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Nothing new, it was tried in the early 70’s in certain unfortunate schools. The strange thing then was that not all the schools in a system did it. I found this out by accident when I talked with a friend about it and she didn’t know what I was talking about even tho our children attended schools in the same district, but different schools. My favorite one of these little dittys was the requirement for a student (about sixth grade) to estimate the cost of outfitting a whaling voyage. The implements were ancient and in some cases we couldn’t even find a definition. Finally, and in desperation, we gave the project to a friend who was a cost analyst who soon gave it back to us without resolution. Finally we confronted the teacher who (I’m not kidding) cried while she told us the kids were supposed to “make up” answers, then she fled the room still in tears.