Posted on 03/16/2013 12:00:17 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
Years of Math 1950 – 2013
Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $ 2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters , but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried. Why do I tell you this?Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s
Teaching Math In 1950s A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?
Teaching Math In 1960s A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?
Teaching Math In 1970s A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?
Teaching Math In 1980s A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.
Teaching Math In 1990s A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20.. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it's ok.)
Teaching Math In 2009 Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?
Teaching Math In 2013 Who cares, just steal the lumber from your rich neighbor's property. He won't have a gun to stop you, and the President says it's OK anyway cuz it’s redistributing the wealth.
Perhaps the manager was Larry Summers... yeah, the same guy that thought he was smarter than the investing team for the Harvard University endowment fund. Ol' Larry was responsible for losses of billions of dollars in a few short years. Then he stood up at a conference on diversifying the science and engineering workforce and told everyone that "women lack the high end aptitude of their male counterpart."
Take computers out of schools until 4th grade. By then, the basics have been taught.
Teach writing, too...........pleeze....
OK, I’ll bite...why can’t Jewish girls use a ruler?
Thanks for posting..
This is a visual joke. I am holding my two index fingers about 6 inches apart, the answer is “because Jewish men have been telling them that this equals a foot their whole life”.
Because of my hatred of pennies I often give cashiers, many of them kids, more than the price so as to get back round numbers. I’ve never made anyone cry. Never gotten a blank stare or waited through managerial intervention, either. My assumption is that most customers who still pay in cash do it, and the girl in the story was probably new or especially stupid.
This isn’t something you should have to learn at school, anyway. It’s something you can pick up as you go. Simple transactional arithmetic.
My sister, though a mere two years younger, went through that “core” nonsense. I took the usual route from arithmetic, times tables, and long division to algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus, in that order. After elementary she went off on a tangent to gosh knows where. It wasn’t algebra, exactly, though that was involved. It wasn’t anything you could pin a name on, really. She ended up with an accounting degree and has worked at banks and a tax firm. No thanks to publik skrool.
She also somehow ended up missing out on the Civil War in history. One teacher went into too much detail on the Mexican War, or something, then next semester, trimester, quarter, or whatever it was the next teacher was on reconstruction. I’ve talked to a number of people from different areas who claim never to have learner much about the Civil War, mysteriously. It almost resembles a conspiracy.
Not that had they actually studied it would it have been worthwhile. I went the traditional route through the maths, as outlined, and today am basically functionally innumerate.
Those are different tactics, is all. Humor may be preferable to accuracy.
That is partly the fault of the textbook companies. The PC cops get their say naturly, since all “educationists” are lefties. Because, come on, who what kind of person wants to be an “educationist”? The same who’d be a “community organizer.” That is, someone paid not in money but ideological self-satisfaction and delusion of grandeur.
But I digress. The textbook companies have a near monopoly, and they milk that advantage to the point of absurdity. New editions every year, natch. Ridiculously overpaid authors who might not actually write a word. Glossy pictures that make sense in a coffee table book but serve in a classroom to give something for kids to instead of paying attention. Covers hard enough to side your house, accompanying CD-ROMs that no one will ever, ever use, etc.
Same exact thing happened to me at a Hardees.
Usually, they pull 42¢ out of the drawer and add your 8¢ to it.
Thought it might be something like that...:-)
Amen!
Mine didn’t cry but the look on her face was priceless. It was a completely clueless look. I had to explain to her why I gave her the change I did THEN I showed her how to make the proper change for the transaction.
She’s a future obamacare administrator in training.
You’d think they could just punch the number into the register, even if it is more than the required amount. The register will tell them how much to give you back. How much easier could it be?
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