What about? Maths, or Welsh, or both? 
Bothā¦well maths first of courseā¦the universal language
I enjoyed maths in school. That said, once you can do basic arithmetic, geometry and statistics, you know as much about maths as youāre ever going to need to (provided you arenāt planning to become a scientist of some description). While everybody should have some idea of how statistics work, the vast, overwhelming majority of people are never going to need to know how to do a quadratic equation, or calculus or any of the other stuff commonly taught at GCSE level. I have used trigonometry precisely once since I left school and thatās because Iām a computer scientist so I actually do need maths sometimes. Likewise, I found a basic understanding of calculus useful for machine learning. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who have never used anything more complex than basic statistics.
I resented having to do English though - Iām still not even sure what I was supposed to have learned, other than finding hidden meanings in poems. Hell, it almost killed Shakespeare for me - it wasnāt until I saw The Hollow Crown just before the London Olympics that I realised just how good some of his plays actually were.
I recall reading The Mathematicianās Lament - itās a very interesting read about how maths is taught to kids, and how itās leading to people who would actually enjoy mathematics being turned away from the subject in part because of how it is taught and in part because of the fact that it is required to be taught far beyond the level that anybody is ever going to need in everyday life. The thing is, this applies to a lot of school subjects; so many subjects have limited use in everyday life, and often arenāt taught with any kind of context that might make them applicable. In particular, schools are really bad at teaching kids how to learn.
Meanwhile, Montesori and Sudbury schools, wherein a large portion of the learning is pupil driven, are showing a great deal of promise. So hereās the question: what are the benefits of requiring a subject (any subject) be taught to GCSE level, when the everyday uses of this subject are commonly covered by the KS3 SATS?
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Have actually argued thie for years
I remember thinking how glad I was that we ādidā Macbeth for O-level, as any other play would have been ruined for me, but the Scottish one could stand up to the treatment! Which thoughts set me thinkingā¦
I do know we ādidā a book of Caesarās Gallic Wars in Latin, but all that entailed seemed to be an ability to translate a bit of it in the exam. I actually was hopeless and literally learned enough, parrot fashion, in both languages, to be able to recognise the bit we got and trot out the English from memory! I have a vague recollection of Catullus and possibly Virgil. I recall no French literature whatsoever. Iām not sure if we ādidā any!! Yet @Novem seems to be doing English literature as a subject in its own right. What do plant Cymraeg learn now? Do they do the same GCSE in Welsh and English medium schools? Is the Welsh at the same level as the English? Do they get āEnglish as a second languageā or ???
If a pupil in Finland can do a Literature exam in what is, presumably, officially her third language, it is a bit shocking if a pupil in Britain cannot do it in his/her 2nd language!!
I suspect everyone gets the same English GCSE, but people who speak Welsh as a first language get a different Welsh GCSE to people who people who speak it as a second language.
My level of English is not a great example of most Finnsā. For some reason my English was good enough for me to get into an International Baccalaureate school, where almost all teaching is in English. People donāt usually do English literature at my age 
(though they might in university or even in upper secondary as an optional course).
I am not sure that any child in the UK gets to such a school except possibly by paying vast fees! The Welsh Baccalaureate, as far as I can tell, is a very watered-down version which most universities, even in the UK, donāt recognise! We could learn much from your country. One thing we could learn is that it is OK to give opportunities to the brightest at anything to progress, not just to those good at swimming or rugby or tossing hammers!
We have lots of those programmes. From about 7-5 everyday is very much Cyw (the childrenās programme)
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Some of the (sadly, predictable) comments on the Daily Post site to the linked article are very disappointing. The usual cliches about Cymraeg being a waste of money etc. are repeated ad nauseam. Also, there are hypocritical comments about not wanting to āforce a languageā on people, when, of course, English was forced on so many Welsh speakers not all that long ago.
Of course, Ynys Mon Council are NOT forcing anyone to speak an unchosen language, just presenting the benefits of learning the original language of local people and, of course, defending the rights of those who do not want to be forced to speak English
Anyway, I guess the (positive) point is that the Council are doing something to increase awareness and I should resist the temptation to be too disheartened by the customary negative comments.
