Maths is more important than English

Look through the underlined parts and tell me that higher English wouldn't have been beneficial to you or to everyone else. Hopefully you don't write like that in essays, job applications and education applications.

lrn2read

ive mentioned before, that the skills you are referring to are important but they are taught at standard grade level. so you can pick up those skills from that, but higher is all about critical analysis of text.

higher maths develops the skills useful in everyday life and essential when going into a career.

My school was the same: English was compulsory for all fifth years, whether they do intermediate 2 or higher. I only got a 3 at standard grade because I totally couldn't be arsed with literature so I had to do intermediate 2 in fifth year. It was quite easy and I got an A.

I actually chose to continue studying it to higher in sixth year, although I can't quite remember why. I think it was because I used to believe that it was needed at higher level to study at university - but that's obviously bullcrap, it's certainly not needed to study engineering. Although higher English wasn't so bad. It was actually quite enjoyable discussing the plays and texts in class. But, again, I couldn't be arsed reading the longer novels or doing the quote mining required to get really good essay grades, so I only got a B at higher.

I certainly won't use anything I've ever learned in an English classroom in real life but it was a fine change from maths and physics and computing. I don't think it should be compulsory, though, since at higher and even intermediate it's about so much more than just being able to spell correctly and use proper grammar. The "critical analysis" skills you are supposed to learn from it should be present in every semi-intelligent person.

I agree that so many struggle with basic maths today and this hampers them in their job and their financial life. But I still don't think that this means that higher maths should be compulsory because, just like higher English is about more than just being able to spell, higher maths is about more than being able to count correctly. The people who suck at maths to the point where they can't get their finances right would have left school before highers anyway, and if they didn't, they would have failed or got a 5 or 6 at standard grade.

i actually should have put inb4 grammar nazi

i knew someone would point this out. its the internet, perfect punctuation is not something i pay attention to on a forum.

No, it really doesn't. It teaches you complex maths which has no baring on any facet of every day life. I have not used GCSE maths, let alone A level maths.

Furthermore, you're ****ing kidding if you think those skills are taught at Standard/GCSE level. You know that more and more universities are forcing people to take basic essay writing courses because they don't have the right level of skills needed for university work? GCSE/Standard level teach you **** all. You get the basic ideas of forming arguments; you're not taught about referencing; punctuation and grammar count for **** all in the mark scheme; you're only given the very basics.

I can see why you don't enjoy it, though, you can't even grasp you're being taught various skills through the medium of critical analysis.

im not referring to speaking the language, im referring to english taught at a-level or higher. I've never had to apply critical analysis to anything i've read since i finished school. When i read a book i dont write a huge ****in essay about the thinking process of the author or the connotations used in the book.

I do read a lot of books, but ive never had to apply anything i learnt in higher english to it.

not necessarily, maths doesnt just help you to learn specific examples individually, but also give you valuable problem solving and numerical reasoning skills transferable to practical situations.

You say that maths is more applicable in everyday life. I have never used trigonometry, completing the square, factorising, quadratics, standard deviation or differentiation in everyday life, which is what I learnt at GCSE and what I am currently learning in A-level.

I constantly use a wide range of vocabulary and speaking skills I learned from English class in everyday life. Of course maths is important, but really day to day the only maths you need is to be able to add up supermarket prices in your head or decide which baked bean offer is the best value for money.

I do A-level maths and A-level English literature before you say "You're probably crap at maths so you hate on it".

TBF I don't think I have to use any maths in my day-to-day life that I learnt after year 3, except for that time I was in a store and the cheese was priced at x=y+5 and I had to work out the price...oh no wait, that didn't happen. I do however, have to write amazing and detailed essays to get a good degree

lrn2read

ive mentioned before, that the skills you are referring to are important but they are taught at standard grade level. so you can pick up those skills from that, but higher is all about critical analysis of text.

higher maths develops the skills useful in everyday life and essential when going into a career.

No, it really doesn't. It teaches you complex maths which has no baring on any facet of every day life.

Never even my life will I be using quadratic equations and square roots again. English you use everyday.

Therefore I disagree

again, as i said before its not about the specific things taught in maths. stuff like integration, complex numbers will be more useful for someone doing a degree involving maths; but the skills taught through these topics are applicable to life, and will be necessary when faced with a problem.

Yeah but Maths helps you learn to approach situations with a logical throught process so you are able to see all the potential ways to solve a situation and things like that. Maths is the highest form of communication because unlike languages, it is universal.

essential essay skills are taught at standard grade. put it this way, in higher english we only had one chance to write a discursive essay regarding our work experience and what skills we gained from that etc... and i got an A for that essay, even though we're not taught skills for basic essay writing in higher we are taught it in standard grade. higher was all about the analysis of novels, poems and newspaper articles.

and accept it or not, but the skills you gain from a-level maths are much more far reaching than just 'complex numbers'.

im not referring to speaking the language, im referring to english taught at a-level or higher. I've never had to apply critical analysis to anything i've read since i finished school. When i read a book i dont write a huge ****in essay about the thinking process of the author or the connotations used in the book.

I do read a lot of books, but ive never had to apply anything i learnt in higher english to it.