Nguyen Kieu Hieu, one of the two excellent students of Le Quy Don Gifted Sc

hool in Da Nang and also won the silver medal at the International Mathematics Olympiad 2010, refused a scholarship worth tens thousands dollars granted by area authorities to study at a university in Hanoi.

Teacher Nguyen Duy Thai Son and his two students Nguyen Kieu Hieu (right) and Pham Viet Cuong (left)
Hieu decided to refuse the scholarship since it does not allow him to study mathematics, which is his only wish.

Hieu was an excellent student in his 12 years at general school. In high school, Hieu won one second prize and two first prizes at competitions for excellent students in mathematics. He also won third prize at a national competition and then the silver prize at IMO 2010. Hieu will study mathematics at Hanoi National University.
If Hieu’s talent had not been discovered by Nguyen Duy Thai Son, a teacher who devotes himself to mathematics and teaching, Hieu’s life would have been different.

When the teacher discovers a talent

Hieu’s father died when Hieu was nine, and mother stayed home to raise her son. Being a worker who could not earn much money, Kieu Thi Ba had to take on many extra jobs to feed the child. Hieu felt conflicted about his situation, therefore, he always kept quiet and sat in the corner of his class. Hieu rarely spoke or played with friends. Hieu did not have good socialization skills and he regularly found ways to solve mathematics questions that were different from normal, so he rarely made high scores.

Son discovered Hieu’s talent, finding that Hieu had good logical thought and creative ways of solving math questions. All members of Son’s class go to the teacher’s house to “eat, sleep, learn and play”, but Hieu is the student Son loves most. Son helped Hieu overcome his inferiority complex and awarded Hieu the annual scholarship.

When talking about students, Son noted: “I have happy minutes when my students and I gathered to prepare meals. This helps me recall boyhood. I regularly criticized Hieu’s timidity. I have a lot of mathematics books that my students can take for free. If they find something difficult, they can talk with me.”

“Sometimes, both the student and I could not find the answers. When I suddenly found the answer once at midnight, I immediately called Hieu to talk about it. I think that if the teacher has a passion for mathematics, his students will also love math.”

Teacher Nguyen Duy Thai Son has 25 years of experience in researching and teaching mathematics at universities and high schools. Son published 20 papers in prestigious journals in Vietnam, Russia, the US and Japan. Son was invited to work as professors and offered post-doctorates at big universities and education centres in the world. In 2003, Son returned to Da Nang under the city’s policy on recruiting talents.

“I want to study mathematics to the last”

When asked why Hieu refused such a big scholarship, Hieu explained the scholarship does not allow him to study the branch he loves – mathematics. “I want to study mathematics to the last,” he said.

Hieu believes that he made the right decision. “I do not know what to do, except mathematics,” he noted.

He anticipates that he will have difficulties when studying at Hanoi National University, but he believes that he can overcome them.

Talking about the decision, Son observed that, if Hieu can study well at the university, he will be chosen to study abroad. If so, the path for Hieu will be smoother.

“Every month, Hieu will get one million dong from the university’s scholarship and one million dong from the province. He will also tutor students to earn more. He will be okay. I believe he has ability to become a doctorate in mathematics,” he averred.