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PSA don't become a math teacher

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Modular said:
Very interesting, but I have a hard time trusting anyone wearing a sideways baseball hat. 🙂

That test seems to say that higher thinking is actually antithetical to raw learning, which is exactly the opposite of what most people believe and are taught.

I find it very interesting and wonder if it's not a more "recent" phenomenon that our higher faculties are being overly utilized. From a purely anthropological standpoint, we (as a species) have never lived with the comforts that we do now, and as such, historically have never had the same opportunity to exercise our higher faculties. We don't need our lower brain in order to survive as much as we did historically.
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You know, people have always complained about the current educational system seldomly stimulating the higher faculties and instead relying on tedious, mindless rote learning. This experiment only furthers that argument. 😉
If only I had this device to make me dumber, I'd do so much better in schools.
 
I think one of the biggest problems is we allow kids to give up on math....Oh not everyone is good at math don't worry about it....Therefore instead of forcing them through it like we do almost everything else, you let them take easier/or less math classes....
 
I wish I hadn't dropped out of high school. I did learn some stuff in the pre-algebra class, but them suspensions put me behind and confused real quick.

I was horrid at math through college. But then it got easier when I stopped trying to actually learn it, rather than just do what needs to be done to get by. I did pick up and learn alot of stuff at that point, and it got easier after some time, but then when it goes from what easily understood formula and flips it with something new added to the equation, would throw me off and leave me confused & frustrated again.
I had to go in an hour or 2 before every class just to get assignments done. Some things came easier than others. But I still messed up solving equations when they changed little things I hadn't learned to solve yet. I really wanted to stay after classes for more tutoring, and at least finish HW before the next week. But since class was on a Friday, all the teachers were more concerned about GTFO more than anything else.
The math stuff does get interesting when I can pick up on it and get into the rhythm. When I do get stuff downpat, I do spend some time just solving problems for fun.
I did all my assignments, not all answers were correct. I had an A all the way through the course. I did mediocre on most open-notes quizzes, bombing 1 or 2 when I forgot how to interpret my notes for solving problems. Then was hit hard with the closed-notes final and bombed it bringing my A down to a B, & she wouldn't let me do any extra credit. I even stayed behind class for an hour bugging her for extra credit to bring my grade back up to an A. 🙁
A hot black teacher did help keep me motivated on getting through the class though.
drooling.gif
 
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I was always pretty mediocre at school, an under achiever. Unless I was interested in the subject, then I would do well. My grades would fluctuate dramatically depending on the teacher and subject. That is definitely part of the problem, I think. Material taught in a boring manner in an environment that doesn't necessary help people learn, coupled with bad parenting.

I'm 26 and I'll be returning to school in January. I know it'll be tough, but I am much more motivated and interested than ever before -- that, and I'm paying for it. 😛 hopefully I will do well.

I can't imagine being a teacher though. It must be a hell of a job.
 
Or it could be that most people, myself included, forgot every word of what you taught them the moment the left class because 90% is pretty useless for our day to day lives.
/Asbestos suit on.

Flame Away.
 
CrackRabbit said:
Or it could be that most people, myself included, forgot every word of what you taught them the moment the left class because 90% is pretty useless for our day to day lives.
/Asbestos suit on.

Flame Away.
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I'd say in my engineering classes I've used about 100% of the math learned from 6-9th grades, the rest, like calculus 2-4 have not been used at all.
 
josh0099 said:
I think one of the biggest problems is we allow kids to give up on math....Oh not everyone is good at math don't worry about it....Therefore instead of forcing them through it like we do almost everything else, you let them take easier/or less math classes....
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The sad thing is that our society accepts that. "I was never good at math <chuckle, chuckle>" and everyone is fine with it. But, if you admit that you can't read, then there's more of a stigma against it.
 
DrPizza said:
The sad thing is that our society accepts that. "I was never good at math <chuckle, chuckle>" and everyone is fine with it. But, if you admit that you can't read, then there's more of a stigma against it.
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You can survive everyday life with only basic arithmetic, but you can't survive everyday life unless you can read and write.
 
Leros said:
You can survive everyday life with only basic arithmetic, but you can't survive everyday life unless you can read and write.
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You can get by just fine if you can't write. You need to know how to type.
 
I know it is too long for the majority of this forum... but I recommend everyone reads at least the intro to this article:

http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

While you won't agree with everything (neither do I) it does a good job of outlining why so many kids are bad at math, or simply just outright hate it.
 
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DrPizza said:
The sad thing is that our society accepts that. "I was never good at math <chuckle, chuckle>" and everyone is fine with it. But, if you admit that you can't read, then there's more of a stigma against it.
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That is because what math is is not what we think it is as a society..

"I was never very good at caring about symbols and rigor" is what they mean... If we started with things like fractals instead of addition and multiplication flash cards kids might actually give two fucks.

I can't spell for the life of me. If reading and writing were taught only by grading my ability to memorize spelling of words i might be deemed illiterate or claim that "I was never good at reading or writing" (or at least had been diagnosed dyslexic earlier in life, lol)...
 
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IHateMyJob2004 said:
I'm mostly upset with the state of parenting these days. This country is going to turn into dog patch in time.
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Parents are terrible, but they have always been terrible.. we just have the ability for our kids to get in slightly more ridiculous shit than before.

Kids are bad at "subject X" not because they are stupid and what have you. It id because they don't bloody care. They don't care because we have done a good job of removing all the fun out of almost everything. Some kid still succeed despite our best efforts because they are brilliant and able to enjoy the beauty we leave scattered despite our best efforts to the contrary. We simply haven't devised a system convoluted enough to bore them to tears yet. Give it time and we will be batting 1.000 when it comes to kids hating everything about school.
 
This is why the US educational system needs to diverge at high school to offer trade school like programs.

Some people simply do not care or will never need algebra in their daily life.
 
Patranus said:
This is why the US educational system needs to diverge at high school to offer trade school like programs.

Some people simply do not care or will never need algebra in their daily life.
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Quite frankly I barely need algebra in a career in physics. Not the way it was more often taught in school anyway. Certainly I need the tools I learned over my education from time to time, but there is no reason we need to teach the tools so much harder than we teach about what they apply to.

Though, I really wish kids had the ability to do what they want to.. might stay in school longer and be more useful members of society. Whether that is as trades people, doctors, engineers, or what have you.
 
ussfletcher said:
I'd say in my engineering classes I've used about 100% of the math learned from 6-9th grades, the rest, like calculus 2-4 have not been used at all.
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Really? What year are you?

I don't disagree that the majority is algebra/geometry/whatever and not calc, but if you get a BS in engineering without any of your classes calc I would be seriously surprised. And disappointed.
 
rcpratt said:
Really? What year are you?

I don't disagree that the majority is algebra/geometry/whatever and not calc, but if you get a BS in engineering without any of your classes calc I would be seriously surprised. And disappointed.
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I can see a CmpE (almost) pulling that off.
 
TecHNooB said:
I can see a CmpE (almost) pulling that off.
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That or using matlab/maple is not considered calculus by some 😉.

This is too hard, can't the computer do it?

Why it sure can, in fact every single calculation you learn is school is done by a machine in 99% of real applications!
 
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