Canopus

I seem to be the opposite. I was very good at maths and other logical factual subjects such as physics, chemistry, engineering, and computer programming, but struggled with wordy subjects like English and history. The issue of writing came into the equation and I could produce better essays on a computer than with a pen, but my schools couldn't understand why and didn't like me doing work on a computer.

Learn a really obscure skill like Viterbi decoding of convolutional codes.

So you have succeeded in getting a book published. Was it a worthwhile effort? When I found out the costs of publishing I came to the conclusion that most writer's make a loss unless their work is a bestseller or a "standard" textbook.

Today I got out "A Complete O Level Mathematics" by A Greer that was published in 1976. It was the book I used to learn algebra, calculus, and trigonometry whilst at primary school. All units are metric so imperial must have been abolished on the O Level by 1976. On the first page of Chapter 1 the sequence of operations is described but the word BIDMAS isn't mentioned. It states: 5 x 8 + 7 = 40 + 7 = 47 (not 5 x 15) 8 / 4 + 9 = 2 + 9 = 11 (not 8 / 13) 5 x 4 - 12 / 3 + 7 = 20 - 4 + 7 = 23 Which is BIDMAS and not working from left to right. There is no mention of calculators and book describes in great detail how to use tables of logs, square roots, and trig functions, so BIDMAS definitely predates calculators.

I'm sorry if I have upset or shocked anyone but what I stated in my post is actually the essence of what really is happening in Britain although the mainstream media doesn't report on it. I was at meeting about demographics last Saturday which contained several people who are experts on the subject. Many issues were discussed including immigration, emigration, and the make up of the nation. One of the findings was that Britain has a progressively shrinking middle class, and a growing dependency culture. An ever higher percentage of children are born into families in the lowest quartile whilst a lower percentage of children are born into families in the middle two quartiles. This is a result of several factors including changes to the economy and the job market and the generosity of the government when it comes to providing unemployment benefits. The job market in Britain is becoming increasingly divided between professional careers in law and finance, and unskilled low paid jobs in retail and fast food restaurants. Many middle class skilled jobs in offices and factories have vanished due to foreign competition and outsourcing to countries where labour is cheaper. Global free trade and a torrent of immigration depress salaries as companies are forced to minimise labour costs in the race to the bottom. As a result, most families now require that both parents work full time in order to earn enough to live off comfortably. Having two parents in full time employment means that they have to let their careers take priority over children and are increasingly choosing to have fewer children. If parents want children as their first priority then it can often work out better off financially and socially for them to live off benefits rather than work. If they can get a council house then even better. Upwards social mobility in Britain is quite poor judging by various statistics and children born into families in the bottom quartile and those living off benefits often remain in the bottom quartile as adults. Unless this situation can be rectified, Britain will progressively slide towards a nation of people living off benefits or working in short contract unskilled jobs rather than employed full time. Don't misinterpret my original post as saying that all council house tenants are lazy dole scrounging slackers or that those living off benefits are unworthy dishonest people. Many council tenants are quite decent people and some people living off benefits have a genuine reason to be given benefits such as ill health or having to look after disabled children. Sadly, there are (too) many fit and able council tenants living off benefits who abuse the system by spending all day boozing and smoking in front of the telly whilst their kids play video games or hang round street corners getting up to delinquency and crime. They make no effort to improve their lives such as educating themselves or their children with a high flying career in mind, or engaging in community activities. One of the people who attended the meeting lives on a council estate and draws unemployment benefits. In fact he has never worked in his life and is now in his late 30s. He home educates all three of his kids because he enjoys doing so and thinks they are given a better education than if they went to school. If anyone calls him a dole scrounger then his counterargument is that he is saving the government money by not sending his kids to school although he hasn't yet worked out whether it is revenue neutral or not. Instead of spending money on consumer goods, he buys books and educational materials. All three of his kids are part of a home education network and involved in various outside activities, but most children they are friendly with don't live on the council estate or attend the local school. Many of the kids who live on the council estate are quite hostile and call them insulting names because they would rather read a history book than doss about outside.

