VietNamNet Bridge – “The age of the captain”, a classic math question familiar to mathematicians, has appeared in a textbook for second graders, causing concern and confusion among parents.

The math question is: “There were 45 sheep in a vessel. Five of them fell into a river. How old was the captain?”

The author of the question, Pham Dinh Thuc, a renowned educator, was heavily criticized by netizens, who said he had been “careless” and “irresponsible” when compiling books for primary school students.

A parent reportedly said in a local newspaper that he could not understand why such a “silly” question can be given to students.

However, Thuc has been vindicated by mathematicians and educators, who pointed out that this is an interesting question which may lead to major changes in the math teaching method in Vietnam.

The math question, named “age of the captain” was first put forward in the book “The Number Sense” by the French educator-mathematician Stella Baruk: “There were 26 sheep and 10 goats on a ship. How old was the captain, then?”.

Thuc, who might think that Vietnamese second graders need a simpler question, created a new version of question to students.

The math question has a very important educational significance because it mentions a very important issue in math. In order to find the true results, one needs to use numerals in a right way.

However, in many cases, people make mistakes because they only pay attention to figures while forgetting the figures’ meaning.

The conclusion was made by the French educator and mathematician after discovering that 76 out of the 97 polled students gave false answers after using the numbers given in the question.

VTV, the Vietnam national television, also carried out a survey with Thuc’s question and found that 75 percent of second graders gave the false answer “40 years old”.

“The problem is that Vietnamese students remain passive in thinking,” an educator said, commenting that students do not have the habits of raising questions and having doubts about the issues they face.

They just tried to give “yes” or “no” questions, but did not dare to think that there might be a third solution to the problem.

When asked about the survey’s result, Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan, in the TV program “Chuyen duong thoi” (today’s matters), commented that Vietnamese students dare not raise doubts about some certain issues.

Professor Nguyen Lan Dung, a well-known educator, who was also present at the TV show, commented that this is not only the problem of second graders, but of the majority of Vietnamese students.

“They do not use their brain during study. They just try to solve math questions the way they have been used to do,” Dung commented.

Therefore, he said, it is necessary to carry out reform in the education system. “Don’t stuff students’ heads with knowledge and suggest solutions, but provide knowledge to students so that they can find solutions to problems on their own,” Dung said.

Van Chung