Times tables and simple fractions, these basic arithmetic skill’s that serve you well throughout your life and in all walks of life, should be ingrained in your memory by the time you leave junior school.

But how many youngsters leave school and are unable to use these basic skill’s at any given moment without the need for a calculator, and can without thinking, tell you what 9 x 8 is, and what is a half of a half of something.

I bet your grandparents will know.

Unless the basics of arithmetic are taught using old fashioned methods so that they are readily available to you at any time, then more advanced knowledge is being built on unsound foundations.

Why teach mathematics to students when they have not fully grasped basic arithmetic, it is no good knowing what the answer is unless you understand why the answer is what it is and how it is achieved.

The same can be said for reading and writing, why try to teach English comprehension when basic reading and writing is a mystery.

There is a continuous dumbing down of the education system, where levels required of students get lowered every year.

Very soon a second degree at university will be awarded if you manage to put your name on the exam paper in the right place, and a first will be awarded if you manage to get your name in the right order.

British university degrees are starting to become worthless pieces of paper that are awarded to anyone who applies to enrol for a university course. The British education system used to be the best in the world, but places like China are far better now.

Britain used to be well in advance of America on the education ladder, but now we are just about level.

They say there is a shortage of teachers, so why not get older people who may have retired to teach arithmetic, reading and writing in the junior schools. Children often learn more of life skills from their grandparents rather than their parents.

I was once told that the demise of the Roman Empire came about because they did not understand the concept of the number zero, and as the empire expanded not enough supplies and troops were reaching their far away outposts.

But that may just have been a theological discussion I was involved in, a more likely reason was the Romans never learnt the times tables.

Steve Holmes

Stour Close, Harwich