Posted on 09/27/2022 9:25:40 AM PDT by LibWhacker
He may have been exaggerating a bit. ;)
If you say so!
As you say you’ve not a done a geometric proof not picked up a test tube. I guarantee you’ve applied the principles those classes taught.
‘What is your point?’
his point seems rather obvious, does it not...? that schools hamstring students by forcing everyone too far into into a common curriculum, with no thought given to individual abilities (or lack of same)...
by way of explanation I use the course that caused me to fantasize about offing myself to get my father off my back about bad report cards: Plane Geometry...in what sane world does someone not in a hard science career path need to master the arcana of Euclidian theorems, corollaries and proofs...? and yet, Plane Geometry was a required course in a college prep curriculum...
‘but it teaches you to think,’ you say; true enough, but so did every other course I took, including those I found conducive to my abilities, so what special learning was I afforded by being forced to endure such technical minutiae to the point of failure...?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink
You can send a kid to school, but you can’t make him think
That’s a good one
“his point seems rather obvious, does it not...?”
No. That is why I asked.
I used just basic math as a Sr Financial Analyst of 30 some years. Never used calculus, Algebra, Chemistry, Biology.
Percent changes, division, add, subtract. Used formula’s in Excel, Pivot tables, etc.
Teach the basics in math for 4 years or until the student gets it. If students are going to be engineer, chemist, etc, let them take those Advanced Math and other subjects but not mandatory for every student who can’t even learn how to divide.
Teach how to make change without calculator or cash resister. Teach budgeting money. Teach rate of investment for savings, teach interest rates you will pay buying a home or a car, etc.
“If students are going to be engineer, chemist, etc, let them take those Advanced Math and other subjects but not mandatory for every student who can’t even learn how to divide.”
When were they ever mandatory?
‘I guarantee you’ve applied the principles those classes taught.’
of what value, then, is a set of principles forced on a student to the extent he suffers failure and humiliation if it cannot be impressed on the student that the same set is in fact inadvertantly useful in future endeavors...? .
schools are not, or at least were not, unaware of student imdividual proclivities; it seems stodgy adherence to a curriculum requiring the difficuties encountered in higher math be mastered is counterproductive...
my mathematical necessities were more than adequately addressed by arithmetic, which forced me to think long and hard, using such things as logic and deductive reasoning...
You should write a letter thanking those people who understood math and wrote all those formulas and algorithms to make it possible for you to do your job. And maybe you should also thank to software QA folks who verify every one of them on a routine basis. Bad algorithms and formulas can cause bridge collapses, reactor melt downs, and plane crashes just like incompetence can.
‘When were they ever mandatory?’
as i stated in a prior response to you, Plane Geometry was required in my high school for a college prep curriculum...perhaps you can explain to me, all these years later, why such a difficult subject requirement should be mandatory...
Ok fine
‘You should write a letter thanking those people who understood math and wrote all those formulas and algorithms to make it possible for you to do your job...’
why do you assume that I, or anyone else as deficient as I was in understanding the higher maths am not in fact appreciative and admiringof those who are applying those principles to make society function more fully...?
Like me, he grew up on a grain and livestock farm (although a smaller operation), and knew he wasn’t going to be a farmer. Hence his taking all of the college prep classes.
One of my best friend’s parents owned and managed a grocery store. Before he was out of middle school he had learned how cut meat, how to gab with the customers, and by high school graduation knew how manage the place. His sales skills suited him well when he chose two years later to be a motorcycle salesman. He also sold new cars and was excellent at that as well. His calm demeanor, and a dry wit that was second to none, really helped the nervous buyer to relax. But the cigarettes finally got him at 56. :(
Back during most my school days, there were a couple of topic specific study books. One popular brand was i.e. Cliff Notes,
another couldd have been “Algebra For Dummies”.
I never liked the subtle insult of being called a ‘Dummy’, though I’m sure the publisher considered it quite clever and amusing.
I agree.
Same here. Exactly!
The soft bigotry of low expectations on display for all to see. They are racists aka bigoted, self-anointed elites who think they must help the poor down-trodden student by not expecting anything from him - just so they can feel good about themselves. And these bigots need that because they’re not very bright but ‘feel’ they know what’s best for all.
The Leftist attitude towards public schools is that nobody should be allowed to do better than the lowest-achieving students. (Of course, THEIR kids are in private schools where they are pushed to achieve).
Parents should remove their kids from such sewage.
Our schools are set up to teach large numbers of students.
This forces the schools to make large assumptions.
“All students are the same.”
“The teacher will have no effect on the student beyond the coursework.”
“All students must be taught the same things.”
“as i stated in a prior response to you, “
I was responding to your latest where you referred to every student.
but not mandatory for every student who can’t even learn how to divide.
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