English is essential in the workplace, especially nowadays where the use of computers or writing of reports is so commonplace. The general state of English in the young people of this country is atrocious, no other industrialised country that I can think of has so many people that cannot read, write and speak their native tongue correctly. A major drawback to English now is the use of American computer products, such as Microsoft, which tend to teach people to speak American rather than English, so many people don’t even realise that they are spelling words incorrectly, because their spell checker is saying that it’s fine.
I was amused there to read that you didn’t thin that maths was that useful as a painter and decorator. What about calculating the quote or bill? Or that Pythagoras’ theorem itself was developed during the building of the pyramids in order to work out how to give a right angle. Wouldn’t you also need it to work out the quantities to mix together for the plaster?
There is a great reliance upon computers and calculators nowadays, and it does make us lazy when it comes to maths (I have noticed it myself as an accountant that I had got so used to using a calculator or computer that when I tried to add up in my head I couldn’t do it anymore). But we still need to know how to do it, however much we may rely on a computer or calculator, if only for when the batteries go flat.
Without the basic knowledge of English and Maths, you will find it extremely hard in any line of work, and in applying for the work initially too in the letter.