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Maths?

TheCatWoman

Are we Brits genetically bad at maths, poorly taught or what? It seems so many of us ND and NT really struggle with it and have done for years, so much so that it almost seems to be a point of national pride that we're collectively so bad at it.

All I know is that I'm terrible at it and couldn't pass a GCSE grade 3, even with special tutoring, it meant I failed my access course, luckily it didn't stop me going to uni because I didn't need maths for history. What makes it even worse is I seem unable to use a calculator either, I can put the same numbers in 3 times and get 3 different answers.

Parents

  • I've always naturally found maths very easy. It's English and the meaning of words I really struggled with.

    There is some logic behind how many people struggle with maths though. A lot of memory is needed to be able to do maths, particularly working memory. If you have difficulty in this area, it will make learning/doing maths more challenging.

  • in reply to Expecto_Patronum

    I wasn't very good at English either, partly because of undiagnosed dyslexia, but also because we were never taught punctuation, we were expected to just absorb it from reading. By secondary school, the books were just so boring and old. It's surprising that someone who reads as much as I do and always did read a lot was so bad at English.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    I don't think we were taught punctuation and grammar very well when I was at school. As you say we were somehow expected to absorb it. But it was the meaning of things I really struggled with. What is the author of this poem saying with "insert quote here"? Well for one, I have no idea what that means it's just a load of random words and two how do they know what the author was saying, had they interviewed them to find out? I don't think so. It baffles me that there's a collective decision on what authors mean by their texts that people seem to have agreed upon and teach in schools but what if they are completely wrong and that isn't what the author meant at all. I think my brain may be a little too black and white for such concepts. I enjoy reading but I do not enjoy ripping apart what was meant and intended etc. I also struggle with books that get too fancy with their wording because then I really don't understand the book.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    I never knew there was a distinction. A quick Google suggests that I mostly read genre fiction too.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    About 99% of poetry I don't get.
    Why not say what you mean rather than lay it out oddly with dubious grammar and break the sentences and punctuation up. I find most less useful than a block of text would be.

    I know they are trying to efficiently create an image and concept by playing with words, but it doesn't work for me.

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  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    About 99% of poetry I don't get.
    Why not say what you mean rather than lay it out oddly with dubious grammar and break the sentences and punctuation up. I find most less useful than a block of text would be.

    I know they are trying to efficiently create an image and concept by playing with words, but it doesn't work for me.

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