Compulsory Maths till you’re 18.

Growstuff, what makes you think I tolerate someone who can't interpret a basic graph? Most are self explanatory.

growstuff

I'm stunned by the number of posters who say they hated maths at school and would have rebelled.

I hated English Literature, but just got on with it.

Indeed. I obviously hated English, all of it. Still had to get on.

Do I wish I gave classes I hated a better go? Yes.

volver

There are lots of people saying how they have never used maths in real life.

I can confidently say that I have never missed not knowing how to lay bricks.

On many other threads, there are those who support the idea of compulsory cooking in school. I have never had a cookery lesson in my life, but I can cook and eat healthily. The reason I can cook is that I was taught how to read and do maths, so I can adapt recipes to different quantities. I also understand the basics of good nutrition because I know how many calories my body needs and the recommended ratios of macronutrients, so I can work out meal plans with the right number of carbs, proteins and fat. That's maths in action.

Norah

growstuff

I'm stunned by the number of posters who say they hated maths at school and would have rebelled.

I hated English Literature, but just got on with it.

Indeed. I obviously hated English, all of it. Still had to get on.

Do I wish I gave classes I hated a better go? Yes.

I didn't hate English Language. I did German, French, Spanish and Latin at school. Language structure was like a code to me - a bit like maths.

minniemouse

Growstuff, what makes you think I tolerate someone who can't interpret a basic graph? Most are self explanatory.

Have a look at the interpretations if graphs on the Coivd threads and you might reconsider that.

Someone who worked with me gave me a report he'd written about something. There was a graph in it, I asked him what it showed. He told me he didn't know but he knew I liked graphs. 🤦🏼

minniemouse

Growstuff, what makes you think I tolerate someone who can't interpret a basic graph? Most are self explanatory.

You might think so, but the evidence before our eyes, especially at the start of the pandemic (even on GN) showed that some people can't interpret them.

I should have spent more time on English 🤣

interpretations of graphs on the Covid threads

Snap Volver.

Great minds growstuff, great minds!

volver

I should have spent more time on English 🤣

interpretations of graphs on the Covid threads

Or touch typing. The "i" and "o" on my keyboard have worn off and I frequently get them wrong.

Growstuff how did you get to Covid on this thread??
Basic Arithmetic and basic English Grammar ! That is all I am promoting !

I learnt touch typing on Friday afternoons growstuff. One term. Next term I did engine maintenance. Seriously. 🤣

I'll let you explain about Covid and associated graphs....

All jobs require maths, even low paid employment. Everyone at my manufacturing environment has to use maths, sometimes with varying reliability but they all use maths. I use a maths that wasn't even taught in maths

I am absolutely useless with figures, although I have managed to work in retail, pubs, etc. made all my children's clothes, home furnishings and always did all the decorating. All these required simple maths. I can spot a spelling or grammatical mistake a mile off. We are all different.

Given the above, why do you say you are "useless with figures" Mollie3? You're obviously not.

minniemouse

Growstuff how did you get to Covid on this thread??
Basic Arithmetic and basic English Grammar ! That is all I am promoting !

Because I saw an inability to understand statistics on the many threads about Covid. I was using them as an example of the poor understanding many people seem to have of maths which is essential to making sense of real life.

I used maths for technical drawing and metalwork, but I never thought if it as doing maths. It was part of the subject itself. So there’s a fairly good agreement of what constitutes necessary maths further up the school but what about basic maths at earlier primary level?
Should children still be taught to tell the time on analogue clocks, something I learnt before I went to school. Fewer children have analogue watches. Using and understanding them from the importance importance of the placement of the hands to the recording of the answer to time problems is part of every year’s teaching from the start. Some children just don’t get it.
What about money-particularly coinage? How much practice do you think children get nowadays? What do you think is essential for children to understand about money? Think of all the coins we knew and used until decimalisation? Shape, Area, volume, mass, basic algebra?
What do GNs think is essential for children to know?

From his comments I don't think that RS was suggesting advanced trigonometry but practical maths for everyday living. This would include working out Income Tax, understanding interest rates, getting a mortgate and interpreting statistics. Perhaps someone will explain to him that it is better for the Conservatives if the plebs don't understand these things.

I don't think we all need to master calculus and so on, but everyday skills like understanding interest rates and compound interest, how much paint or carpet you need to refurb your room, and how to budget your income would be useful.

I failed my maths O level. I had no interest in maths whatsoever. I did go on to working in financial services for several years to a high level. I completed a basic accountancy course at evening classes just to see if I could do it. Luckily my O level failure did not hold me back. I would have hated having to do another 2 years of study.

At my Grammer school in the 1930s we had to take every. Subject to get matriculation. Then I went for a year at a school of commerce and languages which included maths.

I agree with Growstuff that far too many people seem to think it’s somehow appealing to be bad at maths. Would they admit to being illiterate? I am not particularly mathematically minded but I love numbers and the maths rounds of Countdown are my favourites. My year group was the last to use log tables as scientific calculators were becoming much more available and affordable. I loved logarithms, sines, cosines and tangents and looking them up in the tables. Graphs too. The crucial thing was that l was well taught from the very beginning. We had lots of practice in the basics, which is so very important, before moving on to more advanced maths. I remember Alpha and Beta books at primary school, along with 6 a day, 7 a day etc books. As a musician, I notice more and more how much maths is part of how music works, particularly symmetry and sequences but other aspects are involved. I think logic is the most important aspect of mathematics and that which most of us use in our daily lives. All that being said, I do not think it a good idea to extend maths teaching to the age of eighteen for most people. Also, why is it always the arts that are downgraded at the expense of maths and science? We need all subjects in order to be a well-rounded society. Music, my subject, is about so much more than beautiful tunes. As I have already said, maths is involved, science, an aptitude for languages helps and history. In order to fully understand what is behind the musical piece, you need to know what was going on in the wider world as well as the history of the other arts. I would think this could be applied to virtually every subject.

Not me. I struggled with maths and arithmetic - gradual realisation late in life that I have dyscalculia. Compulsory maths until 18 would have been horrendous.

Musicgirl that is probably my favourite ever post on Gransnet 👏

JaneJudge

All jobs require maths, even low paid employment. Everyone at my manufacturing environment has to use maths, sometimes with varying reliability but they all use maths. I use a maths that wasn't even taught in maths

Exactly, we are not talking about Algebra and trigonometry here- but basic, common sense arithmetics- very difficult to cope in life without.