| From: | Mark Fender markf@******.com |
|---|---|
| Subject: | [Quite OT] the value of education (OT-rant, long) |
| Date: | Tue, 13 Jul 1999 12:03:05 -0500 |
>
> If that remark is intended to be taken seriously (hopefully not, going by
> the smiley), you haven't been paying attention to the thread, have you?
>
> (Also, if this is representative of the general mentality today, how bad
> will it be in the 2060s? Nobody able to add up 1 + 1 without a calculator?
>
> Oh wait, I went to school with people who had that problem...)
>
Okay. For starters, I can't do math. Never have been. I missed the day when
they learned the multiplication tables for 7 and I've never been able to do
those since then. Twenty years later I couldn't tell you what 7 x 8 is
without thinking about it. I can't even add correctly. It's a shame.
However, I understand the theories of math. Ask me about the Ring Theory of
Algebra and I could explain it to you perfectly. All those theorems and crap
we learned in Geometry and Algebra made perfect sense to me. I could plug
the numbers into the formula, do the math, and get the wrong answer
everytime. Because I would add 27 + 156 and get 172. Or whatever. So, in my
case, a calculator is essential. I almost failed Algebra II because I wasn't
allowed to use a calculator. (I did pass, however, because of another
important skill one learns in public schools - cheating). So, needing a
calculator may be a sign of the miseducation of our children, but in my case
it is essential.
I don't know why I got involved in a hobby that requires math...
Incidentally, it is now legal to use a calculator on the ACT. Needless to
say, this royally pissed me off because they made this momentous decision
two years after I took it, without one. I probably could have got into
Harvard if they'd let me use a calculator. (Not that I could have afforded
it.)
