Madam, - I watched the very serious newscasters tell us that 5,000 students had failed Leaving Certificate maths. The report then showed clips of excited students, eyes down on calculators, tallying their points. Go figure! - Yours, etc,
GARRETT PHILLIPS,
Taylor's Hill,
Galway.
Madam, - The perennial problem of poor maths results is with us again. Success in all subjects depends on three As: ability, application and attitude. A deficit in the first can be offset by working on the other two. Success in maths requires a fourth A: attendance. The hierarchical nature of the subject makes consistent attendance essential.
In today's fast moving world of instant communications, multi-media and constant audio-visual stimuli, students' attention span has been vastly reduced. Many subjects have been distilled down to sound-bites, summaries, stock essays and analyses, delivered with the aid of technology, as if learning has to be disguised as entertainment.
With maths there are no shortcuts, no bells or whistles, no specialised equipment - apart from, perhaps, a calculator. You must make it your own and understand the intrinsic truths that have not changed in thousands of years. This is the strength of the subject. It not only teaches problem-solving, logic and reasoning but also independent thinking and self-reliance.
We mustn't dumb it down, but insist on the classroom disciplines necessary for the teaching and learning of maths to take place. - Yours, etc,
MARGARET GOODE,
St John's Wood,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.
Madam, - Our current problem with maths has been predictable for nearly 40 years. I forecast it in my 1971 book The Switched-Off, and again and again every autumn as exam results highlighted it.
At root it is due to the visual bias nurtured by the screens of TV, mobile phones and computers. That bias could be offset by old-style numeracy schooling that develops brain connections well enough for the non-visual brain activity that underpins mathematical thinking. That isn't being done sufficiently. - Yours, etc,
JOSEPH F. FOYLE,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.