As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives. Each wife had seven sacks, ....

It has emerged that “being bad at maths” is seen as a top achievement.  A spokesman from the Institute for Adult Education said that many adults rejoice in their lack of mathematics skills.

 A recent survey indicated that 9 out of every 8 people said they were either "good" or "bad" at maths. Of the 73.5% who said they were “bad”,  56% said they were “very bad” and 23% indicated they were "down right lousy".

When the subject of ‘algebra’ came up, the majority of those surveyed broke out in a cold sweat and said it was “positively evil” and best avoided over the age of twenty

 

It has been suggested that goodness at algebra may be strongly correlated with some forms of mental illness

It has also emerged that, of all the OEDC countries surveyed,  New Zealand adults are the most proud of being suspect or indeed lacking in the maths department. American adults, however, didn’t even know what maths was. “We have a subject call ‘math’ , is that any relation?” said one.

Tony Adder, unemployed, ex-dustman, and some-time-road-sweeper from Taihape said, “I failed maths at school, but has it set me back in any way? No!”