I forgot to mention Linux. The most crucial issue with laptops is hardware incompatibility so check the technicalities carefully before buying. There are a few companies that sell laptops preloaded with Linux so they are probably the best route to take. I know. Most laptops are designed for obsolescence rather than games. The trouble with miniaturisation and everything on one chip approach is that machines are no longer upgradable via the hardware route. This applies to machines other than computers as well. I sometimes use them for bits and pieces but wouldn't buy a computer from them because I think you can get better computers for less money elsewhere. I consider PC world to be geared towards the mass market consumer and not those who take a serious interest in computers and their tech specs.

When I was at secondary school I had to make do with a Tandy TRS 80 Model 102. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=233 It was quite a neat little word processor for text only documents. A monochrome LCD display restricted its graphical capabilities but you could make bar charts if you pushed yourself. An inbuilt BASIC interpreter came in handy for writing programs to solve maths and physics problems. You had no problem with batteries because you could buy them from anywhere. Laptops have never been designed with kids in mind. Many are too heavy for a kid to lug around comfortably and too fragile to take the hammering of a school environment. If your kids laptop will reside at home then focus on specification in the same way as for a desktop. If your kid will take their laptop to school, the park, on trips out etc. then the best tip of advice I can give you is to find a laptop that isn't too heavy and of a robust construction, especially the screen which should survive being hit with a point of a biro. I also wouldn't recommend spending an excessive amount on a laptop if there is a good chance of it being nicked, smashed, covered in acid, or thrown in a river. Don't buy a laptop from PC World and don't take out extended warranties. A 3 year warranty is more than enough. I have been verbally informed not to buy a laptop from e-bay because they are often dodgy but have no real proof of this. There are companies around that specialise in selling used laptops and they are often well worth it if you don't need cutting edge performance. I personally wouldn't buy a brand new computer and under no circumstances buy one on credit at 27% APR. If you want to run the latest resource intensive commercial games then the graphics chipsets are what matters the most so buy a laptop with a replaceable graphics card.

EEK! I hope it was a plastic bottle and not a glass one. Kids nowadays have no respect for their teachers. A friend used to get stressed out badly at school if he ever had to read or write. When he got stressed he threw things at people who were giving him stress including hole punchers and building blocks. He couldn't read until he was 10 years old and still can't write much more than his name with a pen. However, he was excellent at drawing and an expert at any 3D logic problems like those cubes you take apart and reassemble. How is reading taught in non English speaking countries? Is it different to the ways that it is taught in Britain and America? The phonics way works really well with languages like Turkish where words are spelt as they are pronounced but is less effective with English. The splitting up words method is often ineffective in practice. Privilege takes on the meaning of a shelf in a toilet! For many years a thought has ran through my mind that English is technically a difficult language to learn but I'm not really in a position to make a judgement because I don't know any other human languages.

That explains why as each year passes the number of kids born into decent middle class families decreases and the number of kids born into dole scrounging families increases. Haven't you noticed that middle class parents only seem to have one child nowadays and single mothers on council estates living off benefits have 3 or 4 kids - often from multiple fathers. Simple arithmetic tells you that as time passes an ever higher percentage of the nation's population will fit into the yob, chav, thug, benefit scrounging, slackarse category. Statistically, children whose parents live off benefits on council estates take after their parents in later life and very few ever hold good careers in anything. I don't know if it's a genetic or cultural thing. It isn't the education system to blame because thanks to the NC kids on council estates in Sunderland learn exactly the same stuff at school and take the same exams as kids from affluent suburbs in Surrey. The internet has put an end to the insular nature of local communities and childhood itself because kids now have access to information they would never be able to get hold of or people they would never be able to communicate with before the internet existed.

It was probably standard practice across the nation back in the 1980s to assume that kids with an average or higher than average intelligence were incapable of having any learning and behavioural problems, or require SEN unless they had a recognised physical disability. Just about all SEN services were designed for kids with a lower than average intelligence, slow learners, and those struggling with basic skills like spelling and arithmetic. I really stumped Hampshire LEA when I was statemented at 8. They didn't have anyone statemented with behavioural problems who was of a high academic standard. It was generally assumed at the time that high intelligence and good behaviour went hand in hand and that bad behaviour was a hallmark of low intelligence. Sadly it doesn't appear as if the situation has improved much now that 20 years have elapsed since I was statemented. Interestingly, both metropolitan and shire LEAs pretend that high intelligence kids can't have problems.

