Leo Varadkar was probably delivering the eye-popping news that a lot of policymakers do not understand things like percentages, medians and means at around the time our gathering was paying a lunch bill. Can you add 15 per cent to it, our organiser asked a staff member, who suddenly looked stricken.
The tip function on the card machine was dead and she had no idea how to compute 15 per cent – “I’m a disaster at maths”. It’s simple, said the organiser, a kindly teacher on 24/7 patrol – who then proceeded to explain how to do it. Our younger companion – afflicted by self-diagnosed dyscalculia – accused the teacher of “persecuting” the waitress saying that she (the teacher) was the kind of customer who made her cry in the toilets when she worked in restaurants. At which point the teacher dropped her head in her hands moaning that no wonder people get ripped off all the time.
[ Our boys are outperforming girls in maths and science at second level. Why?Opens in new window ]
Varadkar probably looked similarly despairing while attempting to explain house prices to the nameless Cabinet minister who didn’t know that if house prices fell by 50 per cent and then recovered by 100 per cent they were back to where they were at the start – “And… blank stare… could not understand this for a second.” Varadkar observed that generally those who did well in professions such as politics and journalism were good at language and English and not at numbers and maths. Point taken. An ability to detect and communicate statistical nuances is important in some journalism and certain kinds of interviews. But a decent handle on percentages, medians and means seems like an offensively low bar for any minister given the exponentially higher stakes in play.
Understanding data as part of a whole, rather than just a number, is a requirement for everyday life never mind a government minister. Calculating interest rates, pay rises, VAT and tips, figuring out discounts, your chances of winning the lottery or the labelling on food; understanding climate change, bond yields, housing requirements and why the percentage take-up of a vaccine is critical to a population’s health. Sure you might decide to refuse your child’s vaccine anyway but you will do so fully aware of the consequences for other people’s children.
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Where the reader stands on all this may depend on their era as a maths pupil.
Many of the older generations can add, subtract, divide and multiply almost any figure by reciting times tables instinctively, not because of any great aptitude, but because mental arithmetic was a hugely annoying part of the primary curriculum that was beaten (sometimes literally) into small pupils. It hasn’t made me a more disciplined money manager sadly, but it means I can do basic mental calculations and would never describe myself in a reality show as giving “110 per cent”.
[ Pupils in Ireland among top maths performers in Europe, global study findsOpens in new window ]
Our younger friend blames her generation’s problem on how maths was taught (“boringly and uninspiringly, like Irish”). But something began to go right in the meantime – all praise to everyone concerned, especially teachers – and the Stem gender divide, well-documented by proponents of a level pitch, seemed to have become a thing of the past. That was until last week when the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) studies showed that boys at second level are outperforming girls in maths and science, mirroring a trend in many other countries. It showed that Irish pupils are among the best performers in maths and science in Europe, but also that countries such as Ireland are at a standstill while East Asian countries including Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea are streaking ahead. The Timss studies did not attempt to explain any of this, although the Secret Teacher’s column in Tuesdays education pages might be informative reading for every parent.
The last thing we need is a generation reverting to a time when girls in particular declared with a self-deprecating shrug that they were terrible at maths. A Financial Times writer once wrote about a talk at a literary event in Oxford where she asked audience members to put up their hand if they were useless at maths – whereupon about a third of them shot an arm up. Something had gone badly wrong, she reckoned, when so many people in one of the most intellectually rarefied towns on the planet were not only dunces at maths, but wore their inadequacy as if it were a charming quirk.
[ Leo Varadkar says many in politics do not understand numbers or percentagesOpens in new window ]
At a time when closer scrutiny is falling on ministerial candidates, their competences and credentials for the job, Varadkar’s comments are timely if belated in his own case. Wouldn’t it be novel if the next taoiseach made no bones about choosing his cabinet on the basis of qualifications, competence and relevant experience rather than geographic location? A few nerds among the generalists. A keen understanding of statistics and spreadsheets in a place where the price of a bicycle shed promises to be a punchline for several generations.
Meanwhile anyone stuck for diversion over Christmas might try asking a group of people – not a harassed waitress with a malfunctioning card machine – to compute a percentage of all or part of a restaurant bill, first by using their mental arithmetic skills and then the calculator app. Time and rank them and see what percentage of the group could make it as government ministers.