UK Forcing maths on the population is straight out of China's playbook - I mean the alternative seems to be teaching kids 90780970 gender identities and how whitey is bad

The most useful maths I ever learned I learned between the ages of five and nine, including memorisation of times tables, fractions, percentages and division. These come into daily life and understanding them on a very basic level is completely essential. Beyond that, attempts to force maths down my throat and have it digested as meaning something other than terror and confusion – and there were a great many attempts – came to little. That’s not quite fair. When I put my mind to it I found I liked numbers, so long as I wasn’t forced to go beyond say quadratic equations (of which I now remember nothing).

If only someone sensible who is bad at maths but successful at life could have sat down with Rishi Sunak before he announced a policy to make all schoolchildren take maths till 18.

This is a pointless and unpleasant idea. Unpleasant because for those who struggle with maths, it is a deeply humiliating, fruitless process being made to do it to a level beyond the basic. And they will never remember it as anything other than hell - in short, it’d put them off for life.

Now to the pointless. These days, it is unclear exactly what purpose all those years of forced maths would be. Anyone can turn to an iPhone or Google for fast calculations, simple or complex. Yes, lack of maths skills might mean we don’t know what questions to ask our calculators or browsers but then do all maths types know what questions to ask of Shakespeare's sonnets – and is that a problem? Not particularly. And the benefits of maths and numeracy are hardly kept secret. Any pupil knows that if they want to become affluent, they’ll probably need maths – all banking, management consultancy, IT and insurance jobs, plus any other remunerative line of work arguably bar law, requires a decent level. But it’s up to them whether they want to pursue such a path. It’s not Rishi’s job to decide it for them.

Britain is meant to be a society where individualism can flourish, and that surely ought to include education. In the Soviet Union or China, enforced maths for all might have been de rigeur, but here in Blighty, those who like or want to pursue digits should have every encouragement, and those who don’t should be allowed to devote themselves to things they like. That way, one day, if they feel it’d be good to know more maths, they may actually feel like learning some.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/08/forcing-maths-population-straight-chinas-playbook (Archive)

 

[Blobby's Murder Knife]

Soh-Ca-Toa is practically rocket science, be more sensitive to the less able lol

Whoa, whoa, slow down your racism there buddy.

A California teacher was placed on leave after video shows her mimicking Native American dance | CNN

A math teacher in Southern California has been placed on leave after videos posted online showed her wearing a headdress and mimicking a Native American dance during a lesson.

www.cnn.com

 

[Johnny Salami]

I used to be a math tutor as well as teach remedial math at the college level so I have some insight

These days, it is unclear exactly what purpose all those years of forced maths would be.

People seem to be forgetting the point of a liberal arts education. That is, to make you a more rounded person. Math also forces you to think much more differently then say a class about writing since there is an actual right answer. You're also introduced to simple concepts like measuring and diluding. But of course I don't expect a fucking journo to know this as they never measure shit and order their 22$ avocado toast.

Yes, lack of maths skills might mean we don’t know what questions to ask our calculators or browsers but then do all maths types know what questions to ask of Shakespeare's sonnets

This bitch is the type of person that thinks she's getting a worst deal on the third pounder as opposed to the quarter pounder

But beyond that there's a reason that statistics is the class many college students take besides being the one class with the least amount prereqs

As I told my students, stats and numbers are used to scare you but when put into context the situation isn't as bad. People telling you the average has increased/decreased is pointless as the data could be skewed.

Honestly there's a reason why California is requiring less math and in a few years Math will be banned since Niggers can't into math

 

[Safir]

Soh-Ca-Toa is practically rocket science, be more sensitive to the less able lol

lmao what is this
I have a raging hate boner against mnemonics. They don't do anything but obscure instances of educational failure. Trig is fundamental. You get there from geometry, graphs (of functions), mechanics, basic calculus, imaginary numbers, electromagnetism. You need to have this sine-cosine thing in your bones, like I have residual radiation from chokeberries. Anyone who resorts to mnemonics can't fucking read. If you ever get so drunk/high you can't remember whether it's sin or cos that trends to zero, you need to be recalling sinx / x and going "oh yeah right lmao", not "uh does 'a' stand for antithetical maybe?".

The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to learn new things.

The older you get, the less time you have for learning new things, and the less time you have for the investment to pay off. But it's never too late for linear algebra, or number theory, or graphs (as in connected vertices). They're beautiful. (Fuck differential equations though.)

 

[Fomo Hoire]

It's just math you smoothbrained nonce. I doubt even by 18 they'll force you to learn vectors, it'll be Calculus at worst. Such a horror!

I mean I agree that it's not going to be torture... But am I being exceptionally retarded here?

Isn't a vector just like... A line in a certain direction with a certain direction length/magnitude? Mostly matrix math given a visual representation. Whereas calculus is that "If an X% solution is flowing into a vat of a metric ton of Y% solution at a rate of Q liters per second, and perfectly mixed solution flows out of the vat at a rate of P gallons per second, at what point in time is the solution leaving the vat Z% concentrated?" problem?

Are vectors really worse than calculus? Or am I completely forgetting what the different kinds of maths are?

People seem to be forgetting the point of a liberal arts education. That is, to make you a more rounded person. Math also forces you to think much more differently then say a class about writing since there is an actual right answer.

At my college they took things the other way; mathematical thinking was required but some teachers would shoehorn in "oh but my course is totally about logic" so their class would count as an easy credit and attract students. Similar happened with science lab courses, and probably other subjects I didn't pay attention to.

Just another thing that got subverted I guess; liberal arts well roundedness is now about molding a course to the theme on paper than it is about making the student explore different ways of thinking. Kind of like how justifying that everything including male suicide is a feminist issue, and troons are women, I guess. Force the peg to fit the hole.

