How teaching maths is being dumbed down

(Friday blog)

To cheer us all up on this dismal Friday here’s my adaptation of something I found floating around cyberspace:

Subject: Teaching Arithmetic/Mathematics/Maths/Numbers 

1. Teaching Arithmetic in 1950s 
A timber cutter sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Mathematics in 1970s 
A timber cutter sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or £80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Maths in 1980s
A timber cutter sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is £80. Did he make a profit?     Yes or No

4. Teaching Numbers in 1990s 
A timber cutter sells a truckload of timber for £100. His cost of production is £80 and his profit is £20.  Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Political Correctness in 2000s
A white male timber cutter cuts down a beautiful innocent forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. Moreover, cutting down the forest will make climate change worse leading to the destruction of all life on Earth within 10 years if not sooner.

The evil white male supremacist timber cutter, exploiting his white male privilege, does this so he can make a profit of £20. What do you think of this way of making a living?

Topic for class participation: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the exploitative, patriarchal, heteronormative white male timber cutter cruelly and callously destroyed their homes? (There are no wrong answers, feel free to express your feelings – e.g, anger, anxiety, inadequacy, helplessness etc – and then join the protest against white male privilege instead of going to any further classes today)

Should you require comforting and emotional support at the conclusion of this exam there are highly-trained, transgender and gender-fluid stress counsellors available to assist you back into your safe space.

6. Teaching in 2050
تكلفة الإنتاج هو80 دولاراً. كيف الكثيرمن المال

Khan’s blood-soaked streets of London

And if you haven’t done so yet, please watch my latest short (3 mins) YouTube video – “Khan’s blood-soaked streets of London” – and recommend it to your network by clicking on the YouTube logo in the lower right-hand corner to get the YouTube address for the video: