Universities are dropping maths from degree
courses because students – and their lecturers – cannot cope with it, a
report warns today. Decades of substandard maths education in schools
has led to a ‘crisis’ in England’s number skills, threatening the future
of the economy, it says. Universities are being forced to dumb down
degree courses requiring the use of maths, including sciences,
economics, psychology and social sciences.
一篇報道警告說，英國學校正在取消數學相關學位課程，原因是學生和講師都解決不了這類問題。該報道稱，
英國教育數十年間數學教育不合格，以至於英國學生現在面臨數學技能短缺的威脅，也嚴重影響著未來經濟的發展。英國大學被迫降低學位課程對數學運用的要求，
這些學位課程包括科學、經濟學、心理學及社會科學。
Students are unable to tackle complex
problems and their lecturers struggle to teach them anyway, it is
claimed. The reputation of the country’s universities and graduates is
now under threat, according to the report, ‘Solving the Maths Problem’,
published by the education lobby group RSA.“
學生們應付不了複雜的數學問題，而教師們則疲於來回為他們講解。英國大學和畢業生的聲譽正遭受威脅。”由教育遊說團體RSA出版的“解決數學問題”報告如是說。
After looking at maths education in other
countries, the authors found that lessons and qualifications in English
schools were ‘not fit for purpose’. They say that classes fail to
stretch the brightest while leaving weaker pupils ill-equipped to use
maths for work and family budgeting, and warn of a growing knock-on
effect on universities. ‘English universities are sidelining
quantitative and mathematical content because students and staff lack
the requisite confidence and ability,’ the report says, adding that
English universities are ‘not keeping pace’ with international
standards.
在觀察了其他國家的數學教育情況後該報告作者說英國學校裏的課程及授課品質“不符合現實需
求”，他們稱課堂上的教學沒有有效延伸，使得基礎較弱的學生無法應付生活和家庭中的經濟預算問題。而這也給大學教育帶來了連鎖效應，因為學生和教員對數學
缺乏必須的信心和能力，英國大學不得不取消定量和數學相關課程內容，這也使得英國大學難以與國際標準接軌。
Some universities are no longer advertising
the level of maths needed to study particular subjects for fear of
putting off applicants, the report warns. It adds: ‘Recent research
suggests that universities are marginalising mathematical content in the
delivery of degree courses because English students are not capable of
studying it.’
該報告還表示，一些大學已不再在宣傳中要求學生報名某些課程時必須有一定的數學能力，因為擔心這會把報名者刷掉。它同時補充道：“近期的研究顯示，大學在教授學位課程時正在逐漸忽視數學內容，因為英國學生應對不了！”
The report by the RSA – formally called the
Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce –
suggests that all students should be required to study maths until the
age of 18, with the introduction of sixth-form qualifications such as
‘Maths for Citizenship’. England is just one of a handful of developed
nations that fail to educate pupils in maths until that age, it says.
Only 15 per cent of youngsters study the subject past 16, aside from
GCSE candidates taking resits to boost their grades.
RSA（前稱皇家藝術、製造和商業促進會）的這項報告建議，所有的學生18歲前都必須學習數
學，包括諸如《Maths for
Citizenship》的高中水準內容的介紹。英國是未能對學生的數學教育持續到時18歲的少數發達國家之一。除了中學會考學生補考用於升學外，只有
15%的年輕人在16歲以後還學習數學。
‘Mathematics knowledge and qualifications
are increasingly important gateways to further and higher education, for
crucial life-skills and in order to respond to economic change,’ it
says. ‘But the way mathematics is taught and assessed in England has not
always kept pace with these changes or with the needs of learners and
has left one in four adults functionally innumerate.’
“數學知識和水準越來越成為未來教育和高等教育的敲門磚，也是關鍵的生活技能和應對經濟變動的手段。但是英國數學教育的實施和評價並沒有跟上這些變化的腳步，也沒有滿足學習者的需要，也使得四分之一的成年人不懂數學。”
