Rishi Sunak wants to extend compulsory Maths to 18 and the takedowns keep multiplying – 18 favourites
Rishi Sunak is launching a new policy to fix what’s wrong with the UK.
Is it joining the single market? No.
Is it introducing a universal basic income? No.
Is it giving striking workers an above-inflation pay rise? No.
Is it stopping government ministers from de-humanising asylum seekers? No.
Today, the PM is launching his plan to tackle the UK’s ‘anti-maths mindset’, by forcing people to study Maths until the age of 18.
We joke about not being able to do maths, but we’d never make a joke about not being able to read.
Our plans today bring us one step closer to changing our anti-maths mindset and ensuring every young person has the skills needed for a successful future. pic.twitter.com/5kT2hftrC3
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) April 17, 2023
If that doesn’t fix the cost of living crisis and the threat to the NHS, nothing will, right? RIGHT?
He went further. Not only should people be better at maths, they should be embarrassed at how bad they are.
Adults who cannot understand basic maths ought to be embarrassed, Rishi Sunak will say in a tough message designed to change public attitudes towards innumeracyhttps://t.co/GdnHlimnTa
— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) April 17, 2023
It hasn’t exactly been met with cheers.
1.
The fact that there are a million things in more urgent need of his attention doesn’t mean that Sunak is wrong about maths. And he probably doesn’t intend it this way but the greater a population’s numeracy, surely the lower their tolerance of financial equality.
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) April 17, 2023
2.
have you told Kwasi Kwarteng and Liz Truss and that’s just two recent colleagues pic.twitter.com/b210SjJtAN
— Sorcha Ní Nia (@Luiseach) April 17, 2023
3.
‘These days you get arrested and thrown in jail if you say you like maths, don’t you’ pic.twitter.com/dVh8jM0W6p
— Toby Earle 🇺🇦 (@TobyonTV) April 17, 2023
4.
BREAKING: Rishi Sunak says he expects every 18 year old to be able to answer the following question on their maths exam:
"If you plan £45 billion of unfunded tax cuts, how big a hole will this blow in the economy?"
— Laura Kuenssberg beyond parody (@LKTranslator) April 17, 2023
5.
Today’s maths puzzle:
If 45% of schools already don’t have enough maths teachers, how many chances in Hell have I got of making the study of maths compulsory up to the age of 18?— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody_PM) April 17, 2023
6.
I'm hearing on the news there's a shortage of maths teachers, interesting, might think about retraining, now to take a swig of coffee and check if there's anything on the news about pay and conditions for maths teachers.
— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) April 17, 2023
7.
— Sarah Dempster (@Dempster2000) April 17, 2023
8.
Breaking: “Adults should be able to do maths” says man who squandered 11 billion pounds of loans interest using taxpayers money. pic.twitter.com/npYQEhHcfH
— Jonathan Pie (@JonathanPieNews) April 17, 2023
9.
For instance adults should be able to answer simple questions like:
"If you are thousands of maths teachers short of required numbers + you've cut real terms pay for 13 years + then you introduce a policy that requires thousands more maths teachers how likely is it to succeed?" pic.twitter.com/lVC3KzpqgE
— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) April 16, 2023