There is no doubt that mathematical education in Ireland is in a state of profound crisis. I predicted this in a letter I wrote to the Minister for Education in 1998, when I became aware of the proposals which were being considered in the curriculum review, which he had ordered on the first of September 1997. It was in fact his action on that day which prompted me into my own activity, which was to promote the teaching of Vedic mathematics throughout our whole educational system. I am not going to re-iterate the whole sorry tale of my own consistent efforts over the past ten years, except to say publicly that the whole board of the NCCA should immediately resign. My project preceeds their existence by more than three years, and they do not have one ounce of knowledge when it comes to designing or developing curriculum material. All the parents of the 5,000 children who were failed by the Educational System in this year's Ordinary Level Leaving Certificate should join together and take a class action suit against the National Council for Curriculum and Assesment, State Exam's Commission, National Parents Council, Irish National Teachers Organisation, Department of Education, and the Academic Advisors from University College Cork, and Trinity College Dublin. You can call me as an expert witness, and I will ensure that your children receive a proper hearing. Also I am intent this year in providing the knowledge to parents and teachers to ensure that this appaling situation is never repeated. You will notice that I am not suggesting that you consider an action against the Minister for Education. My reasons for this are quiet simple. The Ministers are not being passed vital information by the Secretaries in their respective Departments. I know this for a fact from my own time in the Army. Also I spoke with one minister recently on another matter, and he stated that he had never received the significant information I had sent to him. It is well worthwhile to read Article 42 of The Irish Constitution. To my own knowledge it is not too much to expect that a student after fourteen or more years of state education in Ireland should at the very minimum know how to multiply 27 by 11 in their head. Article 42.3.2, states "The State shall, however, as guardian of the common good, require in view of actual conditions that the children receive a certain minimum education, moral, intellectual and social." I must ask the above mentioned organisations, all of whom were informed by me on a number of occasions, in relation to my work at promoting a simple effortless approach to mental computation, what is the minimum standard they accept, in interpreting this article. I expect that that they don't know, because most likely they never read it. But I do, and I also am very loyal to Article 1. It is quiet obvious that those charged with the administration of education in this country never have read this Article, or else how do you explain the existence of Professors of Applied Mathematics appointed at Universities in Ireland who cannot even speak English, let alone Irish. I can and I have also begun the process of adapting my knowledge into many other languages, somweher in the region of 256 so far. Not bad going from a Simple Irish Man. Listen to my University Challenge, which I issued to the Academic Council of University College Cork, ten years ago when I challenged them to a debate on knowledge. On the final line of my note I wrote, if you fail to respond to this challenge, then you are admitting that the University is teaching ignorance, and victory is mine. They failed to respond, and just last week their leading spokesman on public awareness wrote an article in the Irish Times, Anti-GM and anti-nuclear advocates need to be challenged. I responded to this challenge immediately by way of e-mail to the Irish Times, and to the writer of the article, four days ago, but what's sauce for the goose, sure ain't sauce for the gander. Here is a copy of my letter for all to see, Madam, It makes me wonder whether or not my decision to launch the campaign to ban genetically modified foods contributed in any way to my difficulties in gaining financial or institutional support for my work in trying to resolve the crisis in mathematical education. I do know that when I stood for election to the Academic Council in UCC in 2000, the so called respectable scientists in the Biotechnology School in University College Cork, had my poster pinned to a dartboard, and they were throwing darts at it. I was also laughed at by a very senior Academic in the Mathematical Sciences School in UCC, one evening. He did not have a clue what my research was all about, because someone in that school has been impeding my work, deliberately, for more than ten years. One of the jobs of a University is to support local entrepreneurial initiatives, but apparently that remit does not extend to the School of Mathematics in UCC, especially when it is one of their own PhD's who has launched the initiative. As late ago as yesterday morning, I met with the same arrogance and judgmental attitude for one of their so called real geometers. All I wanted was someone to interact with in relation to my research into Real Geometry, and within five minutes this particular gentleman had judged my sixteen years of research, and told me that it was baseless. This is a further example of the ignorance in relation to knowledge and the ignorance in relation to manners which is promoted in some of our Universities. Not all, but then I guess that you can probarbly guess the two I am referring to. I was in contact with the President of UCC's office yesterday calling for an immediate investigation into this and other matters, and suggesting that UCC would become the laughing stock of every Academy in the Universe when it became known what little respect they have for their own PhD's. I was once told that I would never get anywhere within the academic life in Ireland, unless I had been to America. Well you I went there once during my PhD, and it was no great shakes. Just because someone has a PhD or Post Doc from some American University does not imply that he is a man of knowledge, the same can be said of someone from a Russian or any other Country in the world. More importantly it does not allow him to ignore Article 1 of the Irish Constitution, which effectively states that every political, economic and cultural activity, shall be de réir dúchas is gnás ár sínsear, according to the genius and tradition of our people. Since education is the most culturing of cultural activities it implies that any new knowledge which is being brought into Ireland must at the very least be adapted into our own language, as a first step in ensuring that it is according to our own dúthgaois, the deep inner intelligence which lies at the very centre of Howard Gardiners Multiple Intelligences. I attempted to put a question on this during his visit to University College Cork, a number of years ago, but my question was edited by another one of your so called leaders of knowledge. I subsequently did have an opportunity to interact with him on the internet, and he suggested that this could be a very powerful concept, but of course as it has yet to be published in one of his books, the educational establishment ignores my interpretation. What all the educators in Ireland need to learn is that knowledge does not lie in book, or computers for that matter. Knowledge lies within ourselves, but we have to know how to acess it.I readily and with relish accept Dr. Revill's challenge, issued in you newspaper yesterday, Irish Times, Thursday, September 25, 2008. For his information I happen to be a PhD graduate in Computational Physics, from his university, University College Cork, and it was I who launched the Campaign To Ban Genetically Modified Foods in Ireland, in 1996. I did so after I read a book published by Dr. John Fagan, which highlighted the dangers of genetic engineering and suggested solutions through vedic engineering. I myself have more than 16 years of experience in researching and studying the correlation between modern science, and vedic science, and I have more than ten years experience in developing the knowledge of gaelic science, which I spoke with him about in my local shopping centre just last week. So come on William, lets have a public debate, bring your so called experts who sit shakily on a one legged stool, whilst I stand proudly on a three legged stool of knowledge, assured of my ability to create pollution free progress, the oath that every scientist and researcher should be required to take before his conferring. To say that just because research appears in peer reviewed journals, that it safe, is hyprocicy of the highest order, as it is well known that most scientific papers are read by on average three people, that author, the reviewer, and the editor. Publication is no proof of validity, and everything that these industry connected scientists say must be treated with the greatest amount of caution. The same also goes for the Nuclear Industry. He should tell the people of Cherynoble, Three Mile Island, his theories in relation to Atomic Safety. Personally I have another reason to oppose further developments in Atomic Power, and that is simply because the computational technology upon which it is based is wrong. Currently I am leading an international group to completely restructure more than 3,000 years of knowledge in Geometry. By our reckoning this will have major implications for the Large Hadron Collider experiment, which is postponed until next year. If so then it may have major implications in relation to Atomic power, and potentially lead to a design for an invincible source of readily available power. So, William, if you are willing to pick up the gauntlet, let's do this in public. What about the Philosoph in University College Cork, some Friday evening? Brian -- Professor Brian G. Mc Enery PhD Centre for Natural Computation Wilton Cork +353-21-4342715 So William, tell you others professors to get up of their chairs and resume the quest, a simple request. Those who would like to know how I plan to resolve the particular dilemma created by an uncaring Educational System should go immediately to Maths in a Moment. |