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S/O Jane's calculator rant


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My dd's friend who graduates in May, shared with me that her entire class does not know how to do long division. This is an honors student who scored well on ACT/SAT and received a full scholarship at a private college in TN. :confused:

 

My dd began PS in 9th grade. She studied alg I with me in the 8th grade using Foester's. I was appauled at how much they were allowed to rely on their calculator (without understanding the math). In Arkansass, it is all about passing the end-of-course evaluation- nothing else matters.

 

P. S. DD is on block scheduling and is taking Geometry this semester. The end-of-course test for this semester is in April- uhh, how dumb is that? Can one possible learn Geometry in 3 months??

Edited by SusanAR
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Oh this frustrates me!! One of my fd's is in 10th grade and she was trying to figure out the length of each side based on the ratio and I helped her to get the equation correct and then she started to PLUG IT IN TO HER CALCULATOR!!! It was SUCH a simple problem I couldn't believe it.... of course being mean - I took the calculator away...

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When I taught ps jr high, I was amazed at how little mental calculation my students could do -- not even enough to tell them when they'd hit a wrong button on the calculator and had gotten an answer that was, way, waaaay, off. (A great example was when I asked about buying a $10 item and adding 5.5% tax on it -- I had a class that thought the item should actually cost $55. I told them that if I were really smart, but nasty, I'd open up a store in town and rob them blind!

 

That's why I didn't allow my dc to use calculators until we hit algebra, and, even with that, I encourage them to do as much in their heads as possible.

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My dd's friend who graduates in May, shared with me that her entire class does not know how to do long division. This is an honors student who scored well on ACT/SAT and received a full scholarship at a private college in TN. :confused:

 

My dd began PS in 9th grade. She studied alg I with me in the 8th grade using Foester's. I was appauled at how much they were allowed to rely on their calculator (without understanding the math). In Arkansass, it is all about passing the end-of-course evaluation- nothing else matters.

 

P. S. DD is on block scheduling and is taking Geometry this semester. The end-of-course test for this semester is in April- uhh, how dumb is that? Can one possible learn Geometry in 3 months??

 

I friend's son is supposed to learn Algebra I in about that same amount of time. With the snow days, I have to wonder.....

 

But there is always remedial math classes at the state colleges....

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My dd's friend who graduates in May, shared with me that her entire class does not know how to do long division. This is an honors student who scored well on ACT/SAT and received a full scholarship at a private college in TN. :confused:

 

My dd began PS in 9th grade. She studied alg I with me in the 8th grade using Foester's. I was appauled at how much they were allowed to rely on their calculator (without understanding the math). In Arkansass, it is all about passing the end-of-course evaluation- nothing else matters.

 

P. S. DD is on block scheduling and is taking Geometry this semester. The end-of-course test for this semester is in April- uhh, how dumb is that? Can one possible learn Geometry in 3 months??

 

It's crazy, isn't it? And then there is still the whole month of May left where they must be in school to meet the 180 days requirement, but they don't get much done in the way of education. It seems that a little common sense is in order.

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Oh this frustrates me!! One of my fd's is in 10th grade and she was trying to figure out the length of each side based on the ratio and I helped her to get the equation correct and then she started to PLUG IT IN TO HER CALCULATOR!!! It was SUCH a simple problem I couldn't believe it.... of course being mean - I took the calculator away...

 

I told my freshmen that they were to determine their percentages on a test when given only a fraction (e.g., 34/47) without a calculator, and you would've thought I'd asked them to perform complex neural surgery. Most of them had NO IDEA. I had to show them. When an English teacher has to show you how to do math, this is a sad, sad event.

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