Parents role in Education ?

Where's that mean the future is heading?

Put me in front of the telly and send me my check, I'm entitled!

I feel you have missed a point or two here. The linked article was about 16 to 18 year olds applying for a fairly prodigious apprenticeship. That to me looks like those not wishing to go on through the "A" level system.

As other firms and organisations also offer apprenticeships at this age. BAe, RR, McLaren and the Armed Forces are known personally to me in this area. All the technicians and engineers in these firms will use and therefore must know how to use logarithms.

Therefore to me I cannot see why, just because we have calculators, that logarithms were dropped from pre-16's education.

And I have also worked in places where all personal electronic devices are banned, including electrical powered watches. For the safety of the equipment and personnel, and for security.

Try taking your phone into a company that chooses to keep things secret from it's competitors. In a lot of cases this is the preferred route rather than patents. Because with patents you have to tell the world what you know, and they also have a lifespan.

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Lets just put it this way, I have a long time friend who has a fairly recent partner who teaches a subject I have never studied. I sat one of the exams in their kitchen one Sunday morning and got 76%, enough for a "B" pass.

I know people who run small businesses who wont employ anyone under 21, and are even wary of those under 30. And I don't blame them one bit!

I can agree here. My peers and those younger than me seem to be largely unemployable (The reasons are many and it's an issue that goes far beyond education). I also remember how hard it was landing my first real jobs, due to my age. I haven't job-searched since I was 18 however and expect I'd have better luck now in my 30's.

But it really is something, everyone talks about the economy and lack of jobs, yet we have some jobs at my company and have trouble finding proper help, I still have little job competition even today. And this is factory work I'm talking about here. Many young Americans do not possess the skills or motivation necessary for even simple math and some hard work. Where's that mean the future is heading?

Times change. Needs change. It's not the 1960s now. I am quite sure that when you studied science there was no part of the syllabus on digital technology. Well there is now.

Where's that mean the future is heading?

In a downward spiral. Worries the heck outta me .....

So how do you explain the differences in the strength of earthquakes like the one you have just had, without knowledge of Logs?

At the moment over 80% of the school leaving population will not understand because they don't do "A" level maths.

Or sound differences.
And how will they know what the figures mean on a hifi amp, such as Frequency response, max noise level, channel separation all expressed in dB.


Edit] Digital technology, well that was trade related, so 1962. So not a fair answer.

So how do you explain the differences in the strength of earthquakes like the one you have just had, without knowledge of Logs?

At the moment over 80% of the school leaving population will not understand because they don't do "A" level maths.

Or sound differences.
And how will they know what the figures mean on a hifi amp, such as Frequency response, max noise level, channel separation all expressed in dB.


Edit] Digital technology, well that was trade related, so 1962. So not a fair answer.

* In 1959, around 9 per cent of 16-year-olds got five or more O-levels. In 2009, the proportion gaining five or more GCSEs was 70 per cent.
* Essay titles in the English O-level paper in 1959 included “Pleasures of life in a large town”, “Washing day” and “Coach tours”.
* Essay titles in the 2009 OCR English GCSE included: “How do you present different images of yourself in different situations and why do you do so?”
* A recent survey showed that most 55- to 65-year-olds lack the maths skills expected of a nine-year-old today.
* An examiners’ report on O-level English literature in 1956 noted that “whole groups are entered in which no more than a quarter have any chance of passing”.

A recent survey showed that most 55- to 65-year-olds lack the maths skills expected of a nine-year-old today.

A recent survey showed that most 55- to 65-year-olds lack the maths skills expected of a nine-year-old today.

Total garbage. Show me the proof.

However, last summer we went on a 6 hours drive to visit relatives and mr99 had downloaded all the actual chart hits from the entire 1970s to listen to in our journey. "What a treat!" you might think, "finally, we can bathe our ears in some quality music performed in a much better time when music was clearly of a higher standard!"

6 hours of the most awful, awful soul destroying pap. Songs I had wilfully forgotten had ever been written and hope to never listen to again. I think we wore out the skip button on the car radio in between moments of WTF was that? There were a few songs of notable quality that you could probably name for me now, but I am sure like me, you've forgotten the reality of how awful most of the music was in the 70s.

Myths;
In 1959, around 9 per cent of 16-year-olds got five or more O-levels. In 2009, the proportion gaining five or more GCSEs was 70 per cent.

Unfair comparison, as most kids, at least 80%, went to secondary modern schools and left at 15, so never even got entered for exam.
Plus as noted before, by several people, the examination system was different. How many would pass today if it was a single 3 hour exam and the results were normalised, as they were then.

edit] A recent survey showed that most 55- to 65-year-olds lack the maths skills expected of a nine-year-old today.

That could be down to methods and terminology. A complaint I recently saw for an over 50's maths module was they didn't understand the terminology. They did know how to do the problems when translated into their maths language. Think mean and average, etc.

Those things are on the GCSE science syllabus if that helps, so they should be aware of the idea of a logarithmic scale, they just can't manipulate logs.

Myths;
In 1959, around 9 per cent of 16-year-olds got five or more O-levels. In 2009, the proportion gaining five or more GCSEs was 70 per cent.

Unfair comparison, as most kids, at least 80%, went to secondary modern schools and left at 15, so never even got entered for exam.
Plus as noted before, by several people, the examination system was different. How many would pass today if it was a single 3 hour exam and the results were normalised, as they were then.

edit] A recent survey showed that most 55- to 65-year-olds lack the maths skills expected of a nine-year-old today.

That could be down to methods and terminology. A complaint I recently saw for an over 50's maths module was they didn't understand the terminology. They did know how to do the problems when translated into their maths language. Think mean and average, etc.

Those things are on the GCSE science syllabus if that helps, so they should be aware of the idea of a logarithmic scale, they just can't manipulate logs.

So now they are teaching things in science before the students have gained the required maths. Does not look good from my perspective.

Those things are on the GCSE science syllabus if that helps, so they should be aware of the idea of a logarithmic scale, they just can't manipulate logs.

So now they are teaching things in science before the students have gained the required maths. Does not look good from my perspective.

Lol. That's always been the case.