Almost seven million adults struggle to answer maths and English questions that are meant for 11-year-olds, the Government said today, as it announced free training to improve the basic skills of adults [From the Times]
Have you noticed that people may be ashamed to admit weaknesses in literacy but find it perferctly normal to say "I'm bad at Maths" ?
Have you noticed that people may be ashamed to admit weaknesses in literacy but find it perferctly normal to say "I'm bad at Maths" ?
Yes, but what they often mean is that they are 'bad at mental arithmetic' which is not the same thing as Maths. Calculators mean there is no need to be good at this, although I suppose you have to know what you're doing to use one. Which does the Government really mean?
Barrie
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In our small Cornish school, we all had to know our tables to 12 by the age of 6. I still remember how the entire class spent an afternoon (three hours) with our hands on our head because someone said "three fours is twelve" instead of "three fours are twelve". But let me tell you: It was worth it because, even today, I can give an instant response when asked to multiply numbers.
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Steve
Last edited by Cornish Steve; 9th March 2009 at 23:04.
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What's more.... There are only 10 types of people who understand basic binary! Those that do, and those that don't.
What about the other 8?
A couple of years ago I was with the kids in a queue to get into a science museum. The guy in front was trying to work out how much it would cost for him, his wife and the two kids. All of them were coming up with different answers so he asked if they had a calculator. My ten year old son did it in his head. Not a difficult thing to do but it was amazing that two adults couldn't do it and wanted to resort to using a calculator.
Basic mental arithmetic like this should be common. Either the schooling let these people down or they just weren't bothered learning.
2 men and 3 women enter a room. After 4 days and 2 weeks one thing leads to another and they reproduce 9 months down the line 3 children are born. Only 2 men can be the father so one guy leaves. 18 years later one of the fathers dies and they all go to his funeral, but by that point one of the children has already had one child.
After the funeral how many adults and how many children are there left?
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