The CSE was designed around "everyday" maths and was mainly arithmetic and money calculations. The O Level covered more advanced topics such as algebra and trigonometry. My friend learnt about many of the O Level topics in his own time during Y9 for enjoyment and this was in the 1960s. He wanted to do the O Level because he felt more confident with algebra and angles than arithmetic. He also made claims that in 10 years time (late 1970s) electronic calculators would be commonplace and things like long division will become obsolete skills. His maths teacher wasn't amused with his attitude and wrote a strongly worded letter to his parents saying that it was ridiculous that he wanted to do the O Level when he couldn't even handle CSE material. The way the education system - and much of society - works is that if you can't master the so called basic skills then you shouldn't be allowed to participate in more advanced topics. There are kids in Y10 and Y11 that are still covering primary school maths and have never been allowed to study algebra because the school wouldn't let them until they mastered numeracy. There are conflicts of interest in society whether schools should focus more on teaching stuff used in everyday life or whether they should teach advanced academic material.

How good is he when it comes to things like geometry and algebra? There are many people who struggle with numbers but excel in other areas of maths. I know someone who failed their CSE and now has A grades at A Level in maths and further maths. I got into topics like trigonometry and algebra when I was about 7 because I wasn't too hot on number work. I still don't know how to multiply two 2 figure integers, but can do things like solve differential equations. I had difficulty with my times tables at the age of 8 but had no problem solving quadratics and knew the formulae to find areas and volumes of shapes. I have a feeling that primary schools push number work very far to the detriment of other maths topics. Irritatingly the government has renamed maths numeracy.

Apart from Bill Gates who's personal fortune was the result of luck rather than skill, has anyone with AS ever made any serious money?

Seems to be the only kid obsessed with things generally considered to be "inappropriate" for kids to be interested in.

It doesn't seem to be a cardinal sin for a kid or young teenager to be obsessed with computers nowadays even if they are NT. This wasn't the case back when I was a kid. Computer obsession was seen as a very heinous crime punishable by being sent to an institution that didn't have any computers and forced to mix with other kids in team activities. Yes, it's the truth and so bad was my craving for computers that I ended up bringing my own computer to school much to the chagrin of the headmaster. I was born in a world where cars and televisions were ubiquitous, yet home computers were virtually nonexistant. If you asked someone on the street what software was on the day I was born then you probably wouldn't have got an intelligent answer. Unlike kids of today who take it for granted we have powerful usable machines with flashy graphics and only 3 formats to choose from, I have lived to see how home computers have evolved from being awkward toys into todays multimedia machines. Here is a summary of the computers I have owned throughout my life: 1983/4 Toshiba HX-10 http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=438 This was the first computer I got my hands on when I was 6 years old and used it to play games and program in BASIC. The software came on cartridges like those used on game consoles and loaded up instantly. I thought the computer was a weird obscure machine because nobody else I knew had even heard of it and software was difficult to find. At the time I wasn't aware that MSX was the main home computer format in Japan, but sadly never caught on in Britain. This computer was packed in a box that mysteriously vanished when moving house in 1987. 1987 Amstrad CPC 6128 http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=111 This has to be my favourite computer of all times as I spent the best part of my free time between the ages of 10 and 14 in front of this machine and taught myself to program in both BASIC and Z80 assembly language at the age of 10. The CPC 6128 was a great all round computer and the only one available in Britain at the time that could be used for games, programming, and serious use. I typeset my homework with the Tasword word processor and my teachers didn't like it. I still have this computer and use it from time to time for games. The disk drive takes very strange looking 3 inch floppies that are impossible to buy nowadays. 1990 Tandy TRS 80 Model 102 http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=233 I bought this laptop to take to school with me so I could type work rather than write it. It was quite a neat little word processor and perfect for kids with bad handwriting. It also had in inbuilt BASIC interpreter that I used to write programs to solve maths and physics problems, and a modem I used to send emails with. A friend borrowed the computer in 1994 and never returned it. 1991 IBM PC AT http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=185 My first entry into the world of PCs which back then stood for proper computers because that was what 99% of all businesses used. I was given this computer complete with an electronics CAD package by an electronics company that was upgrading its hardware. I originally used it to design electronic circuits with but later installed pirate copies of Lotus 1-2-3, AutoRoute, and program compilers. I learnt the technicalities of DOS commands and how to program in C, Pascal, and FORTRAN on this machine. I still have this computer and use it for chip programming. 1992 486 PC A boring grey minitower case 4MB of RAM, 120 MB hard drive, and a clock speed of 33MHz made me the envy of my classmates at school and college. I built this computer from individual components and loaded its hard drive with a pirate copy of Windows 3.1 and M$ Word and Excel nicked from a computer on display in Comet. MathCad was my favourite software package and even the head of maths at college had never heard of this miracle that could solve equations symbolically for you. I never liked the Windows environment for programming so later moved to Linux, but the computer was too slow to run X-Windows even with 8MB of RAM so was sold in 1995. 1995-2005 Numerous Pentium PCs All look boring Since 1995 I have owned many Pentiums and most have had Linux installed on their hard drive. I am a Linux enthusiast nowadays.

