Here, here.. well sayed that man.

I left school at 16 in 1980,but when I started school aged 5 I could read and write, my Mother and Grandmother taught me before I ever went to school. I was not an only child with doting parents but the oldest of 6, they didn't want me or them to be embarrassed by having a thick son.
On my second day during a counting exercise, the Teacher asked me what comes after 5.
I replied "11/2 Miss".

I told my niece and nephews the same as I told my daughters - as long as you get a good grade in maths amd English you'll get a fairly good job.

The niece said maths are too difficult because she can't remember formulae, typical lazy teenager. Ask her the volume of a cube with easy numbers, and she's stuck.

But she can sing along to some facking hip hop crap from start to finish with no mistakes, and that rubbish lasts 3 minutes plus.

Just got back from the local Co-op. The teenage Saturday assistant thought I must be possessed because I had the exact change ready for my groceries when she rang them through the till.

It's not when they start school kinc - it's when they start formal education. Some total misunderstanding here of
1. How children learn
and
2. How the Education Dept work

The results are sitting out there. All the evidence is there. What is lacking is political will.
Our 7yr olds, in tests, would p1ss all over Norway's, (for example). By the age of 11 the gap has all but disappeared and at 16 they're ahead. The same is true of France, Germany, Sweden etc. Doing things earlier does not mean you do it better.

Gove is looking to substantially increase the level of competency amongst 11 years olds.

If he is successful raising the bar he will have got more 'good schools'. This will be achieved by having better leadership in schools and more effective teaching.

His aims to improve the level of attainment for 11 year olds can only be a good thing.

On the face of it hunky dory. However, it collapses when examining his methods and how this "attainment" is measured. Your statements are very naive I'm afraid.

From a recent edition of the Sunday Times:

A third of university-trained nurses are being rejected for jobs in the NHS because they are unable to answer simple maths questions such as how many 15mg tablets are required to make up 30mg.

I find this hard to believe - I thought you had to have five GCEs including maths and English and two or three A-Levels to get into university.

If it's true, we really have got problems.

Next door

FFS, next door have two teenagers. If I asked them what was the capital of say Germany was I'd take evens neither of them would get the answer right.

Ironically, its because of maths that the pass rate goes up every year.
Prior to 1984, each year was banded, so the top 10pc got an A, the next 15pc a B, the next 20pc a C etc.
So even if the top score was 70pc in the test, you could still get an A with 65pc.

After 1984 it was changed, so everybody who scored over 80pc in the test got an A, even if 50pc of the country scored 80pc or more. Therefore if you make the test 1pc easier each year, the pass rates will improve year on year.

The Government could then gloat about how it was improving education.

this is fantastic news  - it keeps my gambling career on track for the forseeable  future


carry on kids  -keep using those calculators

Not all our parents were maths wizards. I have a bitter memory from 1983 of my mum going round to the house of a friend who had a telephone so I could ring her up and tell her my degree result.

"I got a 2:1!"
"Oh well. Never mind."#
"No! That's good. It's an upper second class degree!"
"Well, you can't come first all the time."
"Nobody gets a first unless they're sleeping with their tutor. I'm in the top 35%"
"Yes, well. I'm sure you tried your hardest."
"You don't understand. That's the top third."
"Eh?"
"Look. Imagine you've got an orange cut into three pieces ..."
"Oh, you know I don't understand them fractions."

She and my dad were both convinced I'd failed until I persuaded them to attend the degree ceremony and they saw me in a cape and a mortar board. That picture went straight on the sideboard and sat there proudly for the rest of their lives.

My parents are generally thick as pigsh!t , Dad is dyslexic (or so he says) Mom is just a headcase , you only notice just how much as you get older & smarter than they are , then they start to turn on you & hate you for it !

30 years ago they didnt have google to answer all their problems Cool
very zazu

we don't need to know anything now...we just have to know how to Google it

We don't even have to spell just stick a couple of letters in the right place, our spell checker does it for us

Her answer 'No need to fry my brain grandad. We're allowed to use calculators.'
taxi

You're spell chequer just failed with punk tuition.
It's not the same - clearly, many of us here have the 14x13 answer very quickly whilst the youfs are reaching for their mobile phone calculators. We all KNOW 'Berlin' and most other key cities long before 'they' have even opened up Google and typed the question.
I know a 25 ear-old now having the maths tuition of a moderate teen just to enable her to cope with the council work with which she struggles.
Somewhere along the line, SOMEONE with 'great new educational theories' influenced some great new politicians and knocked us backwards several generations.
I consider myself (and brother) to have been EXTREMELY fortunate to have had pushy parents, 11-plus, grandmaskools and university when just the few % got there. 
No doubt that's on a par with being a 'racist' these days - but the evidence is right befour our very ayes!