News2 mins ago
Times Tables 'must Be Memorised By Age 11'
http:// www.bbc .co.uk/ news/ed ucation -352163 18
I was 11 in 1964 and before I went to the Secondary School, I already
knew my tables. What has happened in the last 50 years that only now is the Education Secretary realising that some kids don't ?
If these kids have been in school since the age of 5, why do they not know their tables ?
I was 11 in 1964 and before I went to the Secondary School, I already
knew my tables. What has happened in the last 50 years that only now is the Education Secretary realising that some kids don't ?
If these kids have been in school since the age of 5, why do they not know their tables ?
Answers
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No best answer has yet been selected by mikey4444. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I can't think how else they would be taught. The main difference nowadays I think, is that schools are accountable now and need to prove they've done their job. The number of people who used to leave school without the basics of literacy and arithmetic, is quite shocking. It's about time that was stopped.
I am dyslexic and dyscalculic, I learned to recite my table before going to secondary school, however I could not and still cant apply to everyday mathematics.
Waterboatman said "I was in a shop buying a couple of bits. One at £1.50, one at £2 and one at £5.50. The lass behind the counter got a calculator out to add that."
I would have had to do the same, I could add them together without too much problem if I had the figures in front of me in order, but I could not add them in my head as it is too many figures to mentally assemble.
I have been thought of as thick,stupid etc. many times.
Waterboatman said "I was in a shop buying a couple of bits. One at £1.50, one at £2 and one at £5.50. The lass behind the counter got a calculator out to add that."
I would have had to do the same, I could add them together without too much problem if I had the figures in front of me in order, but I could not add them in my head as it is too many figures to mentally assemble.
I have been thought of as thick,stupid etc. many times.
^^Have to agree with jim360, I left school in 1968 before there were even basic calculators , so it was essential to have a grasp of mental arithmetic.
I can still do even quite complex calculations in my head. Now with calculators universally available ( Kids all seem to have mobile phones from age 6 and they all have calculators. I even got a calculator in a Christmas cracker) it is just not necessary. You need to know how to do the calculations but a calculator does the hard work.
Years ago I read a science fiction story where for some reason all calculators and computers suddenly stopped working. The world seemed doomed until someone found a way to work thing out 'the old way'
I do occasionally wonder what would happen if that situation actually occurred.
I can still do even quite complex calculations in my head. Now with calculators universally available ( Kids all seem to have mobile phones from age 6 and they all have calculators. I even got a calculator in a Christmas cracker) it is just not necessary. You need to know how to do the calculations but a calculator does the hard work.
Years ago I read a science fiction story where for some reason all calculators and computers suddenly stopped working. The world seemed doomed until someone found a way to work thing out 'the old way'
I do occasionally wonder what would happen if that situation actually occurred.
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