Compulsory Maths till you’re 18.

I had to do maths and only maths for two terms in order to just pass maths for my Oxford School Certificate. I.e that would approximate to O-level.

I enjoyed the language of Euclid but for some reason, maybe an indisciplined nature , I was bad at calculating.

Maths for me at school ws another star system!!!! It meant zerø to me until ...... I went to work for post office telephones in Manchester on the acco in nts group!! Their folly I thought! But- when it was people's money that had to be accounted for down to the half pence- EUREKA!!! It all.made.sense!!! Don't know why or how but it Flickr and I was as good/better than most at managing the 15000 accounts I eventually had in my control mostly manual calculations too until we were issued calculator in 1977!! I pressed at lightening speed to understanding accounts/spreadsheets etc eventually ending my working life as an international Credit Manager for our aerospace industry!!! So practical maths for me was the key that unlocked my potential.simply tacking on another 2years' worth of boring schoolroom maths will NOT solve issues for the non math pupils....

Mollygo

Popsie
It’s getting silly now. There is a need to get back to basics not studying maths at a level which isn’t necessarily appropriate.
Which brings us back to the eternal question of what do posters on GN consider to be basic maths?

Interpreting graphs and charts, understanding rates of interest/decrease and how they impact future rates (cost of living, pay, etc), understanding averages, risk and probability, being able to work out ingredients for a 6 inch cake when you have instructions for an 8 inch cake ...

Applied arithmetic rather than pure maths.

Totally agree with you, same situation with yours, I would simply refuse to go to school if this was forced on me

Growstuff
Applied arithmetic rather than pure maths.
👏👏👏

Maybe improving classroom methods would be the key. It certainly seems that way from what some GNers are claiming from their ability to do real life maths after being classroom failures.

Mollygo

Growstuff
Applied arithmetic rather than pure maths.
👏👏👏

That list was only a start.

I think I agree with growstuff on this.

So I should point out that for those who say they've never used the maths they learnt at school, this list includes algebra, geometry and statistics.

Come ON!!!!! GN !!!! How is Flickr in predictive text?!?!? Instead of clicked? Which is what I typed?!? Sort out editing tools

I skip the gauge check and have made some fabulous winter jumpers which fit. I pay by credit card and I buy the number of balls of wool mentioned in the pattern. I like easy!

My partner wants to refit his quite small bathroom. Coincidentally, I was looking at layout plans for fitting everything in and leaving room for people to move comfortably and it occurred to me how much maths was involved.

ronib

I skip the gauge check and have made some fabulous winter jumpers which fit. I pay by credit card and I buy the number of balls of wool mentioned in the pattern. I like easy!

But have you ever used squared paper to adapt a pattern?

If you get right into knitting you have to think about yarn substitutions. And amending patterns which are not an exact fit for you, or whoever you are knitting for.

Making sleeves longer and accommodating the required increases. Making sleeves shorter Fitting fair isle patterns or cables into the number of stitches you have. Understanding 3 dimensional shapes so you can make fingers in gloves or turn a heel properly in socks.

It's maths in action !!

We ALREADY kind of do- as Hetty58 points out- its part of Further education, college courses etc- the youngsters are forced to attain it in college alongside their college course if they failed it at GCSE- and english also- and keep ploughing away at it till they do pass- so technically can be beyond 18! This is all ridiculous- how is this freedom of choice?

Go into a pub and watch the local pool champion seeing off all-comers for the night. She's using an intuitive knowledge of some pretty sophisticated maths and physics and probably hasn't sat a post-GCSE exam in either subject.

Conversely, there are plenty of maths PhDs who couldn't do a household budget for nuts.

As a retired secondary maths teacher who taught all abilities from special needs to A level I was appalled by his ill thought out statement. Also I am very worried when people claim almost as a badge of honour that they were bad at maths, they would not do this over literacy!
Bobby Seagull was interviewed about this and made many salient points and I do hope the government were listening. It should not be further exam study unless a student has not yet reached a basic standard. However teaching understanding of statistics, percentages, interest and household management would be good.
My main caveat however is even when I was teaching we had a shortage of qualified staff and it was a disaster getting a PE teacher ,say, to fill in to make up their timetable. It is demoralising for students to be taught by somebody who hated the subject themselves.
Teachers need to be far better paid to even get them to train for maths and science and technology as it is far better paid and less stressful in industry.
My own son who got top grades at A level in double maths, Physics and electronics and went on to Imperial College and got a Masters and PHD, always aimed to start on a salary higher than the one I finished on as a deputy head of a large maths department! He succeeded easily and started on a salary over £100,000 a year with many fellow students earning more than double that.

