1 in 14 adults cannot do a simple maths Q aimed at 8-yr-olds

[WendyWeber]

this

(I bet the MN average is considerably better!)

Schools secretary Ed Balls has just announced an inquiry into the way children are taught maths.

i got it - i checked and re -checked not reading the whole article [tut]
i failed GCSE maths 3 times - i am super maths thick - how thick are people these days?

saw this on the news, I got it straight away!! smug

er exactly wot custy said.

am also hopeless with numbers but I do know my times tables

that's quite shocking really

cant tell you how much my maths has improved in last 6 months..... on account of my ds1's prep for 11+...... couldnt have multiplied decimals and explained ratio last summer to save my life.....

I got it right but do have am IQ of 130

L

That's the sort of maths I can do. Algebra used to make my eyes bleed.

I got it right. (And Ed Balls is my MP so I hope he's proud! )

I got it right. It's piss easy for me, a person who is good with maths.

But honestly, it means diddly squat, cept education wasn't what it should have been through the 70's 80's and 90's.

I wonder who we can blame for that?

It just doesn't add up, though...

"But honestly, it means diddly squat, cept education wasn't what it should have been through the 70's 80's and 90's.
I wonder who we can blame for that?"

What on earth are you on about!?
The article said "96% of those aged 55-plus [were] able to answer a "simple" maths question, taken from an eight-year-old's maths paper, correctly - compared with 88% of those aged 18-25." That means that those who have left education during Blair's years (aged 18-25) are not as good as those who left education about 1970 (the 55+). Nobody mentioned those who left in the 70's, 80's or 90's.

OMG, you are kidding me? I think my 6 year old could work that out!! The answer is as obvious as 'the grass is green' - not exactly tough!!

Very worrying if there are people over about 10 that can't get that question right.

Well i'm that age group and I got it straight away

But, I know a number of people my age who wouldn't know where to start working that out. I have a very strong memory of a friend at school who could barely read or write sitting next to me in maths whilst the teacher tried to explain to him how to work out the angle of a triangle, cause thats obviously what he needed to learn

This doesn't shock me. I'd say 1 in 14 8 year olds couldn't do it either.