Haz las matematicas

There is good reason to be concerned at the drop in the number and attainment of students studying a foreign languageinsecondaryschools

The solution, though, is obvious. The education estab- lishment must look again at the unjustified pre-eminent position of maths in the curriculum. One of the biggest cons inflicted on society was that “numeracy should represent the mirror image of literacy” (The Crowther Report, 1959).

It is a foreign language which should be compulsory, not maths, and, while we are at it, let’s go for Spanish. More Scots tourists go to Spain and its islands than any other country, so why are most students taught French?

A Curriculum for Relevance would allow us to say “I hate maths” in a foreign language fluently.

JOHN V LLOYD

Keith Place, Inverkeithing Fife