Poor numeracy 'blights the economy and ruins lives'

[Svartalf]

Nothing specifically british there.

I am notoriously horrible with maths. Yet, I still am better at it than kids of 15 or so who are supposedly not bad. I recently witnessed my cousin's daughter, 15, in high school, not particularly inept at it by current standards, and she was unable to cope with things I still could deal with in spite of that field having lain fallow for close to 30 years. She totally sucked at calculations without a machine (for stuff I could do without even P&P), and didn't grasp the reasoning laid out for her to do the exercises.

[JimC]

It would help if primary schools had teachers who knew how to teach numeracy and literacy, rather than let children "play creatively"

It would also help if secondary schools had teachers who could tell a quadratic equation from a stuffed giraffe...

[Audley Strange]

It would help if primary schools had teachers who knew how to teach numeracy and literacy, rather than let children "play creatively"

It would also help if secondary schools had teachers who could tell a quadratic equation from a stuffed giraffe...

You know what, I had this discussion a few days ago, though my take on it was that essentially "children" like "teenagers" does not state anything but a age based target market, which we went from to defining as being of some significance to our culture in the West. This in turn lead to the mentality of let "children be children" which is fine, but not a free pass to avoid education fundamentals. This has also had a chilling effect where we see "teenagers be children" "young adults be children" "adults be teenagers" and this has led to a state where for many they have, as pointed out, the educational level of an 11 year old.

Meanwhile all of those emerging cultures understand that children are not pets but future assets and while we're applauding 14 year old Gemma's pastiche of Lady Gaga, little Tian (who's twelve) has three languages, plays piano and is a whizz at maths.

Kids are what you feed them and I feel that physically and mentally we are leaving ours malnourished.

[Svartalf]

Generally life has never been better, go back 20 years it was quite shit, go back 40 years it was very shit go back 400 years it was so shit shit hadnt been invented and all you had was libertarians and dragons

Going forward , in 20 years time life will be better and people will look back to 2012 and think life was shit then (except libertarians)

I can tell you from experience, that life 20 and 40 years ago was neither better nor worse than it is now.

I can warrant that life has been better for me in the last 45 years than if I had been born as early as 10 or 20 years earlier... if only because I'd already be dead

[Tyrannical]

Schools have for years been lowering math requirements because certain "ethnic" groups do substantially poorer. If they didn't lower the difficulty, far fewer minorities would graduate high school or be accepted into college. Lowering standards is seen as a necessary measure to compensate for the less intelligent immigrants that have been coming to the UK over the last few decades.

http://www.domesatreview.com/content/sa ... -ethnicity

SAT Math Scores

Black/African 428
Mexican 451
White 549

So it should be no surprise that as the Hispanic population rose, test scores fell as Hispanics drag them down. It's a shame the BBC didn't release ethnic data on the scores so we could point a finger at the real issue.

[Seabass]

Schools have for years been lowering math requirements because certain "ethnic" groups do substantially poorer. If they didn't lower the difficulty, far fewer minorities would graduate high school or be accepted into college. Lowering standards is seen as a necessary measure to compensate for the less intelligent immigrants that have been coming to the UK over the last few decades.

http://www.domesatreview.com/content/sa ... -ethnicity

SAT Math Scores

Black/African 428
Mexican 451
White 549

So it should be no surprise that as the Hispanic population rose, test scores fell as Hispanics drag them down. It's a shame the BBC didn't release ethnic data on the scores so we could point a finger at the real issue.

You horse's ass.


Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander 568


You gwailos are dragging Asians down. Maybe we should stop allowing white people into our countries?

[Tyrannical]

Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander 568

I suspect the Pacific Islanders even dragged the average down a few points

As these are US stats, Asian only refers to Orientals like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. No Pakis

[JimC]

The most likely explanation for the differences in scores is not any inherent genetic differences on mathematical ability between the races, but the cultural differences and variations in educational regimes. Many east Asian schools have an almost fanatical work ethic, for good or bad, and I suspect this produces students perfectly attuned to doing well in maths tests...

[Seabass]

Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander 568

I suspect the Pacific Islanders even dragged the average down a few points

As these are US stats, Asian only refers to Orientals like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. No Pakis

So Oriental is the master race?


Since orientals are clearly superior to whites, blacks, and Mexicans, should we allow only oriental immigration? Should we deport all non-orientals?

[Atheist-Lite]

There might be genetic differences but it has ruined many a career to say so in these politically correct times.

[hadespussercats]

It sounds absurd doesn't it. Hair. But think about it, whether it be religious tomfoolery about wigs or turbans or hiding hair, or the saturation bombardment of shampoo and conditioner adverts, or even Hitler's Fringe and Tootbrush moustache. Skinheads and Hippies, Teddy boys with their quiffs, punks with their angular parrot disasters, Rastas and their dreads. The one thing that we all seem to have in common is an obsession with hair, it crosses cultural and religious boundaries. It's used as a group identifier and as a sign of authority, certain styles can lead to distrust or mockery. I guess we'll be referred to as the Capilluscene era.

What, you think this obsession with hairdressing is new? Take a look at the Assyrians. Vicious warriors, but they had tidy crimped locks and curled beards and they carried little handbags. Fabulous!

[hadespussercats]

There might be genetic differences but it has ruined many a career to say so in these politically correct times.

People who work harder tend to do better. That's not genetics, that's culture.

[Atheist-Lite]

There might be genetic differences but it has ruined many a career to say so in these politically correct times.

People who work harder tend to do better. That's not genetics, that's culture.

Maybe, then smarter people don't work harder they just work smarter and save time for themselves.

[Audley Strange]

It sounds absurd doesn't it. Hair. But think about it, whether it be religious tomfoolery about wigs or turbans or hiding hair, or the saturation bombardment of shampoo and conditioner adverts, or even Hitler's Fringe and Tootbrush moustache. Skinheads and Hippies, Teddy boys with their quiffs, punks with their angular parrot disasters, Rastas and their dreads. The one thing that we all seem to have in common is an obsession with hair, it crosses cultural and religious boundaries. It's used as a group identifier and as a sign of authority, certain styles can lead to distrust or mockery. I guess we'll be referred to as the Capilluscene era.

What, you think this obsession with hairdressing is new? Take a look at the Assyrians. Vicious warriors, but they had tidy crimped locks and curled beards and they carried little handbags. Fabulous!

Oh no it's clearly something we've always been obsessed by, however since the mid 20th century I think it has been the predominant thing that all cultures have in common in one way or another.

As for the subtler point, yes extreme masculinity is utterly camp.

[hadespussercats]

It sounds absurd doesn't it. Hair. But think about it, whether it be religious tomfoolery about wigs or turbans or hiding hair, or the saturation bombardment of shampoo and conditioner adverts, or even Hitler's Fringe and Tootbrush moustache. Skinheads and Hippies, Teddy boys with their quiffs, punks with their angular parrot disasters, Rastas and their dreads. The one thing that we all seem to have in common is an obsession with hair, it crosses cultural and religious boundaries. It's used as a group identifier and as a sign of authority, certain styles can lead to distrust or mockery. I guess we'll be referred to as the Capilluscene era.

What, you think this obsession with hairdressing is new? Take a look at the Assyrians. Vicious warriors, but they had tidy crimped locks and curled beards and they carried little handbags. Fabulous!

Oh no it's clearly something we've always been obsessed by, however since the mid 20th century I think it has been the predominant thing that all cultures have in common in one way or another.

As for the subtler point, yes extreme masculinity is utterly camp.

The bag really makes the outfit.