The Last Picture Show

The AustMS Education Afternoon is done and dusted. Thanks to our fellow speakers, and in particular to David Treeby, who bucked the trend and offered something of genuine value. And, thanks to all those who turned up. It was great to see some old faces, and to meet some new ones. One should also acknowledge AAMT and AMSI and MAV. The effort these institutions made to promote the event is noted and is reassuring.

The plan is to write some posts based on our presentation, in the near future. That’s perhaps not as entertaining as a live delivery from a vodka-infused Marty, but we’ll do what we can.

As for future presentations, we very much doubt it. In all likelihood, that was the last picture show.

8 Replies to “The Last Picture Show”

  1. I wish you’d had more time! I also wished I’d recorded the audio. Was it you or Burkard with the few lines about disgraceful unfair funding for private schools? Your second to last (roughly?) slide had a dozen or so topics that it seemed you hoped to talk about – could you post this slide and perhaps summarise your thoughts?
    And on another topic, did anything ever come of that MAV rejected article on calculators? Is the article available anywhere?
    Thanks for great talk! I’m refired to bash against the wall of orthodoxy.

    1. Thanks very much, Bob. Yeah, there were a few 1-liners I was pleased with. And yes, it was me railing against the sleazy funding of private schools (and the viciousness of HECS). Obviously I was rushed at the end, but as I wrote above, I will write some posts based on the talk. That’ll include a post based on that close to last “Furthermore …” slide.

      I’ll try to update the MAV censorship post, but it’s tricky.

  2. Marty,

    Thanks for putting in the effort in front of your peers.
    Hopefully you didn’t get heckled.

    Judging from the PISA results today you may be asked to consider a sequel in the future

    As mentioned previously the Mathsmaster’s played a crucial rule in encouraging a cohort of students I know to become passionate about mathematics early and then undertaking the IB at the higher level . Most are now studying STEM based subjects at tertiary level

    Steve R

    1. Steve, that’s really nice of you to pass on that Mathsmasters feedback. (If you had mentioned it earlier, I’m sorry I missed it). That’s lovely to hear.

      As for heckling, I dearly wish! Ever. Unfortunately, my talks are almost always preaching to the converted. That’s great fun, but I’d rather be converting people or irritating them.

      There’s no shortage of people who can’t stand the sight of me, but it is very, very rare that I am criticised to my face. Most of those who disagree with me realise that I am powerless and/or are comfortable in their smug ignorance, and simply ignore me. Of the others, those who are genuinely annoyed by me, none have had the balls to confront me.

      PISA or otherwise, I don’t think there’s any chance that I’ll be invited to give a sequel. I’m now largely and consciously invisible to formal institutions, and I think just as little of them. Out of the blue, I did get an ABC radio interview request this morning, to discuss PISA: I handballed it to Greg Ashman, who did a great job. (I’ll write about PISA in the next day or so.)

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