Happy National Mathematics Day!!
Today, December 22, 2024, marks the 137th birth anniversary of the legendary Indian mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. India proudly celebrates this day as National Mathematics Day.
A few years ago, during a National Mathematics Day event at TCS Pune, I was invited as a speaker. During the session, someone asked if there was a systematic way to identify exceptional geniuses like Ramanujan. I drew a parallel between this question and a large-scale discrete optimization problem, referencing the famous Traveling Salesman Problem. I reluctantly concluded that there is no efficient algorithm for identifying such talent, even if we could somehow quantify genius. Exams like the JEE and various Olympiads might help, but they remain as limited as heuristic search algorithms—sometimes effective, but far from perfect.
Ramanujan’s recognition was a stroke of fortune, largely owing to another genius, G.H. Hardy. Perhaps it takes one genius to recognize another. This reality leaves us grappling with the possibility that countless extraordinary talents may remain unnoticed. While the world has been fortunate to discover the brilliance of individuals like Ramanujan, Shakuntala Devi, or Michael Faraday, we may have missed hundreds for every one we found.
Even when we identify such prodigies, the question remains: what do we do with them? Ramanujan’s tragically short life leaves us wondering what more he could have achieved had he received more "formal" education. But would formal education have truly benefited him, or might it have stifled his unique genius? Historically, Ramanujan’s failure to secure a formal degree—owing to his inability to pass standard exams—only underscores the limitations of traditional education systems.
In a broader sense, every child possesses unique potential, yet we funnel them through a standardized system of education and assessment. Such systems are not just incapable of identifying exceptional individuals like Ramanujan but often fail to nurture their talent in meaningful ways. “Personalized learning” and “self-designed curricula” have become trendy buzzwords among progressive educators, but these concepts often focus on tailoring how standard content is taught, rather than recognizing and fostering individual strengths in a transformative way.
Are we truly ready to rethink education—to create systems that identify and nurture the unique brilliance of every individual? This question remains as challenging and essential as ever.
#education #individualbrilliance
UPES
UPES School of Computer Science
