Johnny Can't Add

www.fredoneverything.net ^ | June 28th, 2003 | Fred Reed

[Ciexyz]

I fail to believe that our students are so academically deficient that they can't compete with foreigners. There has to be something wrong with this scenario.

Students choose majors based on the possiblity of gaining an internship and future employment. That's why there's no rush of students into theoretical mathematics. Someone has to mentor you for a career in that field. Think of John Nash and "A Beautiful Mind".

[Dr Warmoose]

The legal profession provides the fast track to the front ranks of the looting brigades of American socialism.

No kidding. The pro-athlete gets ripped off at every turn, the businessman is demonized and gets hauled off before the courts, the doctor goes to school and interns for eternity just so she can be sued because her female patient's baby didn't turn out exactly as wanted. The rest of the folks lose their jobs to outsourcing or the pockets are too shallow for the jackals to pick in the courts, so they do it through the legislature and taxes.

[headsonpikes]

Lawyers have become the Perpetual Ruling Class in America, on paper at least.

However, the People, in their Jeffersonian wisdom, may have something to say about the 'perpetuity' aspect.

[rockprof]

I wrote:

"Virtually none of my students (high school graduates all) have any competency in even simple grade-school mathematics.

Graybeard58 wrote in reply:

"None has" professor not "none have" Perhaps a little remedial English?
The word "none" is a contraction of the words "no one". Read it that way and it makes sense."

Read the following excerpt from Montgomery & Stratton, 1981, The Writer's Hotline Handbook: A Guide to Good Usage and Effective Writing, Mentor, Pg 52.

"The third class of indefinites includes only none. Because the word originated from the words not one, a few grammarians still insist that it should take only a singular verb. Most grammarians, however, rely on modern idiomatic usage and other criteria for determining whether a word is singular or plural, and these grammarians explain that none is more often plural than singular."

"None should be handled in the same way as any of the indefinites in the second class above, which can be either singular or plural..."

I never understand pedants who scour bulletin boards to look for grammatical mistakes in other people's posts. They also feel the need to throw in an insult as well ("Perhaps a little remedial English"). Since your criticism was incorrect, perhaps you're the one who needs the remedial English course?

[rockprof]

My wife and I are planning to homeschool( are) children (currently toddlers)."

Better have some coffee before you approach a keyboard next time.

Excuse me for having a typographical error in a bulletin board post (yes, I know the difference between our and are). You guys are worse than a bunch of old school marms!

[jawz]

I am working on my Master's in Special Education. One of my fellow students insists students don't need to learn long division anymore b/c they can learn to use calculators.

sigh...

[B-Chan]

You guys are worse than a bunch of old school marms!

The correct spelling is “schoolmarm”.

[RightField]

#46
I homeschooled my children through 8th grade. They were NOT allowed to use calculators until we did algebra in 8th grade. When each of them went to school, their math teachers, without exception, commented on how well they could calculate in their heads, and how good their "number sense" was.

I always figured that a calculator was just a tool, like a word processing program is a tool. Just like a word processor is useless if you don't have any words to write, a calculator is useless if you don't know the numbers to compute. You'd be surprised at how many of the kids I now tutor don't know if determining the cost of one egg from the total price of a dozen is a multiplication or division problem.

[Richard Kimball]

Would that be "our" children?

Well, what have you and Rockprof been up to, anyway?

[Richard Kimball]

You can currently get a high school diploma from Texas Tech or the University of Texas. Excellent opportunities are out there.

[leprechaun9]

As a resident of the community where Bell Labs was (is?) headquartered, and following the results of the statewide assessment test that are given to all PUBLIC SCHOOL fourth, eighth and eleventh graders from their beginning, this article is only another bit of the harvest of UNITED STATES PUBLIC EDUCATION that has taken root and been fertilized with the social engineers in the state Department of Education!

Here is one example:
All fourth graders are tested (oops, I mean assessed) in Language Arts, Mathematics and Science. The results are grouped into three levels: I, II, and III with I being the best. I wanted to find out how many students are in Level I for the three skills. In 1991, there were 1308 PUBLIC SCHOOLS with a fourth grade.

Across the entire state, including all the "rich suburbs", there was only ONE school that had more than 10% of their students in Level I for the three skills. Our community has three schools and their results were 7%, 4%, and 2%!

Statewide there are more than 1100 SCHOOLS with ZERO% of their students in Level I for the three skills and this includes some of the wealthiest communities in the state!

Another example:
The grade eleven evaluation is called the High School Proficiency Assessment (we can't call it a test because that might leave a stigma on a student who didn't perform very well!) This evaluation is given in the second month of grade eleven. This is the test which all PUBLIC SCHOOL students must pass in order to graduate from high school.

This means, that at best, the test is a GRADE 10 measure.So the State of New Jersey is certifying that all high school graduates are at least at a GRADE 10 level.

Is this the level of academic excellence that our country needs for the future? What do you think?

[eniapmot]

The smart kids are becoming lawyers...they'll all get rich running the legislatures and courts, and suing the rest of us into the ground.

I think you got that right.

[eniapmot]

The good students today are fabulous technicians.

It's very simple: they cannot solve difficult problems. They cannot do any task that requires them to put together 2 or more concepts. And the reason they cannot do this is very simple: Everyone gets good grades. And they feel good about themselves. The teachers tell them exactly what will be on the exams, they memorize that, and regurgitate it.

BTW: Euclidean geometry is no longer taught in many high schools. It just isn't "useful." Which I find ironic, considering a few very famous lawyers, such as A. Lincoln and J. Garfield knew Euclid by heart.

[grania]

BTW: Euclidean geometry is no longer taught in many high schools. It just isn't "useful

They have them using the mathematical concepts of Euclidean Geometry as early as the 5th grade, without questioning the "why" of things.

No alphas, plenty of betas...

What I really don't like is these BRAVE NEW WORLD kids aren't asked to question or justify anything.

[eniapmot]

No offense, but there are a lot of reasons why a dedicated research professor will always take an Asian student over an American. The main one being that the Asian will have ZERO social life; the professor knows that the Asian will be in the lab (or working out the details of the profs latest conjecture) 12-15 hours a day...7 days a week.

American education is so devalued that many professors won't take a chance on a native-born.

[eniapmot]

"..at best, the test is a GRADE 10 measure..."

It is worse in Ohio: a high school diploma depends only on passing the 9th grade test (and it is really 8th grade level: the better students take the test in 8th grade).

The last bastion of standards, the NY Regents, are starting to come under attack as "too difficult"

[eniapmot]

...They have them using the mathematical concepts of Euclidean Geometry as early as the 5th grade, ...

I think I know what you mean..tesselations and crystals and all the "fun stuff" without the logic and proofs.

[m18436572]

bttt

[headsonpikes]

"No alphas, plenty of betas..."

No critical or analytical habits of mind are taught - only conventional, politically-correct regurgitation is allowed.

The public schools are at war with America and its children.

[Chemist_Geek]

No offense, but there are a lot of reasons why a dedicated research professor will always take an Asian student over an American. The main one being that the Asian will have ZERO social life; the professor knows that the Asian will be in the lab (or working out the details of the profs latest conjecture) 12-15 hours a day...7 days a week.

That's right. When I was in grad school (a few years ago) the Chinese students were there at all hours of the day and night. Very hard workers, but I did wonder just how much independence they had - study groups were very big for them.