That sound you hear was my jaw hitting the floor and bouncing

[fpb]

A British TV news program has just reported - and reported is as a disciplinary, tightening-of-the-screws type proposal - that the British Government wants every child to be familiar with the times table by the time they are nine.

I don't think I come from an educational golden age. But in my childhood any child who had not memorized the times table by the time they were seven - the second year of school - would have been regarded as a culpable dunce and either made to repeat the year or sent to a special needs school.

EDITED IN: It seems from the responses to this entry that both British and American kids are expected to start learning the Table by their eighth year. OK, I didn't know that. I know I had it by my seventh, for a very simple reason - my family moved around a lot, and in my third year I changed school. And I remember very well knowing the Table by then. I was impressed by the beauty with which all the strings of numbers fitted in, an early lesson in the underlying logic of existence.

Comments

I feel so young!

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

We didn't learn that until I was 10.
Life was so easy before search engines taught us the true meaning of education.

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think we had to memorize the times tables until we were 10 or so. Certainly in American textbooks that's a late 3rd grade skill.

[bookwrm17.livejournal.com]

The times tables were introduced in the beginning of third grade in my (American) school, so when we were eight. We were supposed to have them all memorized by the start of fourth grade, by which time most of us would be nine.

Honestly, it seems like whether you know your times tables by age seven or age ten is less important than the fact that you've covered all the basic math skills by the time you leave primary school.

[fellmama.livejournal.com]

Another third-grade introduction to times tables here--so age eight for a typical child.

I will note, however, that I have known my complete times tables since then, whereas my boyfriend never bothered memorizing past six . . . and he's close to completing a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

We memorized them in the year above Kindergarten, so about 6/7. I well remember my tears over x7 - and it was at least another two years before I began to understand why and what we had learnt. This had a permanent negative effect on my numeracy - I still have to silently recite the wretched things before doing any sum involving numbers above 5. I'm sure that children should learn them - but not until they've got a real concept of "counting" - otherwise, it can do appalling and lifelong damage to numeracy
My mother tried endlessly to help - "she has to see it", she was still explaining to my father when I was eleven - ranging buttons in front of me. If only we'd done more of that at four and five, perhaps there would have been some sense in learning tables at 6/7 -

[sevenorora.livejournal.com]

I remember the timetables being introduced at the end of my second year (which I think is second grade in the British/American education system) And I mean, really briefly introduced (as in it wasn’t a reason not to go to the 3rd year if you didn’t know them) But by Christmas in 3rd year, we needed to know them (my birthday is in march, so I wasn’t even nine when I knew them). I remember this clearly because my 3rd year teacher created a fun (and competitive) game and if one wanted to collect the most stickers in his or her notebook (to show the parents), one needed to know them ;-)