Posted on 12/30/2006 9:36:31 AM PST by achilles2000
Math pop quiz stumps Randi
BY ERIN EINHORN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Talk about a high-stakes test. The radio audience was live and the question for teachers union president Randi Weingarten involved sixth-grade math: "What's 1/3rd plus 1/4th?"...
Mike Pesca, who was filling in for Lehrer, introduced the show's education topic by saying American college grads can't do basic math while high school grads in Canada and middle-schoolers in India have no trouble.
After Weingarten stumbled, another guest quickly produced the correct answer: 7/12ths, leaving Weingarten to explain herself.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Looks like 17/21 to me...
Mee Too..but not by the professor's method
American kids are taught to hate math at an early age. The educators make it as painful and tedious as possible while not showing any practical purpose for any of it. When the students hit high school, they're only required to take two math classes. After being taught for 10 years that it's boring crap with no purpose, most of them take Algebra 1 and Basic Geometry freshmen and sophomore year, do the minimum effort to pull a C, then brain-dump it and never look back.
I transferred from P.S. 45 in Ozone Park (Queens) to Christ the King Grammar School in third grade in 1958. This makes me appreciate what I owe the Dominican Sisters.
That might be true in theory. In practice, the bosses run the union.
Besides, my point is that the teachers' unions are run by people who think math is big and scary.
the greatness of the common denominator ;-)
actually since we are working with recipricals add the 3 and 4 together and they become the top number of the fraction...then multiple the 3 and 4 together and they become the bottom number of the fraction....i think?
The NYC teachers union is a weird beast. The rank and file is very active. And the bosses have to kowtow to them. I have a friend in it and there was an open revolt regarding the last pay increase.
On the other hand, the amount on money they control gives them huge power over guys like Bloomberg. During the 1970s, it was the unions that bailed out NYC in the financial crisis with deals done late at night.
Yours is the way I was tought to add fractions ... easy and works every time .... just amazing!
p.s. Why do you think Bloomberg put Klein -- a corporate lawyer -- in charge of the schools?
I forgot to emphasize PUBLIC school teachers!
He just leads the charge and sets the example!
I'm sooooooooo unimpressed.
Math expert Alfred Posamentier, dean of the City College school of education, said most Americans can't add fractions in their heads, leaving Weingarten in good company. "I hate to say it, but I would cut her slack on that one," he said.
And there lies the problem: Most Americans should be able to add simple fractions and perform other basic calculations in their heads, and the fact that they can't is further evidence that many of our public schools and the people who teach there are not getting the job done.
On the other hand, this was an embarrassingly elementary math problem. I don't think any professional adult should admit to this level of innumeracy and expect to get away unscathed. She might as well have added, "I don't read good, but I can sound words out."
No, public school teachers don't "report" to that moron. Yes, I suppose he does lead the charge for those who choose to join his merry band.
The fact that they can't add the fractions is further evidence of the incompetence of the public school system.
I have to say that the NYC schools are a different monster altogether.
Instead of most kids who are stuck in neighborhood schools, the smart ones can take the subway to Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech or Stuyvesant. It works against the awful move against tracking in schools.
In any case, schools are becoming more legalistic and I would have to guess Klein was put in mostly to negotiate contracts.
And then does the submissive go on top of the dominator, or is it the other way around? That's new math, right?
Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.
The 2/3 is different than previous examples b/c the numerator is a number other than 1.
The professor's process still works, but because the reasoning is omitted, most didn't know that the numerators are multiplied by the other denominator before they're added - when the numerators were 1 it didn't matter.
Thanks! Bookmarkin' that!
(I'm afraid my math skills have become rather rusty!)
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