In this blog post, I’d like to examine the significance of mathematics in daily life and the advancement of science and technology, and reflect on the challenges currently facing mathematics education as well as the direction we should take moving forward.
After graduating from high school, I thought my days with math were over, but when I arrived at college and saw that nearly half of my courses for the semester were math-related, I felt nothing but bitterness. Perhaps those who studied mathematics in ancient Egypt felt a similar sense of bitterness long ago. The EBS DocuPrime series “Civilization and Mathematics” begins with papyri—mathematical texts from ancient Egypt. These papyri contained the mathematical knowledge necessary for running society at the time, including methods for determining the height of pyramids, surveying land, and distributing wages to workers. Produced by EBS, “Civilization and Mathematics” is a five-part series that traces the history of mathematical theories, mathematicians, and mathematical problems from ancient Egypt through Greece and India to the modern era. In particular, it fascinatingly demonstrates that mathematics is not merely a technical skill for calculation but is closely intertwined with the development of civilization.
Part 1 focuses primarily on mathematics in Egypt. What struck me personally was the realization that mathematics did not arise solely to uncover the origins of the world, to arrive at truth, or to satisfy scholars’ intellectual curiosity, but rather developed through the process of solving practical, everyday problems. If you search online, you’ll easily find explanations claiming that mathematics originated as a means of explaining natural phenomena or as a fundamental tool of philosophy. However, when examining the problems featured in ancient Egyptian mathematical texts, one finds issues directly linked to the daily lives and social operations of the time—such as methods for calculating the area of a field when collecting taxes or for distributing the necessary quantities to laborers. While these problems may seem simple from today’s perspective, they were considered knowledge important enough to be recorded and passed down to future generations. From the very beginning, mathematics was not the exclusive domain of mathematicians or philosophers, but rather knowledge closely tied to everyone’s daily lives.
People today seem to fail to properly recognize the importance of mathematics, as they are often unaware that mathematical problems exist all around them. The same is true for middle and high school students currently studying mathematics. Some time ago, due to personal circumstances, I took a break from school and worked part-time teaching students at a tutoring center. Whenever exam season rolled around, there were always students who, in a frustrated state, would ask, “Why do we have to learn math when we won’t even use it when we grow up?” Even among students actively studying math, many did not understand why it was important. There is clearly room for improvement in math education that proceeds without students properly understanding where math can be applied, and without sufficient motivation or interest being fostered.
In fact, I admit that there aren’t many situations in real life where you’d pull out a piece of paper and write out mathematical formulas using the concepts taught in middle school. However, middle school math forms the foundation for the math studied in high school and, later, in college, so it must be mastered. If students study without properly understanding the importance of math, their learning efficiency will inevitably decline, and as they gradually drift away from the subject, they may even give up on math as early as high school. Contrary to what many students believe, mathematics is a fundamental discipline that is widely applied—at least through college-level major and general education courses—and its importance is actually growing as science and technology advance.
The importance of mathematics is growing alongside advancements in science and technology, as mathematical thinking and knowledge serve as a crucial foundation for such progress. In particular, mathematical concepts and logical thinking are utilized in various fields today, including artificial intelligence, data science, engineering, and the natural sciences. I believe that current mathematics education requires continuous improvement to reduce students’ aversion to the subject and to foster critical thinking, creativity, and logical reasoning through mathematics. Schools need to continuously examine the shortcomings of mathematics education and devise ways to improve it so that students do not view mathematics merely as a subject for exams. The current curriculum also emphasizes moving away from rote memorization toward in-depth, inquiry- and concept-based learning, while fostering students’ self-directed learning and creativity.
I believe one of the biggest problems in mathematics education is the excessive focus on exam-oriented education and mechanical problem-solving aimed at achieving high test scores. I also consider it problematic that many students immerse themselves in advanced study—not to systematically master mathematical logic and the application of concepts through step-by-step learning—but simply to avoid falling behind in math when they advance to the next grade or a higher level of education. Of course, learning basic concepts in advance is not inherently bad. However, if the purpose of learning is not to understand concepts and apply them to new problems, but merely to work through problem sets before others, it becomes difficult to develop mathematical thinking skills.
