Have your say by going to bayofplentytimes.co.nz or dailypost.co.nz and becoming a Premium subscriber.
I tried to teach my 15-year-old niece how to do ‘long multiplication’ and ‘long division’ as she needed help with maths... I was flabbergasted to learn that they weren’t allowed to do any ‘workings’ and had to write the answers out on a single line.
Bart M
Having scored 98 per cent in School Certificate maths and 95 per cent in UE maths, I speak with more than a shred of insight.
The Numeracy Project was the cruellest handicapping of my own kids’ education foisted on them by the out-of-touch academics who dreamt it up.
It was nothing more than a bewildering parade of arithmetic party tricks that did absolutely nothing to build kids’ understanding of the numbers and core principles of maths.
Christopher Tama M
I was teacher enemy number one. I taught my kids the old way of maths.
I taught them the ‘tidy numbers’ had twice as much writing, so twice as many copy errors, and were twice as wrong most of the time.
I told them to understand, but refuse to do the new methods. I’ve done postgraduate maths, so my kids trusted me more than their teachers.
Presently, both are in college and doing very well. They don’t love maths, but they see it as a means of opportunity.
Angela M
Herein lies the problem - ability is no longer tested.
I was disappointed that I only got 85 per cent in my School Certificate maths exam in 1975.
Ask any student today to define their ability in maths and you get a wishy-washy NCEA smoke screen that means nothing.
Get back to the 3 ‘R’s and test them if you want to make any progress.
Graeme T
Education has been captured by ideologues - the ministry, the universities that train teachers, the unions, many (not all) teachers, and Labour.
We have to address all of these to get a real turnaround.
It is vastly important to NZ in many ways.
Stephen H
A couple of years ago, I was helping my daughter out with primary school maths homework.
They had to show they understood the “strategy” applied to solve the problem, rather than getting the answer. I showed her the way I was taught, which was far simpler and logical. She could not understand why they were not learning the same way.
That, coupled with the massive combined classrooms and strange ways to learn reading, writing and pronouncing words, has done her no favours. My daughter and most of her friends, now they are a bit older, know it was a joke.
Time to get back to basics. English, maths, science, plus the other core subjects, as per the rest of the world our children will be living in.
No one outside of NZ cares about all the “progressive” views on education - that can be learned in secondary school and university as part of developing alternative views and critical thinking.
Phiphi P
Republished comments may be edited at the editor’s discretion.
The Rotorua Daily Post and the Bay of Plenty Times welcome letters from readers. Please note the following:
- Letters should not exceed 200 words.
- They should be opinions based on facts or current events.
- If possible, please email.
- No noms-de-plume.
- Letters will be published with names and suburb/city.
- Please include full name, address and contact details for our records only.
- Local letter writers given preference.
- Rejected letters are not normally acknowledged.
- Letters may be edited, abridged, or rejected at the Editor’s discretion.
- The Editor’s decision on publication is final. No correspondence will be entered into.
Email editor@dailypost.co.nz or bayofplentytimes.co.nz.
