Numeracy is indeed woefully lacking here across the pond in the U.S. One of the challenges is that many media members don't understand how to put numbers in context. I have been giving numeracy workshops for over 20 years, mostly to press associations in various states, and one of the great ironies for journalists is that they flee math/science fields to pursue this wonderful art of story-telling....only to run smack dab into numbers wherever their assignments taken them. Go figure!
I also appreciate your point about some taking a strange pride in being inept at something....when I am inept at something, I usually acknowledge it, but will try to shore up that deficiency if possible. For instance, it's taken me 29 years of marriage to know how to wash the dishes adequately, though even my wife would likely challenge that claim :-)
😂 The Press Association here (UK) includes number-crunching and use of spreadsheets in its training (or used to). Over here, the press have no idea of the difference between correlation and causation, or the possible direction of causation, especially when it comes to reporting on health matters.
Ah yes, the smoke and mirrors. Another fascinating post, Terry - thank you.
I didn't thrive in maths lessons at school, apart from an extraordinary achievement in the third year (so I would have been thirteen) when I scored 100% in a trigonometry test. How? I'd simply memorised 'SOH CAH TOA' - just because I loved the sound! - and lo and behold, that was the only thing I'd needed to know that wasn't supplied on the test paper. My love of language had saved me... in a MATHS test!
As an adult I had long been ashamed both of my maths prowess and my lack of confidence with numbers. I had no grasp of how to look after my money until I took the opportunity of being housebound during the first Covid lockdown to gobble up as much free education in personal finance as I possibly could via YouTube and the blogosphere. I WISH I'd had that kind of education at school, but now that I've armed myself with it I feel absolutely epic, because for the first time in my life, despite having very little disposable income, I know exactly where every penny goes, and precisely what I have available to spend across each category. THAT is the sort of maths that schools need to be teaching right from the start. 😊
One of the most valuable classes I ever took in high school was called "Consumer Education" which included the most practical life skills an adult needs, including personal budgeting, understanding how marketing and advertising deludes us, dealing with businesses, calculating actual costs, composing letters to businesses, filling out forms, math and computational skills one needs every day, and myriad other practical money-management skills. I was fifteen and really had my eyes opened. Do I use algebra and calculus in my daily life? Never. But basic maths and ( some ) geometry, absolutely! Just saying.
Wow, wow, wow - that is AWESOME, Sharron! I'd've loved some 'consumer education in my earlier days. Still, I'm very proud that I've been educating myself in that regard at last! 😊
LOL and awwwwwwww in equal measure, Sharron! Now, if only I could organise my writing schedule - we've been on the road on and off for a week and a half, and the only place I want to be is sitting at my desk...! 🤣
Understood. I rarely leave my house any more for that reason. My son was worried about me. I told him, "Honey, all my stuff is here in this little 850 sq ft home. Everything I like is here - my desk, my armchair, my books, my writing, my garden, my lunch (!) I don't need to go out looking for amusement." Lately writing is all I want to do. I don't pretend it is great writing, but I am compelled. So I know how "sitting at your desk" is a goal. Let's just follow our hearts, right? While we can.
Thanks, Rebecca. You see now why I will never be offered a knighthood. What do those letters stand for? I ain't never heard of them. In 5 years of maths lessons at secondary school, the only things I learnt was (1) sit next to the brainiest bot=y in class; (2) copy his answers during tests.
You've done well teaching yourself maths via Youtube -- in theory. I hope you didn't use this video to help you: https://youtu.be/MS2aEfbEi7s
Oh yes, thanks, I sent all that now. I have never knowingly encountered a hypotenuse or an iscoceles triangle. Completely useless knowledge to a 15 year old IMHO
Numeracy is indeed woefully lacking here across the pond in the U.S. One of the challenges is that many media members don't understand how to put numbers in context. I have been giving numeracy workshops for over 20 years, mostly to press associations in various states, and one of the great ironies for journalists is that they flee math/science fields to pursue this wonderful art of story-telling....only to run smack dab into numbers wherever their assignments taken them. Go figure!
