed surprise that I should wish to speak with a “lowly” high-school teacher, and tried to cut my visit with him short. They allowed me only a few hours to spend with him, visiting a temple where some outstanding sangaku are preserved and an abacus museum where we could see other artifacts of indigenous Japanese mathematics. I would happily have stayed longer, but my hosts were inflexible. Since then I have stayed in touch with Fukagawa as he continued to make new discoveries and deepen his understanding of the historical context out of which the sangaku emerged.
Interesting, isn't it? So the teacher in Japan is a fellow of a "low rank and is not highly respected." Hmm, how does this jibe with a standard model that blames low teacher's standing and their low salaries for the US underperformance in international math education studies. Have not Japanese 4th graders out performed their US counterparts in the TIMSS 2003 and TIMSS 1999? Have not the 8th graders?
It is really quite easy to get confused.
No related posts.
[...] recent math advisory panel put emphasis on preparation of math teachers and their status. In another post I mentioned a bewildering incompatibility the low status of Japanese teachers and the relative [...]
May 16th, 2008 at 10:04 amI've watched recently a polish film which action was taken in late 20' a guess. And I was shocked how the young teacher, main character, was treated - with lack of respect. Weird, how some things don't change even the times are changing.
July 16th, 2008 at 3:13 amI spent some time in Japan back in the 90's. Teachers were treated with tremendous respect, compared to in the United States. Students all stood when they entered the classroom. Parents invited them to dinner and were deeply honored should the teacher choose to accept the invitation.
However, the system in Japan is very hierarchical. An elementary school teacher is less respected than a highschool teacher, who is less respected then a college professor. I can see that the 'teacher-researcher', as accepted in US education research, wouldn't be highly regarded in Japan.
March 25th, 2009 at 8:25 pm