Science / maths /education

[2scoops0406]

Sorry, but to re-open the debate, I still don't really see why kids need much more than basic maths, and probably sod all science.

 

[splinter]

eddiem,
I think it's about giving children a chance to find out what they are good at and to exploit what they are good at ,and you can not deny them that

 

[2scoops0406]

Put this firmly in perspective I am a born an bred scientist,I detest the dumbing down of society. I'm proud of the fact I like that I like to think I know how the world around me works. I'm proud of the fact I challenge things when i don't think they're right. I foster an enquiring mind in my kids. I believe that this country has some of the most exceptionally gifted minds ever to grace this earth, but not within media studies.

 

[2scoops0406]

what are you saying eddie,........no one in the uk is innovative?....that theres no r&d going on in this country?.......no scientists making breakthroughs.......? i agree, manufacture has took a pounding, but the u.k. is respected the world over for our innovations, its just that the u.s.a has the dollars to put our ideas into practice.

Well, no. they all have to go abroad.

 

[B.O.B DOLE]

EDDIE i totally agree with you i have a masters degree in speling and thats got mee knowwher.

 

[2scoops0406]

EDDIE i totally agree with you i have a masters degree in speling and thats got mee knowwher.

Sorry, couldn't edit the title

 

[WoodYouLike]

i hated maths and the sciences at school, yet i have used them all in the careers i have had, many without realising it, to the point where i understand them now and can explain them to my children.

Same here Thermo, hated the subjects in school (rather had my nose in history books), but 'old-knowledge' you never forget and indeed 'sprouts' to the surface of this old brain now I need it almost everyday in my 'career': not explaining to children, but to customers why and how wood works: that's all about science and maths

 

[Nige F]

Why do we bother, we don't grow anything, we don't make anything. Why do we want to teach our kids such out of date stuff, surely ditch maths, physics chemistry etc and concentrate on media studies, business studies etc, surely far more worth to society.

Don`t you need Maths to sell insurance and be a Merchant Banker Collective noun for a group of bankers........a Wunch

 

[2scoops0406]

I would hazzard a guess that you don't need anything beyond basic maths for the vast majority of jobs in this country, I'd also hazzard a guess that you need next to no knowledge of anything scientific.

What are most jobs in this country these days, selling services, pushing paper etc, we're in the "computer says no" age.

 

[WoodYouLike]

What are most jobs in this country these days, selling services, pushing paper etc, we're in the "computer says no" age.

I think you're absolutely on the wrong track here.

 

[2scoops0406]

What exactly do we make or grow in this country? We can't / don't feed or clothe ourselves, we don't make anything these days, there are no volume car producers in this country, kids drop science subjects at school 'cos they are too hard, it is reckoned that there will only be 7 chemistry departments in the country by 2010. In my industry (IT), we increasingly outsource development overseas, not because it's cheaper, because we haven't got enough people to do the work, and that's because they all want to be project / programme managers, who add absolutely diddly squat to the bottom line.

 

[WoodYouLike]

I think you're too close (and too fixed) on your own 'trade' = IT to see. notice etc all the other trades that are still around and growing in attention.
Joiners, butchers, gardeners, farmers, turf-companies, water care/treatment, designers, painters, decorators, moulders (plastic and metal), etc etc etc etc

 

[2scoops0406]

Why do we bother, we don't grow anything, we don't make anything. Why do we want to teach our kids such out of date stuff, surely ditch maths, physics chemistry etc and concentrate on media studies, business studies etc, surely far more worth to society.

Don`t you need Maths to sell insurance and be a Merchant Banker Collective noun for a group of bankers........a Wunch

No not really.

 

[2scoops0406]

I think you're too close (and too fixed) on your own 'trade' = IT to see. notice etc all the other trades that are still around and growing in attention.
Joiners, butchers, gardeners, farmers, turf-companies, water care/treatment, designers, painters, decorators, moulders (plastic and metal), etc etc etc etc

I think WYL you are perhaps thinking that I reckon trades don't need maths / science, or that in some way I'm trying to belittle folk on here. This I am not trying to do at all, the reason that I post on this forum is precisely becuase I admire practical people who can get a real world job done. I am fully aware that a lot of "trades" require mathematics. What the thrust of the post was is that the increasing majority of jobs that people do in England, do not require them to know any maths or science whatsoever.

 

[jbonding]

I think you're too close (and too fixed) on your own 'trade' = IT to see. notice etc all the other trades that are still around and growing in attention.
Joiners, butchers, gardeners, farmers, turf-companies, water care/treatment, designers, painters, decorators, moulders (plastic and metal), etc etc etc etc

I think WYL you are perhaps thinking that I reckon trades don't need maths / science, or that in some way I'm trying to belittle folk on here. This I am not trying to do at all, the reason that I post on this forum is precisely becuase I admire practical people who can get a real world job done. I am fully aware that a lot of "trades" require mathematics. What the thrust of the post was is that the increasing majority of jobs that people do in England, do not require them to know any maths or science whatsoever.

the only jobs they can get because they cant add up