I also appreciate your point about some taking a strange pride in being inept at something....when I am inept at something, I usually acknowledge it, but will try to shore up that deficiency if possible. For instance, it's taken me 29 years of marriage to know how to wash the dishes adequately, though even my wife would likely challenge that claim :-)
😂 The Press Association here (UK) includes number-crunching and use of spreadsheets in its training (or used to). Over here, the press have no idea of the difference between correlation and causation, or the possible direction of causation, especially when it comes to reporting on health matters.
Ah yes, the smoke and mirrors. Another fascinating post, Terry - thank you.
I didn't thrive in maths lessons at school, apart from an extraordinary achievement in the third year (so I would have been thirteen) when I scored 100% in a trigonometry test. How? I'd simply memorised 'SOH CAH TOA' - just because I loved the sound! - and lo and behold, that was the only thing I'd needed to know that wasn't supplied on the test paper. My love of language had saved me... in a MATHS test!
As an adult I had long been ashamed both of my maths prowess and my lack of confidence with numbers. I had no grasp of how to look after my money until I took the opportunity of being housebound during the first Covid lockdown to gobble up as much free education in personal finance as I possibly could via YouTube and the blogosphere. I WISH I'd had that kind of education at school, but now that I've armed myself with it I feel absolutely epic, because for the first time in my life, despite having very little disposable income, I know exactly where every penny goes, and precisely what I have available to spend across each category. THAT is the sort of maths that schools need to be teaching right from the start. 😊
One of the most valuable classes I ever took in high school was called "Consumer Education" which included the most practical life skills an adult needs, including personal budgeting, understanding how marketing and advertising deludes us, dealing with businesses, calculating actual costs, composing letters to businesses, filling out forms, math and computational skills one needs every day, and myriad other practical money-management skills. I was fifteen and really had my eyes opened. Do I use algebra and calculus in my daily life? Never. But basic maths and ( some ) geometry, absolutely! Just saying.
I used to teach it, Sharron 😁 And consumer rights!
Yaaaay!! Your students may not be grateful now, but they will be in the future!
I dunno about that! Hope so though 😁
Wow, wow, wow - that is AWESOME, Sharron! I'd've loved some 'consumer education in my earlier days. Still, I'm very proud that I've been educating myself in that regard at last! 😊
Now, YOU! You, Rebecca, could teach a course on how to organize.... everything! I'd attend that course.
LOL and awwwwwwww in equal measure, Sharron! Now, if only I could organise my writing schedule - we've been on the road on and off for a week and a half, and the only place I want to be is sitting at my desk...! 🤣
Understood. I rarely leave my house any more for that reason. My son was worried about me. I told him, "Honey, all my stuff is here in this little 850 sq ft home. Everything I like is here - my desk, my armchair, my books, my writing, my garden, my lunch (!) I don't need to go out looking for amusement." Lately writing is all I want to do. I don't pretend it is great writing, but I am compelled. So I know how "sitting at your desk" is a goal. Let's just follow our hearts, right? While we can.
Sharron, thank you so much for this beautiful response. I am absolutely with you!
And you're so modest - but please know that I treasure the time I spend reading your posts. They are great, absolutely.
So there!
😂
Well done, Rebecca.
Thanks, Rebecca. You see now why I will never be offered a knighthood. What do those letters stand for? I ain't never heard of them. In 5 years of maths lessons at secondary school, the only things I learnt was (1) sit next to the brainiest bot=y in class; (2) copy his answers during tests.
You've done well teaching yourself maths via Youtube -- in theory. I hope you didn't use this video to help you: https://youtu.be/MS2aEfbEi7s
That video is BRILLIANT!!! 🤣
Here's an explanation of SOH CAH TOA: https://revisionmaths.com/gcse-maths-revision/trigonometry/sin-cos-and-tan (much less interesting than the link you just posted, sorry!).
Oh yes, thanks, I sent all that now. I have never knowingly encountered a hypotenuse or an iscoceles triangle. Completely useless knowledge to a 15 year old IMHO