All children should learn their times tables by age 11

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31079515

Isn't this from the school of the *** obvious ? When was it not policy that kids should learn their times tables before they go to Secondary school ?

[janbee]

We started at age 5. By the time we went to secondary school, it was well drummed into us.

[furrypusscat]

We always started our school day off with either times table or spelling and that was at the age of 6. What do they teach them now, oh yes how to use a calculator or computer.

[rockyracoon]

They stopped learning tables by rote a few years ago, I think it was a big mistake. It's painful watching my kids do long multiplications, it takes too long, time they don't have in an exam.

[mikey4444]

Me too Janbee, but I am astounded that this may not be standard practise nowadays ! The times tables are at the core of arithmetic and mathematics.
Not sure when that stopped happening.

[Tilly2]

Ah, but times changed. Learning by rote became a definite no, no! Don't blame the teachers.

[bhg481]

It fascinates me that they are learning "up to 12 times tables". 12 was useful in the days of LSD but anything more than 10 is irrelevant nowadays.

[pixie373]

They still learn them by rote and are expected to know them by junior school at 7. Not sure why some don't.

[anotheoldgit]

What do they actually teach the kids nowadays?

No Times tables, no long division and multiplication, hardly any History or Geography even poetry etc

[whiskeryron]

It's not a question of all children SHOULD know their times tables,but WHY have schools stopped teaching this basic necessity ? It seems to me that over the years educational criteria has deteriorated enormously.

[Prudie]

It became a no-no some time in the 70s/80s I think along with not correcting spellings for fear of curbing enthusiasm but I thought all that was out of the window and a return to old school was now favoured again. I certainly made my classes (in the 80s) right up to 5th form (Yr 11) stand at the front of the class and recite tables and do you know what - they actually enjoyed it!

[pixie373]

They haven't stopped teaching them. There seems to be a lot of misguidedness on AB generally on what is being taught now. My children are 19,17, 15 and 11. They have all been taught times tables by rote and had to memorise them by junior school-as well as spelling. Also long division and multiplication. It's still there.

[mikey4444]

Tilly....If Teachers are not teaching kids to do something very simple and basic but essential, like the times tables, than I am afraid I DO blame them.

I shall enquire of my nieces and nephews over the next few days, if they learned the tables, but I can't believe that any of them will say that they didn't or haven't.

[Prudie]

Mikey teachers teach what they are told to by the school curriculum, they can't just spout off what they feel like.

[jim360]

Asking people to know the 12x table by rote shows a certain amount of backward thinking as it's not at all necessary. Far more important than knowing 8x12 = 94 is knowing how to get to the answer and what it even means, and rote learning often loses sight of understanding what the heck you are saying.

To take a more complicated example, my parents and for that matter quite a few adults are probably still capable of reciting "x equals minus b plus or minus the square root of b squares minus 5 a c all over 2a"... but have no longer the foggiest what it means or how to derive that result -- and the derivation is many times more important than the result, frankly.

Knowing up to the 10x table by heart is important for calculating all the rest quickly, but all the same, people place too much emphasis on techniques that aren't nearly so important today. Using a calculator to solve problems should not be looked down on, so long as the understanding of the method is there.

[whiskeryron]

I remember an incident in a Woolworth' s store before they went out of business, I had selected six items from the shelves & of course I had totted up the cost so that I could give the correct change over the counter. Unfortunately there was a power failure & when I got to the till the young assistant stated that she was unable to add up the items because the till wasn't working, when I suggested that she write the items down & add them up she admitted that she was unable to do that because she had never been taught how to do it.

[Prudie]

Jim it's minus 4ac but that aside I don't agree at all. For those not going on to higher maths they have no need to understand how that formula came about as long as they can use it.

[Sqad]

\\ 8x12 = 94 \\\

O.K!

[Prudie]

I think Jim's had a hard night :-)

[ToraToraTora]

Lefty trendy teaching methods dear boy.

[jim360]

I know it's -4ac, but I thought I would shove in a few deliberate errors to see who spotted them...

The need to solve quadratic equations is pretty low outside maths or maths-based subjects anyway. And rote-learning has the problem that it's just not very flexible.

All the same, there is much about modern teaching methods in mathematics that I don't agree with, particularly at primary school (my pet hate is "chunking" in division). What I'm not sure is the right thing to do is to return to rote learning.