St Marys Newry

Careers in maths

CAREERS IN MATHEMATICS

"I hate Maths--why do we have to learn this? How is it going to help me?"

Unfortunatley this has become an all too familiar mantra in schools. At St Mary's we recognise that some students will find mathematics difficult, boring and irrelevant. Trying to explain the importance of mathematics to 11-16 year olds is not easy but this area of the website will attempt to do just that.

Mathematics is more than just the science of numbers taught by teachers in schools and either enjoyed or feared by many students. It plays a significant role in the lives of individuals and the world of society as a whole. Mathematics is an essential discipline recognized worldwide, and it needs to be augmented in education to equip students with skills necessary for achieving higher education, career aspirations, and for attaining personal fulfillment.

Mathematics is not a mere subject that prepares students for higher academic attainment or job qualification in the future. It is not all about practicing calculations in algebra, statistics and algorithms that, after all, computers are capable of doing. It is more about how it compels the human brain to formulate problems, theories and methods of solutions.

It prepares children to face a variety of simple to multifaceted challenges every human being encounters on a daily basis. Irrespective of your status in life and however basic your skills are, you apply mathematics.

Daily activities including the mundane things you do are reliant on how to count, add or multiply. You encounter numbers every day in memorizing phone numbers, buying groceries, cooking food, balancing a budget, paying bills, estimating petrol consumption, measuring distance and managing your time. In the fields of business and economy, including the diverse industries existing around you, basic to complex math applications are crucial.

Careers in areas such as the environment, science, sport, television, business, health and entertainment to name but a few can be accessed by studying mathemetics.

ENVIRONMENT