I have discussed the left to right calculation vs BIDMAS with a friend who attended school during the 1960s and 70s and has a degree in maths. He has always been taught BIDMAS at school and has never seen the left to right calculation in any textbook. He suspects that left to right calculation may well have been the method used with Roman numerals and that BIDMAS was invented outside Europe in countries that used a decimal number system. The same friend is a member of the BWMA and can't uncover any precise information about when schools went metric. He reckons that there was no official policy dictating that schools teach metric after a certain date, so metrication was phased in gradually from the late 1960s following government recommendations. There is no requirement to teach imperial units in KS1-3 but that doesn't explain why a high proportion of teachers are so anti imperial.

It's the insurance companies I am most concerned about. Insurance companies are nasty ###### that only exist to make a profit and will do anything they can to increase premiums and refuse to pay out. All insurance companies now have access to a central computer database so any shenanigans with one insurance company will be found out by all others.

Is the problem to do with there being too much homework, or is the homework too difficult? In Y7 and Y8 I found the homework to be stupidly trivial and often couldn't be bothered to do it. In Y9 there was too much homework and some was too trivial. In Y10 and Y11 the homework was more challenging and I was inclined to do it because it counted towards my GCSEs. GCSE options are more limited today than in the past and kids often end up doing 10 GCSEs. Is this too many for kids with AS and would they prefer to drop some periphery subjects if they could? I can understand a big transition between primary school and secondary school. What exactly is the issue with Y8?

An official diagnosis could mean having to give up driving. Insurance companies want to know about all disabilities and disabilities vastly increase premiums. If someone with AS isn't diagnosed and needs to make a claim then they have the benefit of the doubt as legally they don't have AS. If someone diagnosed with AS doesn't tell their insurance company then the insurance policy is invalid and the insurance company won't pay a penny.

A question I have never been able to find the answer to is when did schools go metric. My parents attended school during the 1950s and 60s and everything was imperial. A friend was at school during the 60s and 70s. Most stuff at primary was imperial but the O Level maths and physics courses were metric and so were the exam papers. My primary schools during the 80s were all metric, but oddly there were questions in the maths GCSE papers that involved imperial.

What I want to know is why do people celebrate Christmas? Is it anything to do with Britain being one of the few countries in the world not to have a national day?

Come to think of it. I reckon it would be possible to get a C at O Level if one calculated from left to right rather than used BIDMAS. O Level papers had questions on things like algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus that don't require knowing the priority of arithmetic operators.

GCSEs didn't exist until 1988. Was it possible to become a primary teacher in the 70s with a grade 5 CSE or was a good grade at O Level required?

Primary school teachers can't be experts at everything and many aren't experts at maths. I suspect that before the days of the NC, SATS, league tables, and inspections every week, primary teachers could get away with their errors more easily than today. If the school relied more on teachers to provide information rather than textbooks then a teacher that got something wrong could quite easily end up brainwashing the entire class! Secondary school teachers are usually more knowledgeable in their subject than primary school teachers. Therefore they are less likely to inadvertantly brainwash kids.

I predate the NC and have only ever been taught BIDMAS at school. I had maths teachers do things in strange ways or were difficult accepting alternative solutions to problems - read my article on fractions - but I was never taught anything in maths that was incorrect or untrue. I can vaguely recall some kids who performed calculations from left to right but were told it was the wrong method. Every maths book I have encountered employed BIDMAS and I have never seen a maths book that states that calculations are performed from left to right. That explanation about computer programming is also wrong. High level languages were developed to comply with the ESTABLISHED laws of maths including BIDMAS. In fact it would be easier to produce a compiler or interpreter if calculations were executed from left to right because computers are designed to process data sequentially.