Mailwatch(ed) Forum

Rishi Sunak has been urged to abandon his maths plans after experts warned it will cause widespread division.

You mean his troubles will multiply?

Malcolm Armsteen wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:16 pm You mean his troubles will multiply?

Possibly. To do it properly we would have to integrate it into the curriculum and differentiate between the sets of those who can do maths and the lowest common demoniator that can't.

When I was working at De Montfort University, the library service ran drop-in maths lessons, because pretty much every subject would involve some sort of number crunching (usually stats) and many students hadn't done any since GCSE. That's what's needed - targeted, practical lessons and support concentrating on what you need to know, and the "pass mark" being increased confidence and being able to apply your knowledge.

What we'll get is anyone's guess though, as it appears maths teachers are somewhat thin on the ground. Maybe we can get some demobbed squaddies to shout times tables at the kids.

I gather that nurses are rather thin on the ground too, but Rishi seems to be threatening to sack a load of them for going on strike.

I've been reflecting on my own maths education. I passed O Level Maths with a Grade A at 15. As far as I was concerned I'd "completed" maths and was done with it. I would not have been happy with another three years of "busy work" maths.

To fill the Maths shaped hole in the timetable I had to study GCSE Statistics for a year. Didn't take it remotely seriously and the move to coursework rather than exams with GCSE was terrible for an undiagnosed autistic person with no concept of time. All these years down the line I wish I had paid attention. Survey design? Vital to unpicking opinion polls and churned out statistics. Standard deviations? Very useful the next time that Lean or Six Sigma becomes flavour of the month at work.

I then went on to University to study natural sciences. Three years off from Maths was a huge handicap that I never really recovered from.

TLDR - Targeted maths until 18 - Useful but complex and expensive to do right. Maths for the sake of it - sounds like vindictive punishment for all those avocado and soy milk wokes to me.

Bones McCoy wrote: ↑Wed Jan 04, 2023 10:13 pm We make our weekly return to Geroge Carlin's

Consider how stupid the average voter is.

I don't have a fix for that, but it doesn't stop me despairing.

Don’t rule out Sunak being returned to No 10, he’s the maths guy who understands the economy. Unlike Labour who sold all the gold.

Shades of the Express on climate change. Dara O'Briain (TCD graduate) vs Johnny Ball (former Redcoat).

"Foul mouthed comic vs TV's Mr Maths!"

Carol has been Tory bashing quite a bit recently on Twitter so Maths guy Rishi couldn’t be an easier target

I dimly recall a sketch from the Friday/ Saturday Night Armistice, where people from the Labour Party were sat behind a table in balaclavas. A journalists asked if they'd be prepared to shoot a puppy. They said of course. The joke was that Labour, as often, was trying too hard to look tough.

Sunak might as well turn up for PMQs in a balaclava. "Am I prepared to sack nurses? Yes, of course I will". He might as well say he'd shoot them. Quite amusing that he ran as the egghead Mr Experience guy in the leadership election. Imagine if they'd elected one of the mad ones. Again.

When did Carol Vorderman, who I always thought of as a classic eighties Thatcherite type, develop a social conscience?

davidjay wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 2:47 pm When did Carol Vorderman, who I always thought of as a classic eighties Thatcherite type, develop a social conscience?

Can't say when but she pisses off a lot of Brexiteers and Boris, Truss, Sunak fanboys on the tweets.

I wonder whether there was a Damascene moment, and if so what?

If you're referring to her infamous Question Time appearance in 2010, I'd say she was less pro-Cameron as pro-change. Strikes me as a typical swing voter.

She had a bee in her bonnet about life sentences, didn’t she? In fairness, all sorts of people have things like that.

And there's more.

I wish that Mr Calm Experience guy had won the leadership, not this goon who wants to outflank Liz Truss. Oh hang on.

Rishi Sunak considered banning thousands of workers from joining a union, according to leaked government emails detailing proposals described as potentially the “biggest attack on workers’ rights and freedoms” for decades.

The messages, shared between senior civil servants and seen by the Observer, reveal that the prime minister contemplated banning Border Force (BF) staff from trade union membership under its anti-strike legislation announced last Thursday.

Was this nonsense put in to make his preferred nonsense sound sensible?

I don't even get the relevance of the Border Force. Are they particularly troublesome? Or is the whole point to get "Rishi sticks it to Border Force" as if that's some sort of victory over small boats?

Sounds more macho than Customs and Excise.

Quick thing on Red Rishi's Maths Madness, I had a pal who worked as an education recruitment consultant and their comoany policy was that anyone looking to work as a maths teacher was leapfrogged immediately into urgent priority posting, such was the shortage for the subject at the time.

And this was circa 2012/13 when Tory gutting of education had only just started moving up the gears, I can only imagine the dearth of applicants now. They'll be thrilled at all this extra workload they are expected to provide for no extra pay.

Here's a problem.

Studying a mathematical discipline until leaving school could be a very positive thing if designed right.

Imagine the possibilities of putting the less inclined to practical issues that include numbers.
A next tier could have the numerical / statistical components of social science disciplines taught as a numeric core.
Something similar could be done with sets, logic and number bases for the computer types.
And you'd leave the pure and applied stuff in place for the "Maths and 2 sciences" stream.

Sounds great until you consider the const and image issues.

Needs more teachers, curricula, classrooms.
Can pupils double up on different maths tiers (Seems open to be gamed long the lines of general studies, general science, general classics or English as a second language (in cases when it isn't)).

Anything below the top stream will inevitably attract labels like "bog standard" (remember that), or "mickey mouse".
Schools offering this sort of variety will probably suffer in league tables too.
Which will trigger further discussion of EBacc and high exclusion rates.

You can guarantee that whatever schools do or don't do the Mail will sneer at it.