Why maths still counts

Sir, – William Reville's recent crisis where he found a shop clerk unable to do basic arithmetic seems to have led him to some odd conclusions ("Predictive text means lazy brains", Science, February 2nd). His suggestion that "child-centred" education was resulting in children not being taught how to add has no basis in reality. I can assure him that my own children, who had a child-centred education in one of those schools with no uniforms and where the teachers don't even wear a gown and mortarboard, had to learn off their multiplication tables for homework on a regular basis. – Yours, etc,

DIARMAID

Mac AONGHUSA,

Shankill,

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Dublin 18.