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A few years after leaving school, I decided to enter the teaching profession for which O level maths was mandatory. I obtained it without any difficulty via a night school course and was totally flummoxed when the tutor suggested I might like to take A level maths.  But, I protested, I was useless at the subject. It was only then I realised that I'd had no problems at primary school. It had all been caused by Mrs Davy!

 

Having said that, figures don't interest me at all. Words fascinate me, numbers just bore me stiff.

 

Looking back, I often wonder what my school chum Kathryn would have chosen as a career. As it turned out, she never had to decide. She died at the age of 16 from a wrongly diagnosed appendicitis.  A life too short to have had it wasted listening to the rants and ravings of Barmy Colleen!

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I heard part of Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols on the radio the other day and it took me straight back to the festering season at the dreaded Manning.   Manning held a service of Less

Re maths teaching, earlier post; The only use for higher mathematics is to be able to teach somebody else higher mathematics.  (Bertrand Russell).

I don't know Jill well enough to be able to recognise her by any leg features.

I had to study statistics for my accountancy exams but never came across the subject in real life. Another peculiar subject was economics where there was never any definitive answer to an exam question. I worked on the theory that the examiners weighed the answer papers rather than marking them. The more you waffled, the higher the mark! Your were taught so much rubbish at school that had no relation to real life situations. As an example, in French the subject was based on grammar when actually you needed to learn it as a conversational language. Latin was taught, as in those days an O-level in Latin was a prerequisite for entry at some universities for medical and pharmaceutical courses, where an abbreviated form of Latin was used in prescriptions.

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I'm with you, Col.  From the first day I said I thought I would like to be an electrician it was drilled into me, 'but you've got to be good at math'.  Trouble was, I wasn't.  After I got on as an apprentice I found that most was not reaaly hard in our everyday use.  Mostly just simple measurement, and an ability to figure out Amps, volts and ohms, their relationships and correct sizes of wire.  Phase relationships etc. Get a bit more complicated but not much above everyday calculations.  Even in music you need to be able to count fractions etc. to get timing right.

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My contribution to maths…….

 

I did 7 reasonably successful years at Fairham Comprehensive at Clifton, and by far the worst teacher - as opposed to person - I encountered there was a man named Geoff Gay (no sniggering, because this was before that name acquired its second meaning).

 

He taught me for my 4th year. Up to then I’d been pretty good at Maths, coming around 9th or 10th out of a class of 35-40. But by the end of my 4th year - with Mr Gay - I was struggling around 28th-30th, and I knew it was all due to him. Within that one year he ruined my ability to do or understand maths. He knew the subject but just couldn’t teach it to others.  Not unpleasant; just useless. 

 

This was the early 70s and he was also a stereotypical radical leftie of the time; he was seen by many kids on several occasions in the city on demonstrations, marching down streets, waving banners etc. 

 

We had a different teacher in my 5th year who was very good and I quickly recovered lost ground, but not enough to get me through first attempt at O level Maths. I eventually passed it on my third attempt, but I should’ve got it on the first. All down to Mr Gay.

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It was actually Dannymac that really helped me with math, Phil.  private tutojring as well.  He seemed to have a gift of making the subject easier for dumbos like me.

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The problem is maths teachers who have a natural leaning toward the subject and can’t comprehend that others may find it difficult. There is a big difference in knowing a subject and being able to teach it so that others can understand it.

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That goes for any subject. I've been nuts about history for as long as I can remember but two years of boring torture at Manning leading up to O level almost killed my interest. The woman responsible had no communication skills whatsoever nor, so far as was apparent, any love of her subject. Such people perpetrate great harm and should be working in a factory!

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We sat all our GCEs in the gym and, since it couldn't be used for its usual purpose, the sports staff were called upon to invigilate.

 

As I sat my English Language GCE, I chose from a given list of options, to write an essay on those who had taught me for the previous two years.  I couldn't believe my good fortune! Not only that but Pickleface spent most of the session standing behind my chair, reading what I was writing. Much of it referred to her and she couldn't do a damned thing about it.

