Compulsory Maths till you’re 18.

Iam64

Well, just what the country needs, students forced to do a subject like maths till they’re 18. It’s one what to guarantee 6th forms and therefore university places will reduce.

I’m honestly not disputing the importance of numeracy. What this government is showing yet again, is contempt for the arts. That includes English and History
The arts contribute enormously to improved mental health as well as the economy

As I said previously, it is all designed to distract us from what is vitally important pro tempore.

Latin to A level? Yes!
To understand the present you need to learn past history.

I’m assuming that he means functional maths, e.g. how to work out percentages, how to work out how many tiles are needed to cover X area, how to understand rates of interest - and many other basics, I’m sure.

I'm clearly not normal then...🤣

I'm glad to say that I last attempted differential calculus 60 years ago and I've never needed it since - along with algebra and trigonometry.

I failed O Level maths (the only O Level I did fail) and nothing would have induced me to attempt it again. My friend and I were discussing it today and decided we had learned all the maths we needed for normal life by the time we left primary school.

Improving children's English would be more useful. So many leave school unable to put together coherent sentences in what is supposed to be their native language. My daughter finds that she spends a lot of time editing her post grad student's written work as they have great ideas but are unable to put them into understandable English (unless they are foreign, when their English is usually perfect)

No sorry, me again.

A subject like maths

What does that mean?

Well, just what the country needs, students forced to do a subject like maths till they’re 18. It’s one what to guarantee 6th forms and therefore university places will reduce.

I’m honestly not disputing the importance of numeracy. What this government is showing yet again, is contempt for the arts. That includes English and History
The arts contribute enormously to improved mental health as well as the economy

English yes, numeracy no!

What?

No! There are so many options. Managing your bank account, mortgage, savings etc. English yes, numeracy no!

😲😂

I'm sure our French Mam'selle would have sussed us!

And here's a tip for a foreign language oral exam - go in on crutches, or wearing a sling, having learned the relevant vocabulary for this fictitious accident - works like a charm!

Distraction techniques.

It won’t work, at sixteen if you don’t want to do Maths you won’t.

Luckygirl3

I did really well at O-level maths in spite of hating it.

I wrote down all the formulae I was likely to need and read these up to the last moment going into the exam room, then screwed the paper up and chucked it on the floor as I went in. As soon as they said we could start, I wrote them all down at the top of my paper!

It's not always knowledge that gets you through!

Luckygirl I was told to give up GCE Maths but refused and got a very good mark. The exam seemed exceptionally easy compared to what our rather hopeless teacher (she was useless at communicating) was teaching us which was way beyond 'O' level standard.

I remember looking at the exam paper and 😲 because it seemed easy!
I did need it, so thank goodness I stood my ground.

Lucky girl - that’s a cracking story. Great work

I did really well at O-level maths in spite of hating it.

I wrote down all the formulae I was likely to need and read these up to the last moment going into the exam room, then screwed the paper up and chucked it on the floor as I went in. As soon as they said we could start, I wrote them all down at the top of my paper!

It's not always knowledge that gets you through!

Yes, I used some maths but maths which was specific.

The Maths taught to the age of 16 should provide a basic grounding for everyone, whether they need it for everyday use in their future lives or if they wish to pursue it at a higher level to A level or beyond.

dedicated educated

My life has been more enhanced by my understanding of art than the maths TBH. And I picked up enough along the way to help me do the stats I needed to do.

This is not a criticism makemineajammiedodger. We must all do what suits us best. I'm glad that Art enhanced your life.

But maths can be life enhancing too. I benefitted a lot more from knowing and understanding maths than I ever would have from art. When the topic of maths is reduced to calculators, slide rules and knowing how much paint to buy, I think that it just demonstrates the lack of understanding among many people about what maths actually is.

I've learnt a lot about art along the way. And music. And literature. I would have been terrible at Highers in any of those subjects, and I don't pretend to understand as much as somebody who is dedicated in them. I guess "I know what I like" (sorry!)

Luckygirl3:

'I think the nature of the maths taught is important. For some students pure maths is appropriate, but for the vast majority there needs to be practical arithmetic that will prove useful in their future lives and hopefully they will have had this teaching pre-GCSE'

Sadly, many of those improving their grades (in FE) had a limited understanding and/or had just memorised the formulas/methods/recipes to 'do maths'.

I had great success with using money examples, as most of them were savvy with percentage discounts, cash, change etc. but hadn't transferred that learning to dealing with figures!

volver

^how many of us have to use all the maths we were taught?^

Well, me...😂😂

I so agree with FannyCornforth

So do I, if you can't do maths at the level they seem to want at 16 what will two more wasted years at school do?

Most people need practical maths and if they don't understand that by the age of 16, perhaps they never will.

how many of us have to use all the maths we were taught?
I did answer a quiz question the other day where the question was "how many .....? in a gross"
😁

Doodledog

It would depend what it meant. If it meant resitting GCSE until you pass, then yes, I’d be ok with that, as level 2 is very basic; but insisting everyone takes A level maths seems more than a little pointless. Also, would there be similar requirements to study English? I would apply the same thinking to that, if so. Everyone should be at least at level 2 before leaving school, but there is a big gap to get to A level. There has to be more nuance than that I think.

Having said that, I don’t have an O level in maths, and I have 3 degrees, two of which are postgraduate, one of those requiring the use of statistics in the dissertation. It’s by no means essential.

Totally agree. I have a Ph.D in a Social Sciences field, so loads of statistical analysis required. I only did Maths to O Grade (an Arithmetic, back in the day). I made my mum call school to take me out of the Higher Maths class because I hated it even though the school wanted me to do it. I took art instead. My life has been more enhanced by my understanding of art than the maths TBH. And I picked up enough along the way to help me do the stats I needed to do.

My worst nightmare! I dreaded Fridays when we had triple maths!

It was compulsory for BTEC, RSA, City & Guilds Students studying for equivalent of A levels at all the schools I taught in. The level attained was not much more difficult than B grade GCSE but more importantly kept those skills going. It was invaluable for those intending to go into business immediately after especially self employment.
The Students had knowledge about book keeping, balance sheets, how much to charge for their labour and how many hours labour they would have to do without charging in order to stay afloat!
Compound interest (bank loans) was always a challenge but calculators could come to the rescue as well as neat working on paper. The course also covered using computer spread sheets and searching for mistakes!
During my A Level course back in the Stone Age (mid 1960’s) I learned how to use a Slide Rule.
When negotiating with the Government (late 60’s) on the Trade Union side it was only I who could calculate the cost of any acceptable Offers and what it would mean to my fellow workers.

Calculus, trig, geometry, algebra, number systems, stats. Not an exclusive list.

TBF, Fourier transforms never really came in that handy after second year at university.

So what do you count as ‘maths’ then VD?