Compulsory Maths till you’re 18.

Callistemon21

LadyHonoriaDedlock

Pittcity

Square root of 169 or you lose your bus pass! 🤣

"Alexa, what's the square root of 169?"

Every schoolchild in the 1950s could answer that instantly.

I don't think I've ever used it, though, until Rishi asked me 😂

You have 169 paving slabs. What size patio could you pave with them?

Coco51

If children haven’t grasped the contexts of maths by age sixteen there’s not much point in putting them through two more years. They need only to know basic arithmetic unless going for study or jobs with more demanding concepts.

Or they could be shown how to use the concepts they've already learnt in real life situations. It doesn't need to be advanced maths.

growstuff. As said, I made a sideway move. The young man was being logical which you can apply around math.

If children haven’t grasped the contexts of maths by age sixteen there’s not much point in putting them through two more years. They need only to know basic arithmetic unless going for study or jobs with more demanding concepts.

Understanding basic statistics is vital to be able to judge the veracity of reports and ignore false assessments of things like the efficacy of vaccinations.

It is interesting today to compare the attention given to LGBTQIA people with their real, self identified numbers in our population.

I back all diffusion of numeracy to every generation.

LadyHonoriaDedlock

Pittcity

Square root of 169 or you lose your bus pass! 🤣

"Alexa, what's the square root of 169?"

Every schoolchild in the 1950s could answer that instantly.

I don't think I've ever used it, though, until Rishi asked me 😂

Fleurpepper I’ve known people get on degree courses without maths.

This has been so for a very long time- you can't go on to Uni or Advanced Edu without GCSE maths and English at C or above.

In my day it was Arithmetic O Level, Maths was separate , which was just as well as could not get to grips with that. I wd say English and Arithmetic till you are 16 , then you wd have basics, which is essential. According to my daughter ( 48 ) who has just finished an add on teaching degree to her English degree ( which she did at 20 ) she wd not have got on course without English and Maths O Levels amongst others which surprised me.

Pittcity

Square root of 169 or you lose your bus pass! 🤣

"Alexa, what's the square root of 169?"

Callistemon21
^ But shouldn't every schoolchild have learnt enough by GCSE level to use in their future, whatever path they take in life?^

Yes, ideally, but as we have read on here, poor maths skills, for whatever reason have been a fact of life for many people since their own childhood.

Square root of 169 or you lose your bus pass! 🤣

Fleurpepper

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.

But shouldn't every schoolchild have learnt enough by GCSE level to use in their future, whatever path they take in life?

It's all a distraction.

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.

Musicgirl that is probably my favourite ever post on Gransnet 👏

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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?

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.

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

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.