Monday, November 20

I'm like many of my generation, despairing of the fact that 'young people today' can't do mental arithmetic and, faced with the challenge of $1.50 + $1.75, they reach for a calculator.  Of course, like all good bigots, I simplify and over-state the situation.  Nowadays, the average teenager carries three calculators on his/her person: iPad, iPhone and smart watch.Why wouldn't they use them?  In any case, the average student's understanding of Maths concepts today, far exceeds my generation's.

In the General Maths exam the other day, there were five papers and not one was Arithmetic.  Instead, there was Interpreting Graphical Information, Finance, Trigonometry and two others I can't remember.

There have been one or two other changes since I sat the Leaving Certificate in 1959.  Realising that ten minutes on Google will give you all you need to know about dates and lengths of rivers, exams test for how students can evaluate and use information.  Some exams even come with Information Sheets with formulae, diagrams and tables.  Once upon a time, we went into exams with just a pencil, and a head stuffed with irrelevant 'facts' but now we need so much more.