On Fri, 17 May 2013 14:59:47 -0400, rickman wrote:

On 5/17/2013 2:40 PM, Jim Thompson wrote:
I'm fighting the school system with, now, the 5th granddaughter, 6th
Grade.

Last week they were peddling how to cut corners out of a piece of
cardboard to form a box with the maximum volume, with no established
skill set.... "guess" your way to the solution :-(

In another context I and likely *you* would talk about this as getting a
"feel" for the math. I know that some of the best stuff I ever learned
was from "playing" with things, be they blocks or oscilloscopes. No
matter how much math I have learned, I don't consider I know a topic
until I get an intuitive feel for it.

That sort of problem, without the proper skill background, has no
"playing around" factor... it's just guessing... which I frown on
seriously.

When my granddaughter inquired, I suggested, that, with her skill
level, the only solution was to plot volume versus the size of the
cut-out and observe the maximum. She did so, and was rewarded with a
gift card as her prize... such is the level of education today.


This week they suddenly jumped to Algebra, simultaneous equations,
without even any single variable background.

There may be more to this than you are getting second hand from a 12
year old.

No second hand about it. This is the modern era. Though she's in
Palm Springs, Californica, she PDF'd her homework sheet. I have it
right here in front of me.


And she says her teacher is already using the word "Calculus". I
guess that's the leftist way anymore, speaking the words makes you
expert :-(

Why is this a political issue?

We have an educational system dominated by nutcases on the left...
with twisted views that the only way to do things is their way. And
"their way", no matter how wrong, is still to be considered the
correct way.

Teachers are highly educated in...
teaching.

Bwahahahahaha! Almost lost my lunch over that :-}

It is not a subject that is trivial for the lay person. Try
sometime reading some of the material teachers have to master.

I'm hardly a lay person...

(1) I got 800 in Math on the SAT's. What did you get?
(2) I attended M.I.T. on a FULL Alumni Fund National Scholarship back
when scholarships were awarded on the basis of competency, not on
need... my parents were wealthy by the standards of the '50's.
(3) I graduated in Course 6-B, the HONORS Electrical Engineering
Program.
(4) And, though not worth all that much, an MSEE from ASU (*)

Teachers may be competent, but they're bound to parrot the line
established by the school boards and the administrators. Thus we have
children expelled for wearing NRA T-shirts, pointing with their
fingers, etc.


No wonder US students rank so low, worldwide, in math (and science).

Or maybe its because we just don't value engineers, etc. as highly as
other occupations, so students aren't interested as much in those subjects?

Our society has created a life-style based on texting, tweeting, and
sucking off the tit of the government.

The sooner the revolution the better.

(*) My first week at ASU, I was thrown out of a Physics class for
asking the Prof, "When do you plan to start teaching this course on a
college level".

After some "conversation" with the Dean, I got full credit for that
course and several others offered at ASU. Finally found some
non-linear control system courses that were useful ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson | mens |
| Analog Innovations | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.