“Some of them are very good, but..." Who has the problem? "They don't understand fractions, so when it comes to algebraic manipulation, it's not second nature and you can see them struggling." "most schools seem to provide… a fairly instrumentalist algorithmic approach to almost everything" "A-level mentality… is preparing for exams, learning methods, when you see this sort of question this is the way you should answer it and train, train, train…" "What really annoys me is that students don't use mathematical language and they use equals signs with gay abandon" "..by the time people have come to us from school, they already have it absolutely ingrained in them that coursework is for marks. They don't get a mark, they don't do it. Okay, this is terrible. But if we don't mark coursework we know they wouldn't do it and so they wouldn't learn." "They've been brought up with an exam culture of course at school, it's very test test test test." “what really annoys me” “this is terrible” “It's not what you want to hear” “there is a disturbingly large proportion of students” “busy bending over backwards and dealing with the difficult cases” “nothing very positive” “it’s a problem of quality” “it's just as well I'm retiring [soon] because I think my patience might break down”

They jumped the hoops got the A-levels didn’t design the curriculum It’s not their fault... We sought them out invited them to apply recruited them It’s not even (completely) true... They are diverse Different interests, attitudes, abilities, aspirations Many fascinated, motivated, hardworking, able A tiny minority will follow a similar route to us

University lecturers were not typical students even at the time they were students... We liked our subject, worked adequately if not hard, and also perhaps had a style of learning that was atypical. Understanding what we were doing, finding out for ourselves, checking our results, as well as having a natural bent for mathematics, were likely to be our characteristics.... We probably most like teaching those who are interested and make an effort... John Appleby and William Cox, 2002 It’s not the students who are strange...

“I thought you learnt this at A-level” “you need to go and look this up” “in my day” We sigh. We shrug. We take a deep intake or breath We digress to explain very quickly We feel disheartened Do students leave with a better understanding, and a sense of your disapproval at their shortcomings? Most staff work hard to help, but...

Complaining about student failings is like complaining about the weather –Unless you’re going to leave, there really is no point –There is no paradise lost - we were always the exceptions –If they have “failings”, whose job is it to correct them? Respect the students we have Students as partners “How often do we tell them that, actually, they’re really rather good?” Course ethos starts with our attitudes