 

As we left the gym when the exam was over, she hissed in my ear, "One of these days, Sparrow, your pen will get you into serious trouble".

 

I was awarded the highest grade possible for English language and made sure I gave Pickleface an extra gleeful smirk when I collected my certificate at speech day in December that year.

 

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Was never bored with my Secondary Modern Education at Padstow.........all the pupils had either failed the 11 plus or didnt take it......so we were all Bestwood estate kids and to say the least they were an interesting bunch.....Same went for the Teachers,who like me must have enjoyed it there,,can't say i disliked any of them,,,even the ones i felt never took to me,,IE the Woodwork teachers Mr England and Mr Harris,,i was crap at Woodwork(still am) and anything to do with being Handy,,i'd struggle to tell you the last time i used a Screw driver or even where it is,,i know ive got an Hammer and again its whereabouts are a mystery,,

                                  I enjoyed many subjects at school History being one of them,,we only got up to the Boer war,,but Mr Betts the teacher who was quite Eccentric,,used to relate stories of being in the Desert with the 8th Army ,so we learned quite a bit....Geography was another favourite and the teacher Mr Thomas was brilliant,,can still see him in my minds eye smartly dressed and talking about the borders in Europe during the war years,1st and 2nd....Other subjects i enjoyed were..Drama,,Art,,Science and Technical Drawing,,and a large part of my interest and enjoyment was down to some excellent teachers,,who by and large were consumed with a passion for their subjects...

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36 minutes ago, benjamin1945 said:

Mr Betts the teacher who was quite Eccentric,,used to relate stories of being in the Desert with the 8th Army

 

At junior school we had a Mr Keys who was part of the ex-servicemen training scheme, apparently it was a popular way into teaching in the 50's.

He was a gunner with bomber command and lost his legs in the war, his party piece was whacking his shins with a walking stick.

 

One thing we quickly learned to do was ask "what it was like in the war sir" and that was it, sit back and chill out, he was off down memory lane for half an hour.

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11 hours ago, Cliff Ton said:

was a man named Geoff Gay (no sniggering, because this was before that name acquired its second meaning).

 

I think it's just possible that this may have been the Geoff Gay who was a couple of years ahead of me at HP. He would have left 6th form in '65 and been qualified by 68.. ish.. if it as him and if he went into teaching.  

'My' Geoff Gay was famously rebellious and once got into a near fist fight with a teacher in the run up to assembly because he'd been disciplined by a Senior Prefect and insisted he was not guilty of any misdemeanour and would not comply.  I have to say I had some sympathy with his stance, though maybe not his tactics.  He steadfastly refused to leave the main body of students and stand at the front of the hall with the other miscreants, despite the attentions of numerous Prefects and the  Teacher I mentioned.  At the end of assembly, ..as he passed Geoff, the famed Head Harry 'Taff' Davies said "Gay.. My Office".  Geoff dutifully followed him, which was a real demonstration of the esteem in which we all held Davies.  Geoff IIRC was suspended for a week.

I ran into him almost a quarter century later at the 1988 HP Bicentenary celebrations.  He was stocky, red faced and looking a bit down at heel in a DJ with tatty 'silks'.  I reminded him of the famous incident and he replied with a grin.. "Ahh Yes..  I've only just stopped doing things like that!"

 

Could he perhaps be the same chap?

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8 hours ago, benjamin1945 said:

.Other subjects i enjoyed were..Drama,,Art,,Science and Technical Drawing,,and a large part of my interest and enjoyment was down to some excellent teachers,,who by and large were consumed with a passion for their subjects...

 

Even though I went to HP..some Padstow teachers names were tatooed into my brain at the time.. though many lost now.  They were legends on Bestwood Est.. before Bestwood Park and Rise Park meant anything.

