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I know that I
am not the only one who gets angry, but…
By Sharon Hopper
I hear about the testing that is going on in the schools and some good
and some bad perceptions have resulted.
But somehow I think that all this talk about testing and preparation
for life in the real world has gotten lost. For
instance. We have cash registers that tell the
clerk how much the purchase is and how much change should
be given back to the customer. But sometimes even
that is misinterpreted. Let me see—I learned that if
something cost .50 and I gave the clerk 1.00 I should
receive .50 back in change. Now that was not
too hard. The question then became should I receive 2
quarters, or 4 dimes and 2 nickels. or 1 quarter, 2 dimes,
and 1 nickel. I honestly watched a cashier
recently puzzled as what to do because she only had one quarter and
could not seem to figure out what the rest should be.
I told her what her options were but she insisted she had to call the
manager and I waited. Could not believe the lack of
knowledge. Better yet let me give you the latest one.
My husband went to a store and purchased a cart full of dirt,
fertilizer and lime. The bill came to 88.30. The
clerk took his 100.00 bill and put it in the drawer, then proceeded to
count out 88.30 and gave it back to my husband. He tried
three times to explain to her that she was wrong and he should only
receive back 11.70. Finally a manager came to the
stores rescue and the situation was resolved. He
could have left but he is an honest person. My whole
point in this story is where did we go wrong teaching simple
math? And more to the point what good is testing if people
cannot do simple everyday things?
Someone tried to explain to me how they arrive at math answers in
today’s math. Quite frankly I was lost before they
began. Whatever happened to 2+2 = 4, or 20 + 2 =22.
Not two 10’s and 2. My calculator may use the second
method, but I put in 20+2 and the calculator tells me it equals 22.
We have gotten so complicated that many in this world just cannot
function anymore. And they just plain give up. What
good is the test do if our children still cannot read, write, and do
simple math. I think that our education needs to revert
back to the days of simple learning and failing students
who cannot make the grade. I think that we need to do away with
thinking that children will get their feeling hurt if they are held
back. What really hurts is when they cannot function
in the outside world. Oh well I am just plain old fashioned, but
I can function in this old world of ours. Thank goodness I
learned math the old fashioned way. I can make change.
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