Times Tables 'must Be Memorised By Age 11'

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35216318

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 ?

[vulcan42]

932
-457
We were taught:
take 457 up to 500, which is + 43
deduct 500 from 932= 432
432 +43- 475.
didn't require anything written down, all done in the head.

[vulcan42]

*432+43=475*

[bhg481]

Wasn't it 22 yards = 1 chain
10 chains = 1 furlong
8 furlongs = 1 mile.

I don't see the relevance of 13.

[-Talbot-]

To help your maths ... Play darts!

[jim360]

If we're doing the one-upping "I was taught a far easier method" thing, I was busy inventing my own method for subtraction at primary school -- who needs teaching?

The first problem I can see with vulcan's method is that it becomes a little trickier to apply to 4-digit, 5-digit numbers -- still doable, but not necessarily any less work.

[Mosaic]

BHG, I never saw the relevance of sine and cosine but I still had no option about learning them.
The thing about relevance is actually very important now, as society is no longer compliant. Very difficult to persuade a bolshie kid they need to do summat especially if his nan's sent a letter saying he hasn't got to.

[bhg481]

Sorry Mosaic - I misread your post. I read it that you had to do 13 times tables because of chains etc.

[Cloverjo]

I learned my times table by rote up to the 10s. I still have to think for fraction of a second if I need 11s and 12s. I think it's important to have that basis, but it's not essential. I had a brilliant statistics tutor who had to do the working on the board if she needed to do any basic arithmetic.

[jno]

I knew my times tables by the time I was 10, and they were very useful at the time; I'm not convinced they are now, though they still save me a few seconds on some calculations. A simple calculator will do the job as quickly, and go way beyond twelve twelves.

[vulcan42]

The problem with calculators is they can be faulty or have incorrect data fed in. knowing your tables at least gives you a rough idea if the calculator is giving you the right answer. I know a shop assistant who made herself look totally stupid by accepting what the calculator told her, had she known her tables she would have realised the answer couldn't possibly be right.

[Maydup]

We had to learn arithmatic, cooking and sewing, as there was no alternative. If you wanted a birthday cake you had to bake it, and spring was spent making summer dresses. Life is different now. There is no need to learn the same things in the same way as we did 50 years ago as we have tools to do it for us now, such as tills and calculators.

Why dig up a field of spuds by hand when there is a machine to do it? Why add up in your head when you can use a bar code?

Instead its far more important for young people to learn about mixed media, be able to whizz round a keyboard and get to grips with electronics. If they can cook and sew , or add up in their heads, it will be for pleasure only.

[sumar]

I was born in 1949and I was taught the times table before I started school, aged 5. I taught my sons the times table before they started school and the teachers were very annoyed because 'one doesn't teach the children in that way anymore!

[Mosaic]

So true Sumar - one of my nephews caused trouble by being able to read when he got to school, making it so hard for him to be taught to read using the then-trendy ITA method.

[naomi24]

aog, //Do you understand the first method of 932 minus 457? What is wrong with the simple method of borrowing 10 and paying 1 back//

Yes, I understand it but I’m not sure you do. Borrowing 10, etc., is exactly what’s being shown.

Jim, //who needs teaching?//

Oh my! :o/

[jim360]

Sorry, Naomi, although it is true that most of my formative maths education before the age of 16 happened away from school.

I guess that I've got a perspective on this that can be both a help and a hindrance, and I'm not sure which one is dominating in my earlier posts on the subject. At any rate I'm not convinced I'd ever make a good primary school maths teacher.

[Ann]

I was born in 1947 and we chanted our times tables every day at infant school age 5-7 so knew them all by the time we went to Junior School and still come naturally to us today! It stood us in good stead so why on earth was the method stopped in schools?

What did shock me was I helped out voluntarily in classrooms at a Primary school in later life and if the children had written a piece which contained spelling mistakes we were not allowed to correct them (red-ink them) as it could have a depressing effect on the poor little mites. Apparently guidelines issued from government! How would they ever learn right from wrong? No wonder many children leave school not being able to spell correctly! The same government "whizz-kid" obviously was the one who wouldn't allow there to be any "winners" at Sports Day - no competition allowed due to the losers having feelings of inadequacy! What rot! They will certainly have those kind of feelings when competing with others for jobs etc out in the big wide world of work!!

[naomi24]

Jim, wherever you were taught, you still needed to be taught.