Present the morale of the UK is in a dangerous, parlous place.  There is a ranging epidemic of online fraud,  the justice system is, in effect, broken, shoplifting is being virtually ignored, and gut faith in the capability of fairminded democratic ruling governance is on the floor.  Education, which ought to be a reliable source (a renewal) of fresh leadership —infusing into the body-politic— has been abandoned and replaced by tedious, quickly forgotten, rote learning.

There are three crucially urgent, emergency reforms which need to be thought-through, finalised and enacted as soon as possible.  A simple commonsense application of elementary philosophic vision points to the need for these bold initiatives.  These crises are posing deep concern at the present time. They are not being highlighted here as “academic” or “high faluting” ploys: they are being picked-out as especially serious crises which must be addressed.

     (1) creating a few (initially a handful) of special category “High Responsibility” schools, manned by especially rigorous, charismatic, personable staff… to produce the minimum cadre of honest, civilised future leaders the country desperately needs,       .    (2) creating a well-staffed, well-funded anti-fraud Task Force using the resources and methods of GCHQ. Its remit would be to track down and eliminate all forms of fraud and malicious hacking, which are sapping the confidence of the country.

.    (3) dealing with the “Black Hole of the School Curriculum”, maths. The teaching of maths in all schools needs to be switched across to Narrative Maths, thus infusing a diet of interesting, meaningful thinking for youth… in place of the hopelessly bankrupt “rote learning” which is currently in place. This is the bit which is doing the most harm. The status quo in maths won’t do.  It is building an ever-more maths-denying, mathsphobic society… at the worst possible time.  We are now in a modern era which has installed clever maths concepts at the root of every category of human activity.  Not teaching maths properly is a luxury —a gesture towards the maths ex-elite— we can no longer afford.

Let’s look at these challenges in turn.

(1)        The UK is spending about £115 billion a year on education, yet the DfE is not forcibly insistingthat every school must instil the most basic commongood imperatives, such as that every individual must be brought to realise that they will be shunned by their peers unless they are 100% trustworthy, such as that every individual owes a huge obligation to contribute to the commongood through work, and, if necessary, to fight ferociously to defend our national integrity.  [This is not a slick proposal to stage unconvincing posturing or lecturing of youth. It must be done honestly, subliminally and full-heartedly… if it is to stamp the younger generation with the values of genuine citizenship.]

(2)        The internet is a vast system of electronically coded information. An intense public drive is needed to ensure that there are no festering areas of maliciously coded information. If necessary, well-funded teams need to be set up to research, identify and hack the hackers. [Children up to the age of 16 should be shielded by law from accessing violent and disgusting content that will disturb their immature mental equilibrium. ]

(3)        Narrative maths means the copious use of interesting maths modelling in classrooms… mimicking what maths has done successfully for more than 4,000 years —i.e. providing a priceless illumination of the detailed, practical implications needed to bring large public projects to fruition. Scenarios are needed which really capture the imagination of students.

(4)        The Barons of Silicon Valley have much to answer-for here. They have preposterously claimed for sixty years that computing ”has nothing to do with maths” and they have quietly stolen the credit for the most spectacular feats of mathematic modelling, implying that they are down to advanced electronics. They shamelessly boast that they are doing “computer modelling” while carefully omitting to mention that it is the genius of human minds which has written the software.

They have been able to do this because they have systematically air-brushed out the idea that what makes computerisation work is good maths. The public has almost wholly swallowed their line that <<computing uses electronics to triumphantly supersede maths!>>.  Their standing with the lively public is sky-high, whereas the maths establishment —which foolishly gave the computerists a bumpy ride in the 1960s— is in the doghouse.

Yes, advanced electronics is involved in computing, but it is not the prime mover. Human insight of an uncommon calibre is needed to write the programs which reflect spectacular modelling. They are worked-through via electronics, but their genesis comes from human brains. The hardware involved just implements what the genius of the programmer has led her or him to select.

YOU CAN COMMENT on themes on this website: email your thoughts to  per4group@gmail.com  CHRISTOPHER ORMELL around 1^st June 2025.