Should Maths be Compulsory? (1 Viewer)

[Bainesy]

i cant actually believe someone is trying to argue the importance of visual arts

like, seriously?

cmon, dont be a wuss and do some maths. its really very easy once you stop complaining

 

[kaz1]

I think visual arts should be compulsory

You cannot be serious.

 

[bawd]

I think Maths should be compulsory, and it is compulsory at our school for the Preliminary year (are they allowed to do that?). What I find sucky is the fact that there is a compulsory two units of English counted towards the UAI, as although I am considerably better at it than Maths, I think I am considerably better at other subjects. In fact, they should just count the top ten units and not care what subjects they are, then some people won't have restraints put on their possible UAI.

 

[Yamiyo]

Neither subject should be compulsory. If you still need to be taught how to logically and clearly structure arguments (English) and think logically (Math) by Year 12, then if anything it's an indictment on the syllabuses of younger years. Just like English, Math could be vitally important or absolutely useless to people on different career paths; as forever pink said, every subject has its advantages and skills relevant to real life, so it borders on ridiculous to enforce any single subject on tens of thousands of students.

 

[minijumbuk]

I think maths, along with english, SHOULD be compulsory for all students. They shouldn't make it count towards the UAI though.

 

[in4sauntd]

I don't need to spend two freaken years, to learn how to draw a freaken butterfly.

Visuals arts shouldn't be compulsory.

Maths should be compulsory.

 

[Foxodi]

I can see his point; but seriously the majority will use more math skills then art, so.. yeah..

 

[Jusskah]

Maths shouldn't be compulsory and neither should english. However, they do need at least one compulsory subject for comparative studies, and english is the best candidate. That is, if English was actually English instead of literature...

Why would I need to know anything taught in the year 11-12 syllabus for any of the maths courses? I don't, and I can assure you in the future my maths usage will be limited to addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. All of which I was competent at by fourth grade.

And as for the 'logical thinking' argument, you guys can't even understand the point Pink was trying to make, even after her explaining it.

 

[wuddie]

compulsory subject should be the skills one cannot go without in their daily routine. english is something you can't avoid, no matter where you look.

as important as maths is, how often is it that you need to know the formula to the area of a rectangle or a circle? or what happens when you integrate or differentiate? i agree it is a great tool to improve one's ability to think logically, but so too are many other subjects which develop other aspects of your mind yet you never get to learn. so why is maths so exceptional?

if anything, pe is a subject a lot of people neglect. pe teaches you to be active and how to keep your body in check. with the obesity rate in this country this day and age, pe should be the forefront of the compuslory subject candidates.

 

[Yamiyo]

as important as maths is, how often is it that you need to know the formula to the area of a rectangle or a circle? or what happens when you integrate or differentiate? i agree it is a great tool to improve one's ability to think logically, but so too are many other subjects which develop other aspects of your mind yet you never get to learn. so why is maths so exceptional?

You could say the same for English. How often will I need to remember quotes that highlight how the imaginative journey is represented in On Giants' Shoulders? It's the skills that are important, but they are taught in many other subjects, e.g. humanities and bwahahahaha foreign languages.

 

[addikaye03]

I think maths, along with english, SHOULD be compulsory for all students. They shouldn't make it count towards the UAI though.

+1

 

[Evilo]

I think maths and English should be compulsory and count towards the UAI.

I know people who can't work out 10% of $180 without using a calculator, thats just terrible. General mathematics is simple "life skills".

 

[melanieeeee.]

I think maths and English should be compulsory and count towards the UAI.

I know people who can't work out 10% of $180 without using a calculator, thats just terrible. General mathematics is simple "life skills".

to be fair, they let you use a calculator in maths so it won't necessarily help students who can't work out 10% of $180.

 

[midifile]

as important as maths is, how often is it that you need to know the formula to the area of a rectangle or a circle? or what happens when you integrate or differentiate? i agree it is a great tool to improve one's ability to think logically, but so too are many other subjects which develop other aspects of your mind yet you never get to learn. so why is maths so exceptional?

