Should Maths be Compulsory? (1 Viewer)

[lyounamu]

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.

Wouldn't that apply to you as you seem to be quite bitter about having done Mathematics?

I can basically give all the reasons why English SHOULD NOT be compulsory. I will basically copy your points. However, I strongly believe that English should be compulsory, I just don't want it to be counted towards UAI if that is not the top 10 Units.

 

[russianROULETTE]

Wouldn't that apply to you as you seem to be quite bitter about having done Mathematics?

1. you're posting with the assumption that i'm not being objective. you will notice that in none of my reasons did i say it shouldn't be compulsory because i didn't enjoy it. i said i didn't find it useful, and that many people will not find it useful, hence it shouldn't be compulsory. those who do find it useful can choose to study it.

2. haha, bitter isn't the right word. i was fairly high ranking and have no reason to be bitter, i just think my time is used more effectively in other areas, as i'm stronger in other subjects. that, and i realised that if a university course is going to require maths, it will be mathematics not general, hence there was no reason for me to continue.

also, could you please dispute the reasons and not the poster.

I can basically give all the reasons why English SHOULD NOT be compulsory. I will basically copy your points. However, I strongly believe that English should be compulsory, I just don't want it to be counted towards UAI if that is not the top 10 Units.

this thread is not an english vs. maths thread, it is a SHOULD MATHS BE COMPULSORY THREAD. you still haven't said why it should be.

 

[lyounamu]

1. you're posting with the assumption that i'm not being objective. you will notice that in none of my reasons did i say it shouldn't be compulsory because i didn't enjoy it. i said i didn't find it useful, and that many people will not find it useful, hence it shouldn't be compulsory. those who do find it useful can choose to study it.

2. haha, bitter isn't the right word. i was fairly high ranking and have no reason to be bitter, i just think my time is used more effectively in other areas, as i'm stronger in other subjects. that, and i realised that if a university course is going to require maths, it will be mathematics not general, hence there was no reason for me to continue.

also, could you please dispute the reasons and not the poster.

this thread is not an english vs. maths thread, it is a SHOULD MATHS BE COMPULSORY THREAD. you still haven't said why it should be.

Well, if you are talking in the context of YOUR experience, you are not being objective. That's quite obvious, isn't it? And I am not biased as I like both English & Mathematics. I would not choose anything over the other. It just seemed to me that you are talking in favour of English and how useful it is compared to Mathematics.

 

[Yamiyo]

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

There is a non-calculator section in the SC. If they haven't learnt how to do percentages and fractions after 10 years of compulsory mathematics education, chances are that forcing them to stay for another two years is going to make absolutely no difference.

 

[russianROULETTE]

Well, if you are talking in the context of YOUR experience, you are not being objective.

okay, that's true, i didn't think of it that way. i meant i was putting aside my opinions on the subject to get the least biased answer possible... but since you put it that way, then i suppose i'm not being objective. in that case, stike out the first sentence on points 1 and 4, but they still apply in general. all the points are no longer speaking about my experience, hence you can argue them.

That's quite obvious, isn't it? And I am not biased as I like both English & Mathematics. I would not choose anything over the other.

okay.

It just seemed to me that you are talking in favour of English and how useful it is compared to Mathematics.

i don't see how you could have interpreted my first post that way. at no point in my arguments did i compare the usefulness of english and maths.

 

[wuddie]

So, learning to write essays is something tthat is essential to life?

Bwahahahaha. Wuddie, you are the greatest.

Edit: 10 bottles of beer.

learning the make up of an essay helps you to read between the lines, dumbass. so when you pick up a piece of essay, you'd know what it is and what it intends to do, and how effective it is in doing it.

english is essential because you see it and use it everyday. what happens when you are given a contract, and you cannot for the life of you work out what the terms and conditions mean. or when a jounalist wrote some biased, misinformed columns and you took them for real? english teaches you more than just essays and 'journeys', it teahcers you how to protect yourself. anyone who fails to see that should not have done their hsc.

 

[cmd]

Nope..Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and it should be up to the individual concerned as to what they want to utilise,and what subjects they just choose to merely dismiss in life.=)

 

[karnage]

Well general maths at least i suppose but hey i suppose its good for people who hate maths like a few mates of mine.

 

[foram]

Nope..Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and it should be up to the individual concerned as to what they want to utilise,and what subjects they just choose to merely dismiss in life.=)

Exactly!

Since english is compulsary, people who have a weakness in NSW english will be at a disadvantage. Therefore, math should be compulsary to balance the bias in the education system.


Math should be compulsary.

 

[walkahz]

Maths should 100% be compulsary.
It is a billion times more usefull than english (read english is a load of crap that has no application to real life).
You need maths to do everything in life. There is no life without maths.

 

[kaz1]

Exactly!

Since english is compulsary, people who have a weakness in NSW english will be at a disadvantage. Therefore, math should be compulsary to balance the bias in the education system.


Math should be compulsary.

Maths should 100% be compulsary.
It is a billion times more usefull than english (read english is a load of crap that has no application to real life).
You need maths to do everything in life. There is no life without maths.

It is spelt compulsory and +1 to the post foram made.

 

[walkahz]

exactly why i hate and only do standard english

 

[Evilo]

There is a non-calculator section in the SC. If they haven't learnt how to do percentages and fractions after 10 years of compulsory mathematics education, chances are that forcing them to stay for another two years is going to make absolutely no difference.

they shouldn't be doing the hsc in the first place.

 

[revo]

yeah, finding the area of an ellipse and where two lines meet is so important in life, everyone just has to know how to do it.

 

[kaz1]

yeah, finding the area of an ellipse and where two lines meet is so important in life, everyone just has to know how to do it.

There are other things in maths that relate to everyday life like calculating interest and depreciation (basically all the financial maths stuff).

 

[Evilo]

yeah, finding the area of an ellipse and where two lines meet is so important in life, everyone just has to know how to do it.

ground keepers need to know how many square meters an oval is so they can buy just enough cans to completly spray the oval in pesticide.

 

[Boxxxhead]

"Maths won't ever be compulsory, because:

1) Not everybody needs to do maths, whereas pretty much everybody needs to speak english in Australia, even if the structure of HSC English is flawed.

2) This means there would be a common maths subject, which would be VERY hard to cater to the abilities of all students of. The top General students in year 12 in my year couldn't pass 2unit in year 11, so trying to put the bottom General students on the same scale as the top 4unit Maths students would be next to impossible, since maths has a much higher standard deviation in results compared to english."

Quoted from me in a post a while back.

Also, is it really THAT big a deal if maths/english counts to your UAI or not? The guys who get good UAIs who suck at maths but own at english won't do the same uni course as you if you suck at english and own at maths. When fighting for places in uni courses (which is all UAI is used for, besides transfers), it's irrelevant for the most part. Heaps of the Actuaries at my uni only got high band 4/low band 5 at english, but pretty much all of them owned maths hard.

 

[melanieeeee.]

Exactly!

Since english is compulsary, people who have a weakness in NSW english will be at a disadvantage. Therefore, math should be compulsary to balance the bias in the education system.


Math should be compulsary.

how will that help remove the bias? particularily if a student is good/bad at both...
two wrongs dont make a right, forum.

 

[Evilo]

how will that help remove the bias? particularily if a student is good/bad at both...
two wrongs dont make a right, forum.

if you are bad at both then you probably shouldnt be doing an hsc.

 

[zdzislaw]

NO NO NO NO NO NO
*shudders at the thought of compulsory maths*