GCSEs 2018 (2)

[Stickerrocks]

Pre-empting our 1000th post.

Does anyone remember "Fletcher Maths"? That was the course followed in every primary school I went to in the 1970s. Very traditional maths.

Just Googled - 'Mathematics for Schools'. Oh yes.

Anyone remember the Alpha and Beta books?

Secondary had 'SMP' books - Scottish Mathematics Project? Every chapter began with a quotation...

No, School Mathematics Project. With images of computer punched cards across the cover....

Well, system changed between 1957-65 due to several reasons. Yes we did long division and long multiplication, no mean, medium or whatever just average etc, different names for similar things. Reason for change was the cold war would you believe? Yes different weights, but also different ways to calculate. Trig and all that. We did algebra, geometry and loads of blooming logarithms! And what's this new way if carrying over numbers when adding up and subtracting? Goodness me! Finding % well all I ever did was multiply to get it I.e 32%75 I would calculate 32x75 but no! Now some new fangled way to do it! Believe system we used was really ancient Greek. My dgd has a book that has the name of mathematician and system we used will ask tomorrow. Went decimel circa 1970 if I recall. Will definitely get all info tomorrow for those who are interested.

Unless someone else gets it first!

My memory not so good now but I do remember entrance to 6th form 4 O' levels.

I remember log tables - I was about to start High School I think the year after we went decimal - remember being able to buy lots of sweets for threepence! Mental maths was my strength and I can still beat DD at any mental maths calculations...It was Additional Maths not Advanced Maths - I think my favourite subject was Economics - although I had a brother two years older than me who was clever at everything and I hated following in his footsteps - hence why I probably was a rebel.

We went decimal in 1971 but Imperial was still the main system that everyone used for several years after. So primary children in the 70s learned both and how to convert back and forth. I was 3 when decimalisation came in but I still weigh myself in stones and pounds, estimate sizes in feet and inches and buy milk in pints.

I used logs - base 10 and natural - at secondary and at university. Aren't they still used? What about exponential decay?

Mmzz 1011001.......oh how I wished I could put a different number! Can't get my head round how they do trig now mmzz. When my dgd tries to explain I go into a kind of trance reminiscent of fraction lessons !

All I can say is thank goodness I was a musician!

Maths definitely not my forte!

Sin, cos and tan are just fixed ratios that people have looked up. They used to write them in a table book. Now they program them into a calculator.
I should be a teacher! That's a months with of lessons in a sound bite!!!

We had to learn timetables by heart in primary, and boy did you learn them because you had to stand up in class individually and recite them! I knew them all before I was 8. They don't know them that early nowadays. Can you imagine if you had a stutter or a lisp? And they think they have it hard nowadays pfffft!

I still use imperial measurements too....I didnt pursue higher education - I went to work for a firm of Accountants and then pursued a career in banking and finance (one of the careers you were encouraged to do - go work for a bank which I did for 27 years!)

That's right, fog is clearing mmzz! ( are you available for granny maths coaching?)

Teenmum can I have a loan?

We learned then the same way. I taught ds1 he same way. DS2 knew them by age 6 thanks to overhearing ds1 practice. It didn't stop the school from making him prove that he knew them over and over again for the next 3 years though.

I still know my timetables allot better than DD... it goes back to mental maths quizzes in class where the blackboard rubber was thrown at you if you got the quick fire question wrong

Or be a secretary teenmum! ( proud to be able to do new era shorthand 120 words a minute and 70 words a minute on manual typewriter) tap,tap, taptap tap.

Yes teenmum! Or a pencil rammed down your earhole! Remember inkwell, blotting paper and any unfortunate teacher wearing a white blouse or shirt? ( I even smoked in class age 10 put in desk and lifted up lid now and then to have a puff, and clouds of smoke emanating from desk every time I opened it!) Gosh I was a rebel!

• Yes remember lots of people being encouraged to be a medical secretary - my writing has always looks like shorthand ...I do remember those notepads that everyone used

Mmzz when dgd went to nursery school was told not to teach her to read. I said wasn't my fault my 3 year old could read, write her name and write numbers 1-50 add up and subtract simple sums, had a great knowledge of countries. ( their expectations of a 5 yr old....make a mark on a piece if paper and predict a story....she never went to that primary!) Must have been all them flashcards and books I read to her and all that colouring she did!

Did you know there are DC going to school in nappies? Not for medical reasons either? And that teachers have to teach some to use a knife and fork and dress themselves? What hope for the teachers to actually teach education and what hope for the dcs?

Well enough ranting from me. Puppy snoring for hours now meds and sleep for me. Thank you all for great conversations