Primary Schools Teachers "Can't Do Maths"

Primary schools, I read, are to get thirteen thousand extra maths teachers. This is the result of a study that revealed that the majority of teachers lacked the confidence in their own numerical skills to teach pupils properly. Let me repeat that. The teachers ‘lacked confidence in their own numerical skills to be able to teach primary school children.’ I find that pretty appalling. Do you?

It would be nice to think that all primary school pupils had a basic grasp of the three ‘R’s, but we know that is not so. From my association with my sons’ schools I know that the ability to write a sentence that is grammatically correct is a dying art. I also know that many children struggle with maths. But what I find alarming is that teachers themselves are apparently unable to do primary school maths. The government has decided to spend £187m training 13,000 maths teachers, and I am all in favour. The other day I heard Theo Paphites, one of the stars of the Dragons’ Den (which I am delighted to find will shortly be returning to our screens) saying that the most important quality in business is just common sense. Having seen some of the characters who seek his financial assistance for their hare-brained schemes, I can see what he means. But another quality, surely just as important, is the ability to do maths.

No maths means no money!

All of business and all of personal finance is basically just about numbers. Some time ago I came across a company called Homebuy. It sold televisions to people on very low incomes and its basic offer was something like this. The customer would pay £3 per week for five years. They would also pay £1 per week as a guarantee against the TV going wrong. On top of this there was an arrangement fee, and a few other charges that I have forgotten. In total, over five years the customer would pay well over £1000 for a TV that they could probably walk into a shop and buy for under £350. Basically they were being ripped off in style. Homebuy argued that the customer never had £350 of their own, so this was the only way that they could get a TV.

But the sad truth was that most of the customers could not even work out that they were paying massively over the odds for the TV because they could never do the sums. All the time I come across examples of people being taken for a ride because they cannot do maths. This is what happened after I bought a new washing machine. I received countless letters, often headed ‘Urgent- Last Chance To Protect Your Domestic Appliances’, offering me ‘protection’ against my washing machine malfunctioning – for about £40 per year. I would say that the average washing machine lasts at least ten years; it very rarely goes wrong and if it does so it will cost you about £100 to get it fixed. So this type of deal is another way in which advantage is taken of the mathematically challenged.

In fact insurance is, on the whole, a rip-off and I insure as little as possible. But here is another example of our financial ignorance, which has far more dangerous consequences. How often have you heard someone say, ‘I would much rather pay mortgage payments than rent, because at least the former are buying me a home, rather than just going into the pockets of landlord’? So first time buyers load themselves up the hilt with debt because they do not understand that the interest within mortgage payments is equivalent to the rent paid to the landlord and they are then paying a capital sum on top of that. Leaving aside tax breaks and the house price cycle there is no reason grounded in mathematical logic that says that buying a house is more sensible than renting. But say that to one hundred people and ninety-nine would not believe you.

Remember Mr Micawber?

So I am all in favor of this government policy. Personal financial management is all about the Micawber principle: ‘Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds and six, result misery.‘ Business is all about making two plus two equal five, and if you cannot add up the revenues and subtract the costs you will never make a tycoon. If you cannot work out how many dollars you should get for your pound if the exchange rate is 1.96, then stand by to get ripped off by the foreign currency merchants. If you do not know the difference between compound interest and simple interest, then don’t expect a good deal from your building society.

The list is endless. So an investment in maths education is a good one. Mind you, it would be nice if the Government could set an example, and follow the Micawber principle itself. Whatever happened to the balanced budget?

P.P.S. If you want to follow the insights of a small company investor, and uncover the hidden gems of the stock market, find out more about The Penny Sleuth by clicking here.

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