A Maths Problem

Leaving cert results are out, college places have been offered and accepted and once again the powers that be have expressed concern that Irish students aren't graduating with sufficient marks in mathematics to take up places on engineering and computer science courses. Minister Quinn has asked his Minister of State to look at the secondary system for ways to improve maths performance and the Higher Education Authority is meeting with the National Council for Curriculum Assesment to explore the issue of reform. All in all, the numerical skills of Irish teens are a big worry for the government who are gambling on our future knowledge based economy to pay off their gambling debts.

So why don't teens think they're good at maths? How numbers fit together is the only thing that has remained and will remain constant in education since the first abacus. Language and technology are always evolving, we learn more about geography and science everyday and history is constantly being added to but complex numbers or not, one and one will always make two. It should be instinctive at this stage in our evolution. I know the majority of teens have mastered the basic concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication and hopefully even long division by the time they graduate primary which theoretically should give them a good foundation to start playing with probability and calculus, transformations and quadratic equations but somewhere between fourth class percentages and Junior Cert algebra we seem to be losing them. Or - they're gaining such a negative opinion of maths, its complication and their own abilities in the subject that they drag their feet into class everyday, gaze out the window or doodle on their Text & Tests with an attitude of 'I can't do it, so why bother try?'

I feel sorry for anyone who misses out on the beauty of maths. In the insecure turmoil of puberty there was no feeling of elation quite like that of finding an elusive X and knowing it was perfectly correct because you could put it back into the equation and check. It was more satisfying to me to work out a simultaneous equation than to complete a cryptic crossword and probability was just games, like playing solitaire. Admittedly, I struggled a bit with differentiation and I absolutely despised learning off proofs of theorems but because I liked working out the missing angle, I could see the benefit in just knowing them.  I got differentiation eventually because I knew I was good at maths and I wouldn't let it beat me.

So, I'll ask again - why don't teens think they're good at maths? Why are we losing them? I think I have an answer. My theory goes back to infant level maths. Most children don't start school till they are five or well over four. Before this, most have completed at least one year of preschool. In preschool and at home for the first few years they've learned most of the concepts on the junior infant syllabus. They may or may not have the language for it and probably don't have the ability to write it but most four year olds have taught themselves about shapes and basic counting. They know two is more than one and they know if you take one away they are left with one. They count things constantly for fun and they certainly know which part of the chocolate bar is bigger and which is smaller. Most have watched enough Cbeebies to identify the numerals to ten too. Forgive the cliche but young children are sponges and constants like numbers are perfect stimuli for their small but information gobbling brains. Which begs the question; why is the first two whole years of formal mathematics education spent on matching sets to ten and numeral recognition and reproduction? The reproduction admittedly takes some time to master but the development of motor skills shouldn't hold back the development of cognitive skills. I was stunned last year when my eldest started junior infants. On covering the book I realised that the last few pages introduced addition to five with the aid of pictures. My son had been adding and subtracting to twenty for a year already. I mentioned this to his teacher and the head and they both said they had no choice but to stick to the syllabus. We struggled through the year with us writing out pages of  'addies' (eg 7+4=____) as a reward for completing his colouring homework. Twice the teacher approached me about his inappropriate behaviour and lack of patience in class. Eventually she gave him some senior infant work to complete while waiting for the others to finish. He complained this was also too easy. Do I have a gifted child on my hands? Perhaps. Lately though, my younger child who is only embarking on his first full time year of preschool has been asking for 'homework'. He doesn't hold his pencil correctly, he hasn't even decided which hand he prefers but he can match and he can draw a circle and he identifies sets and numerals up to ten correctly every time. He has a year to go till he starts junior infants and then what? Back to matching sets of one and two. Have I two gifted children? Unlikely. I asked on Twitter did anyone have a similar experience.  I got eight replies all agreeing with me that the syllabus is too basic/moves too slowly for many kids. One questioned my rush, saying yes his daughter found it easy in year one but that may change as she got older. More importantly no one disagreed. My concern is that in the first week of senior infants my son already complains 'maths is boring' yet will come home and demand his page of 'addies' and lately has been experimenting with simple multiplication. At some point in his school life the maths will get harder, proabably around fourth class with the introduction of long division. Will my sons still be listening in maths class at that stage? I doubt it. And this is where I think we're losing them.

I taught KG2 for two years and first grade for one in another country. The maths syllabus was very similar to here. There was another subject though. Twice a week, I was scheduled to teach Mental Maths. This was basic numerical agility. Addition, subtraction, filling in boxes, counting in multiples, learning tables, working it out with your fingers or in your head. I struggled to teach the methods and tricks of adding numbers larger than ten as I had to learn them myself. Rounding up - really? In all my years being 'good at maths' I had never learned to do it in my head. I was blessed with a good memory and to this day if you ask me to multiply two large numbers without a pen I will mentally work out the sum on an invisible piece of paper the way I was taught to doing long multiplication in third class. I never learned to round to ten, or break it down into factors until I had to teach the skills. Was I just not listening that day in school?   So many of my Irish teacher colleagues struggled with the subject too that I think not.

I'm not a so called tiger mom, I'm not particularly pushy. Of course I want my children to do well and be successful in life but the reason I give my children academic work to do is usually to keep them quietly occupied. I get fed up playing with Lego and spaceships and I'm trying to limit their screen time. They enjoy it. If they didn't I'd find something else for them to do. I know the theories that academia is best left till they're older and formal education doesn't start till they are six in Denmark etc. but living within the constraints of Irish rainy Suburbia, a page of  'addies' or 'matching' is a good way to buy myself a few minutes quiet to make a phonecall. I enjoyed maths too - it's satisfying.

I am dreading heading into the next few years of struggling with my children to complete homework that bores them and the stress of making up extra work that challenges them. Already the four year old is eyeing up the six year old's maths book. It's not a good way for a parent to feel about their children's education and it's even worse that small children are feeling that way about their school work. He loves the school, he enjoys all the other subjects, he adores his teachers but he is unchallenged and bored by maths below his level and I think that needs to change before it turns to apathy. I believe if Minister Quinn really is determined to improve the numeracy skills of the next generation he should start by challenging the little ones. Make it fun from an early age. Teach them mental numeracy. Show them the pleasure and satisfaction maths can give. Start them off with the idea that maths is something they can enjoy and succeed at and keep them interested and I believe they're far more likely to believe in their own ability to sit that higher level paper and pass it.