From the Editor
As we begin another year, it might be the ideal time to evaluate our involvement with MCATA.
Yes, we are all members, but is that enough to keep the Council viable? Can most of us sit back while a few organize conferences, write journals, recruit members and, in general, try to improve the overall quality of mathematics education in the province?
To get the most out of membership in an organization such as MCATA, one must become truly involved. This means being prepared to volunteer at least in some small way to make the organization function better, and thereby better serve its members.
To quote a recent news release on volunteerism, “Volunteer action encourages people to develop and express a sense of responsibility for themselves, their community and their world, and to express this responsibility with concern and compassion.” In short, volunteer action helps us to grow as citizens.
Psychologist Victor Frankl has written that the motive for existence and the guide for action for human beings lies not in obtaining money or prestigious jobs but rather in the search for meaning.
Many people find meaning in volunteer activity. Whether or not people engage in these experiences because they satisfy strong ego needs, provide political training, allow them to get out of the house or to escape the day-to-day routine of the job, the strength of volunteer activity is that it makes no judgments about such needs. It accepts them and offers opportunities for their fulfillment in a socially useful manner. Thus, the ultimate good of volunteering lies in its sheer human usefulness.
MCATA represents a major thread running through the lives of many excellent teachers. The reason that MCATA has been so successful to date, and is continuing to grow, is that its members are concerned about the kinds of changes that must take place in mathematics education for our students to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The MCATA executive is concerned that more of its council members are not actively involved. Possibly, as indicated by the Council on Social Development, the main reasons why people never give or become involved are a lack of awareness of opportunities and the kinds of work available for volunteers. The time has come to make aware those who are not, and to encourage the uninvolved to become involved.
Only if we take advantage of and develop the untapped human resources of
our members can we hope that MCATA will continue to grow and maintain momentum,
Your executive would really like to see you get involved. We know that there is a great deal of talent among you, and there is much to be done. To start with, how about providing some news for the Newsletter, writing an article for delta-K, either giving or chairing a session at one of our conferences, organizing a mini-conference for your school or area, organizing a regional section of MCATA, nominating a fellow teacher for Mathematics Educator of the Year, seeking a position on next year’s executive, or just writing us a letter suggesting ideas for improving our council? These are just a few ideas–1 am sure there are many more.
Remember, we really need you and your ideas. Do have a good year!
(This editorial was adapted from a presentation given at a CESO (Canadian Executive Service Organization) conference in Edmonton on April 11, 1990 by Pearl Calahasen, a fellow professional and now MLA for Lesser Slave Lake.)
Art Jorgensen
From the Editor
Art Jorgensen
Dick Kopan Appointed to Regional Services Committee
Conferences
1990 MCATA Conference
1991 MCATA Conference
1991 NCTM Conference
The International Congress on Mathematical Education
MCATA Membership
1989 Yearbook
Art Jorgensen
Thinkers’ Challenge
Number Detective
Bob Watson
Attention Secondary Mathematics Teachers
PROBLEM SOLVING TECHNIQUES
SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION
MCATA Executive 1990/91