A very interesting thread but actually, the experience of us oldies is not that relevant to today. Today’s young adults need to be literate and numerate at a reasonable level. My GD seems to be doing well in arithmetic (which seems to be what she’s doing but having said that, she has mentioned algebra). She’s got a decent brain and is going to be ok. However, her mum is an English teacher at secondary level and despite her best efforts she tells me that some kids simply cannot get it, no matter what you do. She has said it’s unfair to keep them on as it’s just torturous for them.

You just wonder what business it is of governments to set curriculums, unless you happen to live in a communist country or a right wing dictatorship. They should concentrate on sorting out all the health problems and financial problems first.

Totally agree nanna!

I hope by maths it will be numeracy as in how to work out interest rates on loans, keeping to a budget, how mortgages work. Amazes me how many young people do not understand things such as compound interest etc

growstuff

Maybe improving classroom methods would be the key. It certainly seems that way from what some GNers are claiming from their ability to do real life maths after being classroom failures.

I have to agree, growstuff. Also with your comment about applied arithmetic'.

I didn't 'hate' maths at secondary school, but I struggled with it and found much of it boring. I think this is because, although it was a grammar school we had some truly appalling teachers and they were the ones who taught bottom sets (that was where I always was..).

I still have one of my maths GCE 'O' level papers on which I wrote my answers to each problem. I scraped a 6, the lowest 'pass' mark and I am mystified at how I even manged to achieve that as most of my answers are so utterly wrong... Yet I can answer them correctly now because of life experience of basic arithmetic.

I have to say that I quite liked geometry and have found Pythagoras 'square on the hypotenuse' incredibly useful for setting out right angles when doing things like fencing...

Some things do stick.

There should be a "Learn Everything for Life" course which should be mandatory for everyone
Changing a Plug, Changing a light bulb, cooking, hanging wallpaper, basic bricklaying, dressmaking, putting together flatpacks, budgeting.
I could go on .......

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.

Plunger

I hope by maths it will be numeracy as in how to work out interest rates on loans, keeping to a budget, how mortgages work. Amazes me how many young people do not understand things such as compound interest etc

this- and not understanding those basics is a disaster, for individuals, their families, and for society at large.

Tiggersuki

As a retired secondary maths teacher who taught all abilities from special needs to A level I was appalled by his ill thought out statement. Also I am very worried when people claim almost as a badge of honour that they were bad at maths, they would not do this over literacy!
Bobby Seagull was interviewed about this and made many salient points and I do hope the government were listening. It should not be further exam study unless a student has not yet reached a basic standard. However teaching understanding of statistics, percentages, interest and household management would be good.
My main caveat however is even when I was teaching we had a shortage of qualified staff and it was a disaster getting a PE teacher ,say, to fill in to make up their timetable. It is demoralising for students to be taught by somebody who hated the subject themselves.
Teachers need to be far better paid to even get them to train for maths and science and technology as it is far better paid and less stressful in industry.
My own son who got top grades at A level in double maths, Physics and electronics and went on to Imperial College and got a Masters and PHD, always aimed to start on a salary higher than the one I finished on as a deputy head of a large maths department! He succeeded easily and started on a salary over £100,000 a year with many fellow students earning more than double that.

It was possible for sports science graduates to qualify as secondary school teachers using an apprenticeship scheme rather than the more conventional PGCE route. So a PE teacher with a good grade at A level maths was properly prepared to cope with teaching GCSE mathematics. It makes sense to have two or more subjects as a sports teacher especially when not every 60 year old can run around the football pitch.

Of course there’s always the option of increasing knowledge as an adult via The Open University or Birkbeck and improving on mathematical knowledge.

Tiggersuki I forgot to mention that young football players starting out for the top teams are on salaries which make the starting salaries from Imperial look minuscule…. Btw