I agree that in the 'real world' you rarely (edit: never) need to integrate, differentiate etc, but its the skills that maths gives you that are important. Maths teaches you to think, unlike most other subjects in the HSC, where students can get by with memorising. Maths is one of the few subjects where memorising wont get you far. And being to think logically is one of the most important skills. I have a couple of friends who dropped maths at the end of year 10 and now (no offense to them) they suck at basic maths in subjects like economics and chemistry. It's not the fact that they cant type numbers into their calculater, but the fail to see the logic behind the maths. They are not idiots, and I'm sure if they did maths they would be able to think more logically about it.

 

[beve]

I dissagree; or at least, While Math isn't compulsory, neither should be english. Saying that, I don't particuarly think that any subject should be compulsory in high school because; There is no point trying to teach people that simply don't want to be there. In my school, Year 11 students in English complete half the course in mixed ability Standard English classes. And I can tell you there was a damn lot of people that did not have any desire to be in there.

It's ultimately the student's choice to study in senior high school so why doesn't the student have absolute choice over his or her subjects? The students who want to achieve at a high level know that they need math to achieve, as with english. Making any subject compulsory simply drags students that have no interest in, and drag the rest of the class down.

Math is a necessity of everyday life; but I don't feel that teachers should have to teach to those who simply don't want to be taught.

 

[Rhanoct]

no maffs is dum lolz

 

[Evilo]

( @ melanieeeee.)
true, but at least they would learn the process of how it was done.
I ended up pulling out a pencil and a sheet of paper to show the kid how it was done. (this way halfway through year 12 - he was doing general maths)

honestly though - how can anyone learn about money, the value of it, or anything if they cant do basic percentages, or real basic arithmetic.

I remember having a fight with a customer when i worked at a liquor store.
Customer: No that should be $30
Me: Maam its $48
Customer: no thats 6 bottles, $8 each is $30
Me: ill assure you 6 * 8 is 48, would you like me to loan you a calculator?
Customer: no i trust you (/storms out of the store after she checks the receipt carefully.)

 

[melanieeeee.]

( @ melanieeeee.)
true, but at least they would learn the process of how it was done.
I ended up pulling out a pencil and a sheet of paper to show the kid how it was done. (this way halfway through year 12 - he was doing general maths)

so how would compulsory maths help the guy, he already was doing general maths.

honestly though - how can anyone learn about money, the value of it, or anything if they cant do basic percentages, or real basic arithmetic.

I remember having a fight with a customer when i worked at a liquor store.
Customer: No that should be $30
Me: Maam its $48
Customer: no thats 6 bottles, $8 each is $30
Me: ill assure you 6 * 8 is 48, would you like me to loan you a calculator?
Customer: no i trust you (/storms out of the store after she checks the receipt carefully.)

like i said they allow calculators in maths. these skills should have been taught earlier on.

 

[Evilo]

so how would compulsory maths help the guy, he already was doing general maths.

He was only did general maths up to about term 2, and then he dropped out.

like i said they allow calculators in maths. these skills should have been taught earlier on.

well i think they need a non-calculator section, but yeah thats a whole different story.

 

[russianROULETTE]

what's the point of this thread? there's nothing stopping students who DO want to do maths, why should everyone else have to. in fact i see a number of reasons why it shouldn't be.

1. in the past couple of years i haven't used any maths except for simple percentages, addition, subtraction, equations etc, and i sure as hell will NEVER use trig. so unless people have a specific reason for studying it, it is pointless.

2. uni courses involving maths usually have maths as a prerequisite/assumed knowledge. so the people who need those skills will already be doing maths. if not, there are bridging courses.

3. as foreverpink implied in an earlier post, you can say that every subject should be compulsory because of the skills they teach us. in the end, only the board has the authority to say which should be.

4. maths, at least for me, was somewhat time consuming. for people who aren't good at it or don't want to study it, that time is better spent on other subjects.

i don't see why it should be compulsory, and i think the majority of people who say it should are good maths students who are bitter about having to do english.

EDIT: sentences in italics = not objective hence irrelevent.