I've appended the editorial in question. Copyright 2002 Newspaper Publishing PLC The Independent (London) August 19, 2002, Monday SECTION: First Edition; COMMENT; Pg. 13 LENGTH: 291 words HEADLINE: LETTER: THE DANGERS OF NEGLECTING MATHS BYLINE: Gavin Wraith, Kingston, East Sussex BODY: Sir: I was amazed to read an editorial ("Our collective failing at maths adds up to trouble in the future", 16 August) that reflects so accurately my own opinions. I am a geek - a nerd - a mathematician - now gratefully retired after 40 years of teaching and research. When I left school in 1957 my maths teacher (Brian Thwaites, of Thwaites' Theorem in fluid dynamics) said in parting, "in thirty years time maths teaching will have disappeared from this country". Too pessimistic? Only just. You might have added that geeks and nerds are not, by and large, interested in power, in politics or in struggling for funding, whether for their families or for their colleagues. One of the roles of a good head of department was to compensate for this trait, and to provide an asylum in which the inmates could concentrate on their talents. You pointed out that mathematics is an esoteric subject. What most people call "maths" a mathematician would dismiss as "elementary arithmetic". What A-level students learn of mathematics is only the tiniest beginnings of the core of the subject. To teach even elementary maths with a proper emphasis it is desirable to have some appreciation of its wider context. The dearth of qualified maths teachers in schools is a tragedy not simply because maths is a necessary tool in the production of wealth, but because mathematics is our most precious and powerful cultural artefact. It ignores boundaries between societies and between generations. To be a mathematician means having Archimedes, Newton and Gauss look through your own eyes and whisper in your ear. It is the handmaiden of science and philosophy. To disinherit our children from their part in this adventure is unthinkable folly. Copyright 2002 Newspaper Publishing PLC The Independent (London) August 16, 2002, Friday SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. 12 LENGTH: 593 words HEADLINE: LEADING ARTICLE: OUR COLLECTIVE FAILING AT MATHS ADDS UP TO TROUBLE IN THE FUTURE BODY: HERE'S A conversation-stopper you might want to try out at a party. When asked what you do, say: "Actually I'm a mathematician." Anywhere in Britain, this confession would be met with stunned silence. Here being a mathematician imprisons you in a language that most other people just don't speak. So we should not be surprised to discover that 20 per cent fewer students took A-level maths this year. But we ought to be deeply worried. The proximate cause of the problem was last year's AS-level paper in maths. In this first guinea-pig year, someone miscalculated and made the exam too hard. As a result, twice as many students failed maths as any other subject, and many of them decided not to go on to A-level. The problem will be repeated next year, as the AS syllabus can't be altered until September 2004. But the problem goes much deeper. The number of students doing well at maths has fallen in recent decades. That reflects the fact that the number of qualified maths teachers has halved over the past 20 years, leaving many students to be taught by teachers for whom maths is a second subject. Fewer students then go on to become maths teachers and the vicious circle continues. In part the reason is cultural. Ours is a society where inability in maths is often an occasion for sniggering pride, while illiteracy would be a cause for secret shame. This situation has its roots in the old arts/science "two cultures" divide, as well as in the deep-seated British admiration for the pragmatic and suspicion of the abstract or the intellectual. Education is viewed instrumentally. Confronted by algebra, for example, we ask "what's the use of it?" rather than embracing the joy of learning for its own sake. Yet there are also more distinctly contemporary reasons, such as teacher morale and pay. There are better jobs for mathematicians in industry than in education. Those who do become teachers, and then get disillusioned, find it easier to move to an alternative profession than their colleagues who teach history or English. The modern obsession with testing also takes its toll. Time spent preparing for tests is time diverted from promoting a deeper understanding of the subject. This is particularly true in maths, where the Government is keenest on testing and where "teaching to the test" often involves stressing numeracy by rote at the expense of the exciting business of mastering mathematical concepts. The result is that children soon reach a point beyond which they have not been given the intellectual tools to venture. In the process they decide that maths is boring - a subject only for geeks and nerds. It has also acquired the reputation of being "a hard subject"; consequently, students needing three As to get to university make the tactical decision to avoid it. The consequences are grave - both for the economy and the intellectual health of the nation. And they threaten to worsen with each generation. What is needed are strategies to lay better foundations in schools. The compulsory numeracy hour in primary schools is a start. Estelle Morris's task force on maths teaching should report swiftly. It should recommend fewer tests and more learning. The law of the market dictates far better pay for maths and science teachers. Above all we should move to a baccalaureate comprising maths, English, a science, social science and a creative subject, with time built in for art, sport and community work. Without such a radical reappraisal, the vicious circle will become a spiral of decline. 20-Aug-2002 09:16:31 -0300,1491;000000000000-00000000