Posted on 05/01/2009 7:46:39 AM PDT by Fawn
LOL. And it just gets worse and worse.
The example you gave is sad but true.
The worst part of all is that the girl at the counter didn’t just total up the purchase and then enter in the exact amount of money you gave her. The register then would have told her that .50 cents was gonna be your change.
Besides being unable to think for herself, she wasn’t even willing (or able) to let the cash register do the thinking for her.
Hilarious....and so true.
ROTFLMAO. With all that is going on with the US thanks to Master Obama, I needed a laugh.
This is not a new phenomenon. Back in the 70s, before cash registers did the thinking, my parents hired a waitress who was a math major at the local community college. A customer bought an item that totalled 26 cents (this was the 70s, after all) and gave her $1.01. I had to tell her how to make change for that. I was about 14 at the time. Needless to say, I didn’t even consider that college when I was looking for a school!!
>Needless to say, I didn’t even consider that college when I was looking for a school!!
Good.
Teaching Math in 2010: Not required. Global warming has been proven. A Trillion dollar deficit is an investment. Now stop wasting time on the Internet, and please report to you Voluntary Work Detail Block Captain.
What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895 . . .
Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina , Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by the Salina Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina , KS - 1895
Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of ‘lie,’’play,’ and ‘run.’
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6. What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft.. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour)
[Do we even know what this is??]
1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret ‘u.’ (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final ‘e.’ Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)
1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.
Gives the saying ‘he only had an 8th grade education’ a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?! Also shows you how poor our education system has become and, NO, I don’t have the answers !
A similar thing happened to me in a Zellers when I was about 15. I had purchased an item and it came to $19.28. I passed the cashier a $20 and then dug in my pockets for 28 cents. The look the middle-aged cashier was one of utter contempt, as if I was the idiot. When I passed it to her, she asked “Why are you doing that? You’re just going to get it back anyways!”
I’d say that post pretty much sums it up!
I predict they’ll get a crash course in the near future!
Went to Denny’s with the wife. We ordered two Grand Slams and coffee. When we got to the register the girl typed in the order and pronounced $60.56. I stood there waiting for her to say she made a mistake, I finally said that’s wrong to which she said that’s what it came up as. I finally asked for the manager. When he got there and saw the bill he just started shaking his head and turn a really bright red. I’m sure we could all relate these kind of stories,really sad!
It’s a generational thing.
Those who were taught “old math” learned how to make change off the top of their heads.
Those who were taught “new math” are, in fact, innumerate.
I had a similar experience with a twist. I was in San Antonio TX at a Krispy Kreme and did the same thing - gave more than the ticket but wanted a 5 dollar bill back. The cashier looked at what I gave her, put it in the drawer and then handed me a 5. I said wow - your the first person I have had make the correct change in quite a while. She said I may look young but I’m 44. I can make change but I’m the only one in the store who can.
Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. It comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday. - John Wayne
The Grand Slams cost more after 4 PM. ;-)
I dunno, I always could make change off the top of my head, and do multiplication and division by hand, or even more with a slide rule (despite the fact that there are people who are old enough to teach my college classes who’ve never used one)... I can deal with money fine, but I’m a bit embarassed to say that I can only deal with length in English units, other than that I need to use the metric system. I <3 the metric system.
Wow..
When I was ten, I took over a paper route in my hometown. My mother taught me how to count change, and to expect folks to hand you money that would result in even change for them.
Years ago, MacDonald's tried to get a "Student Wage" law enacted. It was lower than the minimum wage. Their rationale was that they were teaching the students "business math". I wondered about that as the registers even then were computing the change. A week later I made a point to look at the register keys in one of their stores. There were no numbers, just pictures of the items for sale. The only "business math" involved was lower wages in MacDonald's pocket under the guise of educating their workers.
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