maths

[toughbutfair]

It is nonsense that maths only gets the same marks as history/geography etc , when I did my leaving I got bonus marks for honours maths for U.L (other universities didn't give it and I don't know whether UL gives it anymore).

There should be double marks for honours maths

I'd also like to see a level higher than honours with maybe treble marks to drive on our brightest. They've dumbed down honours maths since I did it and that shouldn't be the way o attract pupils to do it.

We have enough students getting easy marks in the crrap subjects that are no use to our future economy.

Pupils that are okay, but not great , at maths just take pass as it is too much effort and they can get an easy B in history/geography/english etc

[The Caped Cod]

The importance of maths cannot be denied how ever the relative unimportance of other subjects can. I would suggest having pre-entry exams for courses with specific requirements in certain materials. So if you want to study thermodynamics then you'll have to pass an entry exam to prove you have the relevant competency in maths as well as the requisit points.
Some countries in Europe already use this system. In France for exampe, you only need to have passed you bac (leaving cert) to attend University but entrance exams are common for subjects like law, madecine and engineering.

[toughbutfair]

An average student tries to get the most points to go to university. Tactically it makes more sense for them to put their effort into English/history,geography/business studies etc instead of maths and/or physics which are very technical.

These teenagers are competing with Chinese teenagers and American ones (who go on to the worlds best universities).

All this touchy feely Shakespeare bullshhit is fine but it won't drive our economy in 10 or 20 years time, we need maths and i.t. skills and must reward it too.

I'd also be in favour of abolishing free third level education but leaving it for maths and science degrees and maybe using the savings to invest more money in those courses and increase the grants for them.

As the joke goes "there's no future in history"

[Supermanpolitician]

It is nonsense that maths only gets the same marks as history/geography etc , when I did my leaving I got bonus marks for honours maths for U.L (other universities didn't give it and I don't know whether UL gives it anymore).

There should be double marks for honours maths

I'd also like to see a level higher than honours with maybe treble marks to drive on our brightest. They've dumbed down honours maths since I did it and that shouldn't be the way o attract pupils to do it.

We have enough students getting easy marks in the crrap subjects that are no use to our future economy.

Pupils that are okay, but not great , at maths just take pass as it is too much effort and they can get an easy B in history/geography/english etc

Completely agree in principle.
But afarid it might make honours maths even more intimidating. I did honours, got a B2, which was of use only to UL and UCD. However having gone to DCU and done a non scientific or mathematical degree, there were plenty of folks in my class who literally were intimidated by maths. Many of these had 500 point leaving certs, but did pass maths.

[The Caped Cod]

An average student tries to get the most points to go to university. Tactically it makes more sense for them to put their effort into English/history,geography/business studies etc instead of maths and/or physics which are very technical.

These teenagers are competing with Chinese teenagers and American ones (who go on to the worlds best universities).

All this touchy feely Shakespeare bullshhit is fine but it won't drive our economy in 10 or 20 years time, we need maths and i.t. skills and must reward it too.

I'd also be in favour of abolishing free third level education but leaving it for maths and science degrees and maybe using the savings to invest more money in those courses and increase the grants for them.

As the joke goes "there's no future in history"

Really, and how many world leader, captains of industry, etc are mathematicians?
You were good at maths in school fine. But not every body is strong in maths. Everybody has something to contribute, the trick is finding out what and maximising that persons potential. Imagine if Bono had been imposable for tax? (the antithesis of a mathematician if you like).

[bm42]

Technology has moved on enough that all third level courses could have weighted points for appropriate second level subjects, perhaps each student gets a higher weighting on one subject. Where there are more than one relevant subjects, the best result of the relevant subjects get weighted. It might have been an administrative nightmare in the past but could be calculated in very little time for the entire leaving cert population these days. This would allow a little more specialisation in secondary school and reward students for showing more interest in particular subjects.

[Mercurial]

I think it’s more than a little odd that points someone gets for maths would contribute to whether or not he gets to study, say, French, in college. Similarly, it’s strange that a person’s marks in French should contribute to their chances of studying maths.

[red-365]

The work level required should be approximately the same across all subjects. It seems that maths requires a good deal more work than a lot of the other subjects, which is effectively a disincentive to anybody who might be inclined to take it to higher level. The solution is either to award more points for maths, or to break the subject up into two separate components.

[Benz]

What's so special about maths that it should be regarded differently when being marked?

If you think maths should be awarded higher points then should we use the points system to steer students into doing subjects that this country can derive most benefit from, i.e. technology, physics, chemistry, biology?

For what it's worth, I got an A1 in Honours Maths. I don't think it should be marked any differently at all. I thought it was easy. Most people find it hard. On the other hand I thought Geography was difficult and I got a D in that.

[BlackWatch]

What's so special about maths that it should be regarded differently when being marked?

If you think maths should be awarded higher points then should we use the points system to steer students into doing subjects that this country can derive most benefit from, i.e. technology, physics, chemistry, biology?

For what it's worth, I got an A1 in Honours Maths. I don't think it should be marked any differently at all. I thought it was easy. Most people find it hard. On the other hand I thought Geography was difficult and I got a D in that.

What kind of math is Honours math?