On Sun, 05 Mar 2006 23:01:01 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:


I despair. There are ready reckoners to do that, PC programs. Even
doing it by hand only requires the ability to add and multiply using a
calculator and looking up of numbers in a book. Primary school
arithmetic. First form physics. Or at least it was.

Sadly, school curriculum doesn't seem to cover Real Life. All that it
covers is the ability to pass "SATS" tests. In reality nowadays the
whole school life is wasted as far as RL is concerned - any useful
education (possibly) takes place at "further education" places - at
further cost to the taxpayer, or to industry (at further cost to the
ultimate customer).

At primary school I could use a slide-rule (am I showing my age?!) and
do simultaneous equations. Apparently even logarithms aren't
introduced to schoolchildren nowadays until sixth-form (or whatever
it's called) even though such things as decibels are based on them.

Even practical skills such as wood and metal work are rarely taught in
schools, except perhaps at a very basic level. Haunched stopped
mortice and tenon joints were no real problem hrrumph years ago in 3rd
year grammar-technical school; nor were drawings in first or
third-angle projection.

I sincerely believe that taxpayers' money is totally wasted in most
"comprehensive" schools.

--
Frank Erskine