There are always good teachers behind talent. Hong Chung Song won gold medals at two international mathematics Olympiads—in 2011 and 2012—and Choe Kwang, too, won a gold medal at the 2012 contest. They then said, “The gold medals we’ve won are for our teachers.” “Our teachers” they mentioned are Ham Yong Chol, Yom Ryong Gol and Han Yong Ran, teachers of Pyongyang Secondary School No. 1.

Unforgettable Teacher

There are many anecdotes about Ham Yong Chol, 36.

One of the anecdotes: One day Ham was told on the phone by his daughter’s kindergarten that he should bring her home because his wife would be late. Then he asked which kindergarten he should go to. This is neither because he was indifferent to his family life nor because he was too much attached to his job.

Ham spent his childhood in a coastal village of Sinpho. He had a head for mathematics. So his secondary school math teacher favoured him. The teacher had a son of Ham’s age. At an examination of the school to select pupils to be admitted into Pyongyang Secondary School No. 1 Ham and the math teacher’s son’s marks reached the standard. The pupils to be picked, however, were limited in number. Then the math teacher recommended Ham, saying that the boy was superior to his son in IQ and mathematical creativity and that the country needed genuine talents. It was only later that Ham came to know about the fact.

Ham says, “The image of the teacher that day still rises often in my mind. It seems to tell that the mainstay of the country is more important than the breadwinner of a family.”

A Forward Becomes a Back

Ri Kwang Il, 35, once a fellow student of Ham’s at the mathematics faculty of Kim Il Sung University, is brisk in speech and action. More like a sportsman than a teacher, Ri is said to have been unusually competitive in his university days. Actually he is fond of sports. He acts only as a forward in a football or basketball match. Perhaps this is why pupils of the school feel unusual affinities with him.

Unusually interested in the world of mathematics in his days as a pupil of East Pyongyang Secondary School No. 1, he had a dream of becoming a famous mathematician.

But after graduation from university he became a teacher. So to speak, he became a back who supports a forward.

Asked if he was sorry for the fact, he said, “I did not only understand the profound principle of mathematics in my university days. You should be able to find your place as desired by the country that brought you up—this is what I say to the pupils who leave to take part in the international mathematics Olympiad, that is, you should become gold medal winners without fail.”

I Believe in My Students

Yom Ryong Gol, 41, is a man of few words, and a specialist in the elementary theory of numbers. The elementary theory of numbers requires pupils to solve problems in a singular way with limited knowledge and mathematical tools. Yom always tells his pupils to hold fast to the principle in study and life. What he wants the pupils to do is finding out a clever method of solving problems quickly through deep thought and with few words.

While guiding the pupils in solving problems, he does not add his explanation or notes. To hint at a link alone so as to develop a pupil’s own creativity to the maximum so that the pupil could have confidence in his or her ability—this is the teacher’s main emphasis in guiding the pupils in their study.

Yom says, “I believe in my pupils. I have no doubt that when they become confident that there are no problems they cannot solve with their brains they will surely win gold medals at the international mathematics Olympiad.”

After graduating from the basics faculty (the faculty of applied mathematics at present) newly formed at Kim Chaek University of Technology, Yom worked as an instructor of the mathematics circle at Changdok School. He says that the principle of education he grasped in practice has changed even his character.

Short Cut

Han Yong Ran is often seen carried away when solving mathematical problems in her spare time during her guidance to pupils in their study. Pupils ask her why she solves problems again and again. They wonder why the teacher, who they think knows everything in mathematics, keeps solving problems.

One day, when checking examination papers, Han discovered that one of the pupils solved a problem by means of a very simple and clever method. She then felt satisfied with the fast development of the pupils. At the same time she remembered a pupil saying he was sorry that he had failed to write the perfect solution to a problem within the limited time because of its long procedures at a mathematics contest.

From then on the teacher devoted all her energies to defining the best method to shorten the procedures while grasping the essence of them. She spent several nights avidly reading foreign reference books, and frequently had a heated discussion with pupils while skipping her meals to lead them to develop a clever method of solving problems for themselves. In checking examination papers she gave half marks to those pupils whose solving procedures were complicated although their answers were correct.

Han’s strenuous efforts led to the enhancement of the pupils’ ability.

Hong Chung Song, one of the aforesaid gold medal winners, says, “It is an elementary formula that the best short cut from one point to another is a straight course. Han Yong Ran taught us the short cut for us to make rapid progress to reach the world-class level.”