Math & History Subject Article, Volume 2: January!

Hi Eagles!

As some may remember, we previously explored several subjects such as Design, Global Politics, English, Science and Religion as part of the many subjects that are offered in Sekolah Ciputra. Moving forward, in this article we’re here to introduce the subjects, Mathematics and History!

Let’s begin with Math. Math is a familiar subject for all of us. It is a worldwide-taught subject that is compulsory for all students, including our school, and to take in the DP program when students enter Grade 11 as well. To venture deeper, we’ve conducted an interview with Mr. Budi Santoso who is a Mathematics teacher here at Sekolah Ciputra currently teaching Grade 8C, 8D, 10E, 11 AI HL and 12 AI SL.

A common misconception students have is that Mathematics is all about numbers, formulas, and calculations, and though that is partially true, Mathematics also encourages other skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and creative thinking. The subject helps us practice different ways of investigating data as well; helping and teaching us to understand how the world works in different ways. The idea of finding wisdom and math can be further developed in this subject through several techniques, one of which is analyzing, collecting data, and predicting based on previous analyses to reach a reasonable conclusion. Other than that, the subject allows us to make connections and think logically in a sense that a choice we make should always be backed with proper thinking behind it.

Many students, including those at Sekolah Ciputra may consider Math to be a difficult subject to learn. Because the problem is in the student’s mindset, they think that mathematical education is just a boring subject. Math is often considered to be one of the most challenging subjects. According to Mr. Budi Santoso, the difficulty that students most of the time face isn’t actually the formulas or the numbers, but it is having to understand and make use of mathematical concepts. Every new concept learned in Mathematics will always be based and built up on a previous concept that should be understood first. This is similar to, for example, the building of a house. Though it would still be possible to build a house without a proper foundation, the chances of the house standing for a long period of time is unlikely, as the foundation has not been built properly.

Other than being a requirement for our education, Mathematics is also a requirement for the future lives we will lead, too. Mathematics mainly helps us through critical and analytical thinking, where both skills are crucial to most, if not all, career paths. For example, research-based analyses and predictions can be learned in the Mathematics subject. Not only do these mathematical skills and methodologies allow us to perform well in our careers, but it allows us to live a life full of wisdom, too.

In the future, the subject can benefit us greatly because it encourages us creatively, logically, and analytically. It also helps us to have better problem solving skills to use in all aspects in our daily lives.

These are images of Mr. Budi Santoso’s Math Classes. The picture demonstrates the class situation with the School applying 100% face to face school which allows students to come back to face to face school.

Not only is math an important subject in every school, History can be the same. History is a subject deep rooted in our understanding of the world. Although some people may think of it as the same, history is different to just the past. Through history we can understand the past actions, present consequences, and try to predict the future. Therefore, History has a place in the past, present, and future.

There are many jobs that require knowledge of history. Historians may seem like the obvious choice, but scientists also need this understanding. As a scientist you need to investigate, as in order to improve or construct theory you must look back on knowledge that already exists. This mainly applies in real life as well, we should realize that looking towards the past and learning from it is an integral part of the history subject. History is not learning simply about a narrative but it is analyzing said narrative. Not all information can be used as good grounds for history, the information must be trusted and reliable for it to be used properly, which is why critical thinking and research is needed in this subject.

As for DP, Ciputra students should consider taking History as a subject because it helps to speed up international mindedness. Students are not limited to study about a particular area for history, nor are they limited to a certain time period. Students that take history can learn about different eras and different countries, we learn from different regions of the world. History as a subject allows us to be more open minded.

This is an image of Mr. Agus Rubi’s History class. As seen above, the majority of the students in the class are doing school offline, whereas there is one student still online.

In conclusion, Mathematics and History can be said to be difficult subjects to learn, but we now have to change our point of view. Not only from its academic importance but also to real life. Mathematics and History are very important subjects in all schools, especially in Sekolah Ciputra These two subjects are very important to study because not only are they used in academic learning but can also determine your future careers/pathway and of course these subjects can be used in your daily life.

This article was written by the OSIS Public Relations Team (Michael Sean Gunawan 11DP, Felice Agnes 10C, Anastasia Lilananda 8C & Bianca Purwadi 10B), Edited by the OSIS Team (Wenny Wibisono 11DP) & Supervised by Jefferson Tanto 11DP & Mr. Rizal Rakhmat Dwianto.