It’s about time schools revived rote learning

SIR – At last some common sense (“Times tables tests back for primary school pupils”, report, February 14).

Learning the times table by rote in the Fifties meant that most of us oldies never forgot them. How can it have taken so many decades to return to such a simple but effective method?

Perhaps some of the common spelling mantras, such as “I before e except after c”, could also be brought back to improve spelling.

I also highly commend The Ladybird Book of Spelling and Grammar for all schools.

Liz Edmunds

Hassocks, West Sussex

SIR – Why do this country’s educators still insist on our young children learning their multiplication tables up to 12 times 12?

I accept that there was once a need for this to help pupils cope with calculations involving multiples of 12 – such as those involving feet or inches, or shillings or pence – but where is the relevance in our 21st-century world? Surely learning up to 10 times 10 should be enough.

Keith Edwards

Tattershall, Lincolnshire

SIR – Forcing primary school children to learn their multiplication tables parrot fashion can be very detrimental.

At primary school, mathematics became a dreaded subject for me as I had my hands slapped with a ruler when I failed my times table tests.

A child’s confidence should be carefully nurtured to develop an inquiring mind that will enjoy science and mathematics. Fortunately my father understood this: he rekindled my interest in the subjects by taking me to the Science Museum in London and furnishing our home with large colourful books on subjects such as oceanography and astronomy. Thanks to him, I eventually thrived and established myself in a good career.

Samantha Clarke

Glen Maye, Isle of Man