 

[Safir]

Are vectors really worse than calculus? Or am I completely forgetting what the different kinds of maths are?

No, they aren't. Vectors are easy. Integral calculus is where the nasty "guess the solution" shit starts, which can murder motivation.

 

[I'm Retarded?]

how dare you force me to improve myself in ways I don't immediately value as a child, this is LITERALLY gommulism

 

[Johnny Salami]

I mean I agree that it's not going to be torture... But am I being exceptionally retarded here?

Isn't a vector just like... A line in a certain direction with a certain direction length/magnitude? Mostly matrix math given a visual representation. Whereas calculus is that "If an X% solution is flowing into a vat of a metric ton of Y% solution at a rate of Q liters per second, and perfectly mixed solution flows out of the vat at a rate of P gallons per second, at what point in time is the solution leaving the vat Z% concentrated?" problem?

Are vectors really worse than calculus? Or am I completely forgetting what the different kinds of maths are?


At my college they took things the other way; mathematical thinking was required but some teachers would shoehorn in "oh but my course is totally about logic" so their class would count as an easy credit and attract students. Similar happened with science lab courses, and probably other subjects I didn't pay attention to.

Just another thing that got subverted I guess; liberal arts well roundedness is now about molding a course to the theme on paper than it is about making the student explore different ways of thinking. Kind of like how justifying that everything including make suicide is a feminist issue, and troons are women, I guess. Force the peg to fit the hole.

I learned vectors in my Math Analysis class in 10th grade, but just basic addition, multiplication, and converting it to magnitude and angle. I believe we also covered them in my high school physics class.

At this point I'm surprised a liberal arts education hasn't been given directly to the DNC to control. It'll happen soon anyways

 

[Penis Drager 2.0]

You could make this argument about any subject:
"When am I ever gonna need to know what a gerund is"
"When am I ever gonna need to know what mitochondria are?"
"When am I ever gonna need to know literally anything about the War of Roses"

99% of anything you learn in school means absolutely fuckall to 99% of people. The point is to exercise your higher thinking and retention skills from an early age because those WILL come up in your everyday life.

 

[Plague Dog]

Well I'm thoroughly grateful for the years I wasted learning algebra, calculus trigonometry and quadratic equations that never came up during my adult life ever.

For every person who says that they've never used algebra, I see someone who doesn't understand what algebra is or who is a complete and utter moron. If you've ever tried to figure how many beers you can get with the 20 in your pocket, congratulations you've just done algebra.

As I told my students, stats and numbers are used to scare you but when put into context the situation isn't as bad. People telling you the average has increased/decreased is pointless as the data could be skewed.

I love explaining this too! If you drink a little more than a six pack on the weekend, does that mean that you drink 1 beer every day on average? It's so fun watching people figure that is technically true but doesn't accurately describe reality in a meaningful way.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

"When am I ever gonna need to know what mitochondria are?"

Ooh ooh I know this one! You need to know what mitochondria are when you're a negress taking a DNA test to find your long lost African tribe, and you're utterly shocked because you can't comprehend that a black man fucked your white great great great great grandma mom's mom's mom's mom's mom's mom. (Clarified to be purely matrilineal).

 

[Executive Petrel]

existance of autistics that don't like maths confirmed.

 

[Cyclonus]

If you've ever tried to figure how many beers you can get with the 20 in your pocket, congratulations you've just done algebra.

Basic division is algebra?

 

[JosephStalin]

Found if you can add, subtract, multiply and divide you can do any math out there. Didn't do well in math in high school. Didn't take math again until attending a university. Started one fall with basic math, took progressively more difficult courses and ended up completing calculus less than two years later. In my military career and in civilian jobs the most math ever used was basic algebra.

On a side note, didn't know what a gerund was in English until I learned what a gerund was in Korean.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

I shall force my firstborn to recite pi every single day. Why? Because I can, zeptograms.

 

[Fomo Hoire]

Basic division is algebra?

Being able to translate the word problem into an equation and identify where the numbers go is.

 

[Cyclonus]

So when you ask primary school kids "I have 5 apples in one hand and four apples in the other. What do I have in total?" (Answer: nine apples and two very large hands) that's algebra is it?

 

[General Emílio Médici]

The UK needs to fucking implode already what a fucking joke of a country. Sinking since 1991, hopelessly lost since 1997.

 

[Beak Thing]

You could make this argument about any subject:
"When am I ever gonna need to know what a gerund is"
"When am I ever gonna need to know what mitochondria are?"
"When am I ever gonna need to know literally anything about the War of Roses"

99% of anything you learn in school means absolutely fuckall to 99% of people. The point is to exercise your higher thinking and retention skills from an early age because those WILL come up in your everyday life.

What's especially funny is if you offered them "real world" courses as an alternative to gain useful skills in the trades, carpentry, auto mechanics, getting a CDL, etc. they'd bitch about that as well. These are the kind of people who would have just starved to death a couple centuries ago.

 

[Blobby's Murder Knife]

Like I get math sucks, but this is more your teacher's fault and your own lack of motivation, why that is. Math actually is important, but it needs to be taught in practical ways in 90% of cases. Like why am I learning this, how is it applicable to day to day life, and can my teacher teach it in a relevant and engaging way? Most math is taught assuming everyone is going to be a nuclear engineers. Practical math first, abstract/higher second.

 

[Idiotron]

I hate this article because it makes me defend the actions of Rishi Sunak.
He's a fucking piece of shit but raising the education standard on a national scale is a good thing.
This isn't some partisan propaganda disguised as education, it's fucking math.
Maybe Sunak isn't all bad after all... I can't believe I just typed that.