Maths so much more than just numbers and signs

Across the country, both pupils  and parents are in revolt. Many want schools to drop the mathematics requirement in senior high school.

At the moment, all pupils either do real/pure mathematics or the less demanding mathematical literacy. Every week I receive at least one call from a desperate principal or alumnus or school governing body asking that I come and give a talk to teachers and/or students on the importance of doing mathematics.

At one school that insists on only doing the real maths, pupils threatened the other day to only write their names on the exam paper and leave while trying their luck with the other five subjects. Even some education officials are seriously discussing dropping the maths requirement in its entirety.

There is a convergence of interests here. Some officials want to drop the maths requirement so that their overall pass rates in a district or province or the whole country improves; it’s good politics.

Many pupils want maths literacy or no maths at all so they stand a better chance of passing well; maths, in other words, drags their averages down. And not a few principals want their schools to look good in the publicised grade 12 results.

The pressure is building and every South African should be concerned. Why? Because mathematics is much, much more than balancing equations or measuring the circumference of a circle. What pupils learn in mathematics actually has little to do with figures or facts.

They learn underlying skills such as efficiency, problem solving, logical thinking, visualisation and pattern spotting; and critical values such as wonderment, fulfilment, patience, resoluteness and more.

That is why universities make mathematics a requirement for almost every major degree: it is a reliable signal of who you are and what you can do.

This is what pupils (and parents) do not understand. If you lock your child out of mathematics, the real maths, you also lock them out of most degrees and therefore most careers where passing well in this subject is a prerequisite for access to prised qualifications.

Now, the problem at hand is real. Our foundations in maths (numeracy) are so poor in the early grades, that students carry a growing deficit in mathematical knowledge through senior primary and high school. Maths is the one subject you cannot learn later in life; you must have strong foundations in numbers early on.

So, what is the main problem? The quality of teachers teaching the subject. Put differently, the children are not the problem. That said, the problem is still salvageable at high school if their leaders start addressing the problem in the first year, grade 8. This is what schools can do.

One, ask yourself whether you have the right personnel; that is, are the teachers at your child’s school competent to teach mathematics? If not, either take your child out of that school or insist the school appoints expert math teachers with proven ability in the subject. This is within your authority as parents. Your child has one shot at passing well enough for post-school education and training; you cannot afford to screw it up.

Two, insist the school create extra time every single day for mathematics. Children could come in before school and stay after school. Weekends and holidays should be utilised to the full. Every resource-deprived school in the country with exceptional math results, such as Manzamthombo Secondary School in Philippi or Menzi High School in Umlazi have supplementary classes for the subject. No pain, no gain.

Three, appoint a maths tutor for your child. This might be the most important investment you can make as a parent. Even if you don’t have much money, save up for this important teaching resource. Whatever you do, do not pay the teacher at your school for extra lessons if you already know that person is not competent to teach maths in the normal hours on the timetable. Find in or outside the community an expert maths tutor such as a reputable teacher at another school or a maths III university student who can also teach the subject well.

Four, encourage your child on a daily basis. Words matter. When her or his results improve even slightly, make a fuss such as taking the family to the Spur for a steak and have the waiters sing that dreadful happy birthday song. Slid an extra few rand into their weekly allowance. But do something to incentivise progress, however small.

Most of all, do not give your child the easy option, mathematical literacy. In an examination paper making its rounds online and in newspaper inserts, one of the grade 12 math literacy questions compares the price of a meal, the delivery fee (or tip), and the total amount for each of Mr Delivery, Uber Eats and a restaurant.

Among the dumb questions is this: If the total cost is R141 and the price of the meal is R126, calculate the delivery fee for Mr Delivery. In other words, a subtraction sum I learnt in grade 2. If this is what your child counts as success in mathematics, they might well end up being a driver for Mr Delivery.