Thatcher: A Pictorial Representation Of My Twitter Feed Yesterday

Yesterday, of course, Maggie Thatcher died.  For many the party started as soon as they heard the news.  I'm not one to celebrate the death of an old lady who is no longer involved actively in politics, and thankfully few of the people I know on social media are either.

More to the point, I don't really see what there is to celebrate, or what difference her death makes.  Her politics live on in an even more dangerous form in the current crop of lizard politicians, as they have demonstrated this week with swingeing cuts to the welfare state that Maggie could only have dreamed of.  And at least she seemed to believe in the conviction of her ideology, as opposed to the cynical making-a-buck-for-their-friends bunch we're lumbered with now.

Twitter, of course, provided entertainment by the bucketload for those who, like me, are indifferent to her passing.

First there was the glorious confusion (much of it, it has to be said, deliberate) in the hashtags #nowthatcherisdead and #nowthatchersdead, which many read as "Now That Cher Is Dead".

Then the bemusement of One Direction fans when Harry Styles tweeted "Baroness Thatcher RIP".  To be fair, it's not that surprising that many people born several years after Thatcher left office haven't heard of her.  I'm not sure I could have told you much about the PMs of the 70s when I was a teenager.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure I could tell you much now.

However, this pic on the Who Is Margaret Thatcher? tumblr that quickly sprang up to document the youth of today's ignorance is glorious.

The Riddle Of The Housekeepers And The Cat

A riddle for you:

You require the services of a new housekeeper, to whom you will supply money for the day to day running of the house.

There are two applicants for the job, both of whom you have employed before.

Housekeeper 1 is disapproving of your bank overdraft, and claims to be reluctant to spend any of the housekeeping until the overdraft is cleared.

Housekeeper 1 also refuses to personally carry out essential jobs around the house. Instead, Housekeeper 1 will insist it is better value for money to pay their friends to do the jobs instead, even though it ends up costing you twice as much.

Housekeeper 1 will, at the same time, insist that any non-essential items bought for their own personal use, be paid for out of the housekeeping.

Housekeeper 1 will refuse to feed the cat, citing the cat's unwillingness to contribute to its own food, despite the existence of a tin opener. Housekeeper 1 will neglect to accept that the tin opener provided is unsuitable for use by the cat, and is in any case kept out of the cat's reach, inside a locked cupboard.

Housekeeper 1 will replace your comprehensive first aid kit with items bought individually at much greater cost.

Housekeeper 1 will throw out all of your favourite books, board games and documentaries, and in their place purchase a single encyclopaedia and quiz book. Any member of the household who fails to enjoy the encyclopaedia and reach the required standard in the annual quiz, will be turned into a cat.

Housekeeper 2 is much like Housekeeper 1, but will on occasion at least remember to feed the cat.

You have no choice but to employ one of the two housekeepers.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I shall probably vote Labour at the next election.

How Not To Design An Examinations System, Part One: Grade Inflation

Yesterday, the Government announced their new examinations system to replace the GCSEs.  They released this (rather thin) consultation document.  It's not very good.  In fact I'd say it's woeful.  They do not back their reasons for change with compelling evidence, and the proposals they are making are sketchy at best.

But who am I to criticise?

Well, I've been teaching Maths in this country since 2005.  I don't think that GCSEs are not "challenging", or that students' hard work is "in vain", or that their grades are "worthless".  They're the best measure we have at the moment for determining students' abilities.  Students deserve what they get.  (Mostly.)

However, the system has numerous faults, many of which I'll outline below.  I think we can do much much better.  So I'm not going to blindly defend it in the face of change.  In fact, I'd love to see GCSEs replaced.  Just not by the English Baccalaureate Certificate.

Grade Inflation

"This consultation sets out the Government’s plans to restore rigour and confidence to our examination system at age 16, which has been undermined by years of continued grade inflation."

[Paragraph 1.1]

In the 1988 Olympics (the year the first students sat GCSEs), 2.9% of the men's 100 metre runners ran (legally) faster than 10 seconds.  In the London 2012 Olympics, that figure had increased to a staggering 11.0% - nearly four times the proportion of athletes meeting the same standard!

Does this mean that the men's 100 metre sprint is an easier race than it used to be?

The Michael Gove Method: A rigorous mathematical proof that any percentage can be shown to be equivalent to any other percentage.

"What's 2+3, Michael?"  The Education Secretary
demonstrates the wonders of 'GoveMath'.

As a Mathematician, I'm always looking to push the boundaries of my knowledge, and learn new and surprising (and often exciting!) mathematical methods.

It was particularly fitting, therefore, when the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, directly educated me by personally demonstrating his new branch of Mathematics on the Today Programme on Radio 4 this morning.

But I'm not only a Mathematician.  I also have a degree in Civil Engineering.  As such, I find great beauty in simple and elegant design solutions, and Mr Gove's latest foray into the curriculum and qualifications landscape truly is a thing of great beauty.

I am referring, of course, to Mr Gove's plan to re-introduce an examination "that has all the rigour of the old O Level but which is sat by a majority of students", and if that's not a quote that screams, "I've given thorough and considered thought to what will happen for everyone else," then I don't what is.

In order to support his push for reform, Mr Gove quoted a percentage.  And not just any percentage.  A percentage from Singapore, admired from afar for their "rigorous" approach to education.  Remarkably, 81% of students who took "O-Level-style" examinations in Singapore passed those examinations.

This is clearly much more impressive than the 58.3% of British pupils who gained 5 GCSEs at grade A* to C including English and Maths in 2011.  Look, the number is bigger and everything.  It's bigger by more than 20%.  That's huge!

It's all the more impressive because the 81% was achieved using the new Michael Gove Method, or 'GoveMath' for short.

And now I'm going to demonstrate how it works.

Trust Recommends Solution To Problems Caused By Publishing School League Tables - Publish More School League Tables

The Sutton Trust last week published on its website an interesting report on England's failure to help gifted and talented pupils achieve in Maths education.

There are many reasons why this is the case, not least of which is that it appears to be socially acceptable to be bad at Maths.  But it is not just the top end who are being let down by the education system.

This will rarely be better illustrated than by Michael Gove's plan to bring back O Levels.  While higher ability pupils would be taking the new, harder exams, clearly no serious thought had been given for mid- and lower-ability pupils.  They were dismissed off-hand and promised "something like the old CSEs", a worrying afterthought that was barely commented on amidst the ridicule dished out (rightly) to Gove for harking back to some imaginary 1950s Golden Era

But the worst culprit for the neglect of the highest and lowest ability pupils?  League tables.