(I guess the other reason students hate maths is that it's too much like hard work. And seems uncool. But inspired teaching is the answer to this too.)

And due to having had a very good rounded education, I do have a good idea of history, and therefore a good context in which to understand my society. Indeed, regardless of how much I hated English at school (due in no small part to having abominably bad teachers all the way through high school), I know my Shakespeare, and know enough about the classics of the canon. I have to say, though, that I was doing well in philosophy at uni because of skills taught me by my mother (linguistics teacher @ UNSW) and in other subjects (music, French, Latin, etc) as well as my own reading of philosophy & science rather than from my English teachers. Sad, but somewhat true.

I think you're right that both should be compulsory, although whether the mark should have to count? Probably… it's a tricky one. Making the mark count means making your performance in the subjects count as well as just ensuring you scraped a pass. I guess we should care about that. It'd be nice if we didn't have to care so much about the minutiae of the marks anyway, but we have so many people trying to get into the Unis these days that I can't see another way of doing things. Direct entrance exams held by the individual institutions?

I can't imagine that she'd be able to get through that many university courses without algebra. The point of learning is not whether you need to know something in your daily life, though – I don't think I've ever directly used my knowledge of ancient history in daily life – but that knowledge in general enriches you – like you say, if you have no concept of algebra, you have no concept of logic, whereas knowledge of history makes you see society in a different way.

Knowledge of the canon of English literature is important too; taught well, you can learn a lot from Shakespeare. I agree that there should be more emphasis on English skills as opposed to literature – certainly the quality of undergraduate essays I've read recently is quite shocking. But there are benefits in English essays – the high distinctions you got at university were partly due to learning how to write essays in English, I'm sure – any English teacher worth their salt would have grounded you in the technique of writing, the logic and structure and rhetoric.

As to whether it should be compulsory, I suspect that both it and maths should be compulsory – maths was effectively compulsory at my (selective) high school, by the way, and at many others – because I believe that people should have a rounded education, even if they wish to specialise.

tim.