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This is an interesting article from an Irish perspective: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/you-can-identify-with-irish-or-not-it-s-just-a-language-not-an-ideology-1.2810253
I think here in Wales itās important to say that Welsh does not equal nationalism. Thereās nothing wrong with being a Welsh nationalist who speaks English, or not and speak Welsh. (Iām saying this as a member of Plaid Cymru). I think itās important to separate Welsh from politics as much as possible to encourage the di-Gymraeg. Thereās a lot of isolation felt (not always fairly) by those who donāt speak Welsh who associate it with people who hold more extreme views on Walesā future. The two things are related but not the same and I think that is important to spread the language.
That is clearly true, but I would think that those of us who are Nationalists are quite likely to want to learn our National language.
However, there are almost certainly far more worldwide who learn it because it is beautiful or ancient orā¦any number of reasons with nothing to do with Nationalism!
There are lots of Welsh nationalists who donāt want to learn the language too. Itās not a given. Thatās my point. Thatās also the point the article makes about Irish. About how international the language is. I reason I shared this is because this thread is about building support for the Welsh language. The assumed connection between Welsh and nationalism harms this.
Interesting quote in that article.
āIrish speakers being told they canāt use their language on a football pitchā
I remember one of the newsreaders on the Today show on Radio 4 ostentatiously stifling her giggles when reading a story of a cricket team who had walked off the pitch on being told they couldnāt speak Welsh to each other. Presumably it had been put in to give the newsreaders and people listening a good laugh.
Our Welsh government needs to promote and push Welsh media- a media which will reflect the interests and attitude of the people of Wales, in the same way that the London government promotes and pushes a media which reflects the interests of those it considers to be its people.
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I understand where youāre coming from, but in my experience any problem is from people assuming nationalism is something extremist Welsh speakers are concerned with, rather than that Welsh speaking is something only for nationalists.
Though there seems to be a cottage industry of letters in green crayon seemingly against the Welsh language itself being turned out for Welsh newspapers, I suspect that may have something to do with who is choosing them for publication, as in the flesh, the vast majority of WeIsh people Ihave spoken to on the subject are in favour of the idea of Welsh existing, like hearing it, would like to speak it if there were a magic pill - regardless of their opinions on the details of money being spent or whatever.
Just my experience, as I say.
And I canāt see any problems with stressing what you say, even if I donāt think itās necessary!
I agree, most I have met say they like the Welsh language and would like to learn it. However, Iāve witnessed how quickly that can turn when a media outlet makes a storm in a tea cup (e.g. the Welsh football team and the gorsedd). There was a programme that interviewed people in a village in Blaenau Gwent and their local councillors who were staunchly opposed to spending money on the Welsh language because it doesnāt represent them. They saw it as an imposition upon them from āthe otherā and the phrase āGog nationalistsā was heard. This is the view Iām on about, we need to expose that itās not 100% true.
Yeah, Iāve seen too many programmes over the years like that. The most recent one being that awful āweek in week outā programme by that bloke whatsisname. Apparently his follow up programme led to tragedy.
Now I just ignore them and go by people I actually meet and talk to on Welsh matters. Hence my comments on Welsh media above.
But yes, you are right, this sort of attitude should not be pushed by the Welsh media - so again, more need for Welsh media.
So yes, I agree.
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I see where you are coming from here and often thought the same myaelf. The only problem is that by working to counter comments put forward by others all the time then we arenot really controlling the agenda. Far better in my mind to focus on the positive sides and not allow our thinking to be too distracted by these sort of things. just my thinking
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Itās a very complex issue, and it is very important that people who do not speak Welsh are not told they are ājust like the Englishā. This is not only obviously untrue, (I know my Welsh relatives and friends are distinctively Welsh, both English speaking and Welsh speaking) but would be insulting (not specifically comparison with the English of course!) and very counterproductive.
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