 

Alan Tipton.  Drama.  Gallagher.. Head.. was it 'Jock'?  A science teacher who was forever setting off his home made rockets.. name lost in time now..

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12 hours ago, Jill Sparrow said:

That goes for any subject. I've been nuts about history for as long as I can remember but two years of boring torture at Manning leading up to O level almost killed my interest.

 

They managed it in my case.  Our Cambridge Board  'O' Level syllabus was: 'British and European Social and Economic History 1714-1939.'

 

In other words.. one of the most interesting, revolutionary, vibrant and dynamic periods in UK history.  What's more.. one which any kid born in the immediate post war period could easily relate to... especially if he had an interest in Science and Technology.. which of course drove the Industrial Revolution.  But sadly.. my first couple of years before commencing the O level course, were meaningless drivel delivered by an ageing Scot  called Murray, who would read to us lengthy and tedious tracts from stuff about the Punic Wars or similar.  Now, I'm sure that is all very interesting. but it had bugger all to do with the O level which I was supposed to be taking.

 

The final insult was when 1714-1939 was reduced to lists of dates, monarchs and prime ministers. I mean.. we were actually expected to recall the dates of all Prime Ministers from 1714 - 1939.  Assorted Pitts, Roseberry's, Percivals, Gladstones, Disraeli's, Lord Norths, Lord Souths, Lord Easts, Lord Wests, Wellingtons  Plimsolls, Trainers, Double -Barrels, Campbell-Bannerman's, Bonar-Laws.. etc., etc., ad infinitum. 

 

I gave up....

 

I much later subscribed to the theory that British History comprises two dates  (1066.. and 55 BC. or possibly 54 or 56 BC..) and a series of Good Things. and Bad Things. as outlined by  Messrs Sellar and Yeatman in their seminal work '1066 and All That'

 

1066AndAllThat.jpg

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1066_and_All_That

 

 

They made as much sense as anybody..and gave added fun by concocting early English names such as Thuthelthrolth and insisting that people had died of a 'Surfeit of Palfreys'

 

Most of all. they clearly demonstrated that History is written by the Victor...  or some bloke looking for a laugh....  :)

 

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7 hours ago, DJ360 said:

I think it's just possible that this may have been the Geoff Gay who was a couple of years ahead of me at HP. He would have left 6th form in '65 and been qualified by 68.. ish.. if it as him and if he went into teaching.  

 

Could he perhaps be the same chap?

 

From what you've said, I think it's quite likely that he's the same person. Everything fits.

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The one topic I've always remembered within Maths were Quadratic Equations.

 

As a 12/13 year-old I seemed to spend an unnecessarily large part of my life doing these things, for no discernible purpose. To this day - many years later - I don't think I've ever had to use a Quadratic Equation in real life.

 

Likewise Logarithms. I've never needed to consult Log Tables in the last 50 years.

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I'm sure even students don't use log tables anymore -  12 years ago, Scientific calculators were used to find Sin, Cos and Cosine, and nowadays i expect it's all accessible on their phones!

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Log tables were useful at the time because there was no other easy way of doing complex multiplication and division. I still have a set somewhere. There were superseded by electronic calculators. Even the early versions of those took up a lot of desk space. I remember Ray Leatherland of Leatherland Office Equipment was a whizz at repairing those and he was round at our office quite regularly fixing faults. When Clive Sinclair first brought out the pocket calculator with the red led display we never looked back from there and now we can do the most complex scientific calculations on our smart ‘phones. Like you, l have never come across a quadratic equation in real life. I suppose the idea was to train the brain but for what I’m not sure.

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Barmy Colleen was a dab hand at throwing log tables. Thank heaven there were no electronic calculators, the size of bricks, around at the time, otherwise she'd have pitched those too.

 

I can hear her now, as she was poised to chuck whatever was to hand. In her best Ian Paisley but maybe not quite as many decibels:

 

I'VE NEVER SEEN THE BEAT OF YE!!

 

Whatever that meant! :blink:

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