Posted on 03/13/2013 1:57:35 PM PDT by Olog-hai
A fifth of adults are so bad at math that they struggle to perform basic mental arithmetic, a survey has revealed.
More than a third can only manage sums that total less than 100 and have to use a calculator for anything larger.
One in 50 people were stumped by adding or subtracting in their head if the total was more than ten.
And one in three parents believed their children’s ability exceeded their own. …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I tutor Middle Schoolers, mainly English and math. I have a No Calculators desk, and they hate it. Some of the ‘really good’ students do not know their multiplication tables by the time they get to 8th grade. I have to review flash cards with them to get the back to where they should have been in 4th grade.
Tsk tsk. The multiplication facts simply need to be at their fingertips as a foundation for any further math. The math teachers have drunk the KoolAid imho. Why DO they permit this? Rely on this? Perhaps they don’t know theirs.
Call me old-fashioned. We are supposed to USE our brains, not just carry them around.
That is the other part of the problem. The third graders do NOT conceptually understand Algebra. Why oh why do they think kids that age should be doing Algebra? There are layers of foundational math that need to be solidly in place before they launch into more theoretical math.
(Don’t get me started!).
math teacher, Middle School
I love it......
My grand daughter is a third grader here in NC and she is being introduced to elementary algebra.
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I hope you don’t think that is a good idea.
LOL...Government teachers have severely dumb down the masses for the past 2+ generations...
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That’s because government teachers are very dumb. They have the lowest SAT/ ACT/GRE scores on campus.
Friend of mine worked for NASA. they had a Slide rule in a minature fire extinguisher case mounted on the wall under a sign that said: "In Case if Power failure Break Glass."
There was a time, about 15-20 years ago, that I found myself so reliant on my calculator than I just sort of brain-locked a trying to add a column of numbers by hand. I put away the calculator and forced myself to do all day-to-day math by hand for months, just to re-train myself. Now, I generally only pull out the calculator for complex stuff.
Can you supply documentation for this?
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