It is hard to see the system being both tougher and more appealing: making difficult subjects like maths compulsory may encourage a few borderline students not to give them up.
The main reform being proposed by Michael Gove, the Tory education spokesman, is for harder subjects like maths to be worth more in school league tables than softer ones like sociology.
Those with degrees in subjects like law, maths and economics can expect earnings around 25% higher than average.
They can learn new subjects, like film or cultural studies, or take advanced courses in familiar subjects like English and maths.
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And in Plowden's day, there was nothing like the Third International Maths and Science Study, published in 1996, which compared the abilities of more than 500, 000 pupils in 26 countries.
Reading Smith without studying economics, he said, was like reading Euclid without studying maths.
It wasn't like at school where I hated the fact I had to do maths and had to do English and all these things I didn't like.
Living Maths gives young children fun problem-solving activities like bingo, math shows, that form the basis of learning math when they get older.
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Typically an innovation index will use solid, reliable and traditional metrics like numbers of patents registered, number of third and fourth level maths and engineering graduates leaving university, and the existence of industry clusters.
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In June, Mr Gove also said he would like to see the "vast majority" of pupils in England studying maths to the age of 18 within a decade.
The maths tells us that in respect of probability, people are much like tosses of a coin: we will see occasional clusters, even of cancer.
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The government has made more places available in maths this year as one of its priority subjects, but this does not sway students like Jack who do not find the subject rewarding enough.
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