You'll be trying to stop the bumming next, FFS.

errm because mathematics is at the heart of pretty much everything we have ever achieved as a species and if you don't get people even to the really, really basic level taught at GCSE then its ludicrous to suggest they have been educated not least because without that they are locked out of any meaningful understanding of science. 

What I genuinely don't understand is why there is still such a focus on handwriting. Kids need to be able to write clearly but the hours they still devote to trying to teach them an attractive cursive style feels positively Dickensian. I mean I guess it is a way to teach fine motor skills but there are surely more useful ways. Being able to draw or sew is a much more useful skill these days.

Lawyer from the UK is innnumerate and glibly but mistakenly imagines that in other professions this is normal too ........

Newsflash - a great many professions involve using maths every day, usually to a much higher level than “basic arithmetic”.  You live in a tiny, gilded bubble where people can get paid quite a lot while knowing no maths.  This is an abnormal exception and not how the rest of the world works.  

I agree with Catty.  I loved maths - no bloody essays, just right or wrong.  

You live in a tiny, gilded bubble where people can get paid quite a lot while knowing no maths.  This is an abnormal exception and not how the rest of the world works.  

Even then, lawyers proudly declaring themselves innumerate and washing their hands of any responsibility for the numbers and calculations in things they work on is infuriating.

Can lawyers really afford to be as numerically illiterate as people are making it sound? Even for your run of the mill corporate lawyer, some math skills is necessary to get the anti-dilution rights work properly, etc.

I got a Maths A level but in over 30 years of litigation practice have only used pretty basic arithmetic.

Which lawyer has ever needed to do quadratic equations, vectors, mechanics or bases in their practice?

Yes, for those with an aptitude for maths in the early years at primary school give them full and indeed enhanced teaching.

For those that struggle just do the basics, and give them extras of what they will actually find useful.

AI is also going to do a massive amount of future maths research/new discoveries.

i loved arithmetic too.

mr m adored mathematics and still regrets not having done double maths in sixth form ( he had to do oysics/ chemistry etc for medicine) but you know what?

his arithmetic is dreadful. Advanced Mathematics, yes. Arithmetic, rubbish. Even I am better than him at doing precentages. He just boffs it off but tbh I do wonder sometimes.

in day to day basic arithmetic is essential, he is hopeless

Maths is everywhere you look. We have computers these days rather than bits of paper and slide rules to work it all out. Hard not to have a fascination with it.

Yeah you need maths, dude

Ps bagsie you not on my team when we're battling skynet

Maths is everywhere, buildings, roads, cars, financial modelling, flower patterns, weather patterns, music patterns etc.

I'll be on another team Clergs. You can argue with Skynet about Gaelic literature.

Em

I was saying you need maths

But I agree you should be on another team because I fear you'd accidentally shoot yours

You can still make mistakes with a calculator and an understanding of basic maths helps you realise if the answer on your calculator is way off.

I’ve used algebra to write equations into legal documents along the way.

I have found that US lawyers tend to be more numerically literate than UK lawyers.

The OP is obviously wronger than Dawn Handbags doing long division.