473959

About the Book

The most amazing demand of Jesus is: "Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you". The most important strength demanded by Islam is honesty. How can these two ideals be combined? Thirty years ago a young British officer found himself in amidst a conflict in which Christians were killing Christians. When he protested that involving soldiers in a social conflict would provoke more violence from both sides, his government ordered him into a military psychiatric hospital. There the staff found him perfectly sane, whilst he had a most powerful spiritual experience. Training later at Cambridge University to become a mathematics teacher, philosophers and theologians urged him to find a way to express his inspiration in teaching. He was soon a head of mathematics at one of England's most prestigious international schools - and, incidentally, also one of the highest paid teachers in the world. There he realised that mathematics teaching was doing a great deal of harm. Mathematics should teach youngsters to think honestly, critically and constructively - and to accept other's criticisms gladly. Democracy must work like this. But youngsters in schools are more usually rewarded for success through judicious dishonesty. They learn to resent criticism, authority, and each other. This is a major reason why democracy does not work, why societies are so fractured. His method of teaching maths is the subject of increasing international studies and development. This short book describes an even more important possibility: that of ending conflicts between Christianity and Islam. He explains how teaching mathematics properly can combine the best moral ideals of both. In 473959 - his old Army number - he offers a unique practical solution to religious conflicts.

About the Author

Educated in North England; Army service 1961-75; teaching mathematics at Magdalen College School, Oxford 1976-79; British European School, Oxfordshire 1979-04. Contacts and publications: Journal of the Epiphany Philosophers (Professor D. Emmet; M. Masterman ed) 1976; Tribute to Friedrich List, Reutlingen, Germany, 1990; Professor Eugen Wendler (List's Biographer), 1991); Arbeitskreis für Mathematische Bildung, 1993; Professor Noam Chomsky, 1992; Lecture for Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, Les Mathématiques, ou la Démocratie, Professor Maurice Loi; Professor Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, 1994; Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung, 1994 (with Professor Didier Nordon, University of Bordeaux, author Les Mathématiques pure n'existent pas!; Professor Amos Oz, Israel, 1996; Oxford University Philosophical Society Chadwick Prize, 1996; European Union Education Commission Comenius project 1996-98, Landestinstut für Erziehung und Bildung, (Dr H. Köhler dir); Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik ISSN0044-4103; Bulletin 423 Association des Professeurs de Mathématiques de L'Enseignement Public, 1999; various articles Schola Europaea (journal of the European Union schools), articles in New Scientist, Times Educational Supplement, Literacy Today (with editorial), Socrates Workbook (six languages, inc Arabic), Teachers' and Parents' Guide 1985-00; invited to lecture Mercer University, Georgia, USA 2003, by Professor Duane Davis, Professor Hani Khoury; speaker/seminar leader Qatar Foundation Symposium, Innovations in Education 2006, with Professor Eva Vásárhelyi, Lorand Eötvös University, Hungary and Professor Khoury.