In South Korea’s educational environment, where academic achievement and college admission are regarded as important social benchmarks, gaining admission to a prestigious university has become a major goal for many students. Mathematics has long played a significant role in college entrance exams, and as a result, many students repeatedly work through problem sets to improve their math scores. When I was in high school, I also spent most of my time studying math. I remember solving most of the problems in the workbooks without much thought, relying on my memory of similar problems I’d solved before. Once I finished a set, I’d check my answers; if I got one wrong, I’d memorize the solution method, and if I got it right, I’d move on. Because I would look at a problem and immediately search for a familiar solution method without thinking it through properly, I often found myself unable to solve difficult problems—even after solving so many others. Ultimately, solving a large number of problems does not necessarily equate to developing deep mathematical thinking skills.
I believe the ultimate goal of mathematics education is to cultivate logical reasoning, critical thinking, and creativity. When faced with a problem in daily life, the ability to simply use formulas to find the correct answer is not enough to solve it effectively. One needs the ability to analyze the conditions of the problem, consider various approaches, select the necessary information, and logically explain the solution process. Therefore, mathematics should go beyond simple calculations and problem-solving to become a tool for thinking that helps solve a wide variety of problems. If current education is skewed toward rote memorization and repetitive problem-solving, this approach needs to be improved.
In the past, various policies were implemented to improve mathematics education, and approaches that differed from traditional methods—such as storytelling, real-life applications, and interdisciplinary mathematics—were proposed. However, the extent to which these attempts can actually transform exam-centered mathematics education in the classroom remains a separate issue. The current curriculum also outlines a direction to strengthen students’ inquiry skills and self-directed learning, promote in-depth, concept-based learning rather than rote memorization, and enhance teaching, learning, and assessment methods suited to digital and artificial intelligence environments. While these changes largely address the concerns raised in the past, a shift in curriculum direction alone will not automatically transform learning practices in schools. It is crucial to go beyond simply adding a few problems featuring illustrations or computer-based exercises to textbooks and instead create lessons that truly allow students to think and explore.
I believe that when improving mathematics education in South Korea, it is a good approach not only to develop and implement new strategies independently but also to draw on examples of mathematics education from other countries, adapt them to fit the South Korean educational context, and apply them to policy and classroom instruction. In Germany, for example, an approach has long been used in which students are encouraged to recognize the topics they will learn through hands-on practice and inquiry-based activities before studying the textbook content. In India, an educational approach has been introduced that, compared to South Korea, covers a relatively narrower range of topics before the university level but instead delves deeply into certain topics through various activities to cultivate students’ logical thinking skills. Of course, adopting another country’s educational system as-is is not practically feasible. This is because the educational systems, college admissions environments, the roles of teachers, and the expectations of students and parents all differ. Therefore, what is important is not to simply imitate the system of a specific country, but to identify the elements within it that encourage students to think and explore independently, and then adapt them to the South Korean school environment. I believe there are aspects worth learning from the examples of Germany and India if schools make appropriate use of activities such as experiments, inquiry-based learning, and discussions in the classroom, rather than relying solely on a model where the teacher simply explains and students solve problems.
South Korea has consistently achieved high results in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) and has accumulated a track record of numerous awards, including gold medals. Official records of the International Mathematical Olympiad confirm that South Korea has produced gold medalists on multiple occasions. However, excelling at the International Mathematical Olympiad and consistently producing world-class research mathematicians are not necessarily the same thing. To date, no South Korean national has won the Fields Medal, and no South Korean recipients appear on the list of all-time Fields Medalists published by the International Mathematical Union. In contrast, the Vietnamese mathematician Ngô Bảo Châu is often cited as a prime example of a Fields Medalist, and among Japanese mathematicians, there are researchers who have received world-class academic awards such as the Fields Medal and the Nobel Prize. Looking at these examples, it seems that South Korea’s mathematics education needs to evolve not only to achieve good results in competitions like the International Mathematical Olympiad but also, in the long term, to foster students who deeply explore mathematics, create new problems, and conduct research.
If mathematics education becomes more advanced, students will be able to move beyond viewing math merely as a subject for exams and discover its meaning and joy. Furthermore, students who have studied mathematics in depth will grow into accomplished mathematicians in universities and research settings and make significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology. I believe that showing students the history of mathematics and the role it has played in the development of civilization is one effective approach. In this regard, utilizing content—such as EBS’s five-part documentary series ‘Civilization and Mathematics’—that illustrates how mathematics has evolved within the context of human history and civilization can help spark students’ interest in the subject. Rather than simply answering students who ask why they need to learn mathematics by saying, “Because it’s necessary for exams,” we need an education that demonstrates the role mathematics has played in our daily lives, in science and technology, and in the development of human civilization. When students’ perspective on mathematics changes in this way, the advancement of mathematics education will not merely be a change in the curriculum but will lead to a transformation in students’ ways of thinking and learning experiences.
