Mathematical Equations

Mathematics was one of the strongest subjects of Rafflesians in the 1960s. In Sec 3B Science there were two kinds of Mathematics taught, Elementary and Additional Mathematics. Elementary Mathematic was taught by Mr Puhaindran and Additional Mathematics by Mr Leo Chin Fook. In 1967, during the Cambridge Certificate or O Level examinations, 132 of our cohort obtained A1 in E Maths and 22 obtained A1 in A Maths, a rare feat at that time.

Puhaindran was also the sports secretary and the 2101 Scoutmaster. He was very well respected, feared even, by the boys. He appeared very stern and thus no one in the class dared to be up to any mischiefs when he was teaching. Actually, he was a very personable man, easy to talk too and to make long lasting friendships with. To this day, the ex-scouts kept in touch with him. We will meet with him from time to time and his memory and mental faculty very lucid so that good scouting days stories could be retold.

However, Mr Puhaindran’s teaching of Elementary Mathematics in the Sec 3 class was not remarkable. Perhaps many of the boys were extremely good at Mathematics and did not need much teaching. Nevertheless, those who were weak in E. Maths like Lionel Lee, did not feel that Puhaindran helped them.

Very fortunately, for the weak mathematians, the teacher that taught E Maths the next year in Sec 4 was a Math Teacher Icon, Mr Hector Chee. Lionel Lee remembered Hector telling the class, at the very first lesson, that all of us will score a distinction at the O levels examination. He distinctly said, “I promise you that everyone will score a A1 at the end of this year.” And it was true! All of us did score A1, including those who barely scrapped through Sec 3 Mathematics with a marginal pass.

We realised that Hector had an amazing teaching technique, every solutioning of a math problem had to be accompanied by a meticulous reasoning for every step. Hector even made us write down the answers his style with every line indicating a clear reasoning process, working out the answer, until the final answer was neatly laid out. We believe that the marker for the exams, having seen such clear understanding of the math problem and derivation of the solution by the student that he had to give FULL marks.

Hector quickly established a reputation of an outstanding maths teacher at the Ministry of Education. He became Senior Teacher and Inspector of Schools for Mathematics. MOE made him supervise young maths teachers and he wrote many Mathematics text and practice/assessment books. He became quite a Singapore celebrity, featured in the press and television.

Mr Leo Chin Fook was the Additional Mathematics teacher for Sec 3B Sc. He replaced another teaching, Mr Ong who taught us only for a few weeks until Leo came. No one can understand why the class was never able to tease him. This failure was very intriguing because he was the youngest teacher we have had. With his boyish look and demeanor, one would have thought that he would be easy meat.

Perhaps, he was respected because he was an effective teacher and for Chen Wen, one of the best as well.  He was full of confidence, kind and cannot be rattled. When someone in class try teasing him, he would simply smiled it off, ignored the teasing and continued doing what he was doing prior to the interruption.  We think that the bland reaction to our mischief brought no thrill, unlike Mr. Egypt, Mr. Sundram and Mr. Pwee. So, any teasing ceased.

Mr Leo taught us the parabola in Add. Maths among several other geometrical shapes and their equations.  During one lesson he started teaching by drawing a parabola, on the blackboard and wrote down the properties on its left. Pretty soon, he ran out of space and drew another one to the right of the 1st parabola with more properties written to the right of the second parabola.  That immediately drew a laughter from Tan Yong Tong.  Mr. Leo noticed and could guess what Yong Tong associated with what he had drawn. He erased the 2nd parabola and redrew it below the first one instead.

The exact shapes and configuration of the curves drawn by Mr. Leo was unclear over time. However, it drew a slight testosterone driven Kama Sutra reaction and laughter from Yong Tong. Chen Wen who was seated next to Yong Tong understood what had happened although not many in that class realised the joke or humour.  

    

It is characteristic of Secondary 3B Science that we made the best of every lesson in class, given by excellent or so-so teachers. The humour and mischiefs were perhaps defensive or adaptive reactions against dull teaching, preventing us from dozing off in class.

Contributed by Chen Wen and Lionel Lee