Maths and English education is allegedly plummeting in the US and the UK

 

Does Donald Clark's wry comment have any bearing?

 

http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/the-problem-with-maths-is-english-20.html

Edited February 18, 201510 yr by studiot

Those are all old features and difficulties, that do not account for any new degradations or problems.

 

The comment on word problems - that they are often much harder than they should be because they are badly written, and test literacy rather than numeracy - is worth framing.

 

And the offhand remark that children with more congenial languages enjoy the feedback of early success at arithmetic, while English speakers often shunt into a negative feedback spiral via the initial barriers of the language, seems important to notice.

Doesn't the inconstencies inherent in a language like English force the developing brain into creating more novel neural pathways hence making it potentially more adaptable and inventive?