What If?

I have a question for you. Think of it as a rhetorical question, if you feel more comfortable that way.

WHAT IF there was no such thing as “good at maths” or “bad at maths”? What if there were just different levels of exposure to the topics? What if some children who struggle with maths very young just hadn’t had enough exposure to numbers in the home and needed more experience before they learned formal maths? What if people who race ahead in maths didn’t have a gift, but just had optimal exposure and learning environment. What if everyone could excel if we gave them the chance?

IF that were the case, how would our schools need to change? Or our policies? Or our exam system? Should we allow children to fail, or should we insist that they’re given the chance to succeed?

Of course, that’s just fantasy. Right? Some people are just better at maths than others – right? Well…

There does seem to be some evidence that a few people have significant trouble with numbers, and have a condition called dyscalculia. It’s estimated to affect 3-6% of the population. However, as with dyslexia, the causes are still poorly understood.

Much more significantly, we allow around a fifth of all students to fail their maths GCSE each year – and post-COVID, the numbers are rising. Re-sits don’t significantly improve the pass rate, nor does the policy of making children take GCSEs again in college.

This rate can’t be explained by dyscalculia. So why are the failure rates so high? One of the strongest explainers is poverty. We allow children to fail if their parents aren’t influential enough (wealthy enough) to insist that their children are given a fair chance.

I don’t think that this is okay. I think that every child – and every adult – should have the chance to discover that they CAN do maths, if they’re given the help, and the time, that they need.

Do you agree? What changes do you think we need to our schools, exams … and society?