Wrong Number: Life Isn’t Math

Source: The post is based on the article “Wrong Number: Life Isn’t Math – When policymakers privilege numeracy skills over other learning aptitudes, they don’t recognise that lived experience & people’s stories are key variables in any analysis” published in The Times of India on 29^th April 2023.

Syllabus: GS 3 – Growth & Development

Relevance: concerns associated with numerical data

News: UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has proposed making the study of mathematics compulsory for all students in England up to the age of 18.

Why has the UK PM made mathematics compulsory?

There is a popular sentiment in the UK that says it is all right to be bad in mathematics. Therefore, he thinks that low skill in mathematics has kept his country from surging ahead.

However, his views that a strong hold in mathematics is required for a country’s growth is erroneous.

Why are the views of the UK PM regarding mathematics is incorrect?

Numeracy and prosperity don’t always go together. For instance, the world’s richest economy, the United States, ranks 38 globally in mathematics.

In terms of numeracy, the UK ranks above Germany but below China, yet Germany has a higher GDP per capita than Britain while China’s GDP per capita is lower.

Therefore, for a country to progress, there is also other factors responsible rather than having only numerical skills.

Moreover, as per John Maynard Keynes, a great economist, mathematical economies are a mixture of numbers that intend to hide the complexities of the real world.

What are the concerns with mathematical numbers in an economy?

Mathematics has done a lot of good in policy making but it has also created a profession where numbers matter more than lived experience.

For example, in measuring poverty, everything depends on what statistics tell us regardless of whether these figures reflect the real world.

For measuring poverty in India, it was decided to include the basket of consumption in the calculations of poverty.

However, there was a need to distinguish in the consumption basket between items that people earn and items they get as dole.

This is because a rise in the consumption level signifies poverty removal. However, a rise in the dole is also a relief for the poor but it does not get calculated.

Therefore, even if dole increases the numbers signifying poverty removal won’t change. This is how numbers play a role in calculation but does not represent the real world.

A similar concern with the number is that the National Sample Survey’s data on rural India is unhelpful for a farmer. 

As per NSS, a farmer is defined as “a person who possesses some land and is engaged in some agricultural activities on that land during the last 365 days”.

The word ‘during’ used in the definition not only keeps out the rural landless but also obscures the fact that most farmers rarely farm most of the time.

Such definitions make numerical data collecting easier, but they distort the picture of rural India by exaggerating the number of farmers and agricultural households.

What is the way ahead?

It is not wise to simply rely on the numerical data and propose numeracy as the only way to prosper for a country and the people. Real world experiences are more important than just numerical skills.