There's a new school for young people who love math: it's called
Proof School. It will be located in San Francisco near waterfront, easily reached by public transit from all over the Bay Area, to insure maximum geographic (and other) diversity, and will serve students in grades 6 through 12. It opens in 2015.
It looks to me to be very promising: it has the potential to be the best school for mathematically gifted children in the country. The school contrasts markedly with almost all schools (including famous ones) in that
the team has many mathematicians with PhDs.
I recently attended an information session about it, and thought I'd share some of what I learned. My memory of what was said is imperfect, and what was said isn't finalized, so what I say should be taken with a grain of salt.
- Class sizes will be 15.
- The school will tentatively be starting with students of grades 6, 7, 8, and 9.
- The school will proactively recruit girls, especially by starting with grade 6;
- Students will take the standard academic subjects in the morning and do math for 2.5 hours in the afternoon.
- The school will give high priority to maintaining efficiency so that little time is wasted and students have time to do both the standard academic subjects and the math.
- All students will study the same mathematical topic at the same time (with different classes aimed at students of different levels of sophistication), so that students can easily enroll in the section that's most appropriate for them.
- The school's goal is not to produce mathematicians, but to give a holistic education for children who love math.
- "Math" is defined broadly, including quantitative sciences.
- Students will be selected more based on interest than based on ability.
- The school will have a shuttle and will work to organize car pools so that students from around the greater Bay Area will be able to attend.
- The school ultimately aims to become a cultural hub for mathematics in the Bay Area (with lectures for the general public given after school).
