Do Americans need more math?

marcjas458

As a teacher, I see a lot of parents and students that seem to think it is acceptable to be poor at math. You would never hear anybody admit that they were bad at reading, but it is fine to say you aren't good at math. I think that practical math skills should be emphasized for all over higher level math skills which most won't need in the future. I am sure that people are ripped off daily because they can't do basic math.

TwigletStyx

meinaz wrote:

I think that practical math skills should be emphasized for all over higher level math skills which most won't need in the future. I am sure that people are ripped off daily because they can't do basic math.

So very much THIS. ^

tommy1724

Our curriculum- like many, I suspect, - stuffs a LOT into all the elementary grades, in the interests of very broad instruction. That, though, sacrifices depth of understanding. I do think it is important to go beyond the nuts and bolts, but we definitely include a lot of concepts most students will never use again outside the classroom...

mathumster385

Can I just say...

Taco_BeIIe

mathumster385 wrote:

Can I just say...

this math rocks

NOVA_POLARI

The thing is the math in elementary school and Middle School is very important but once you get into high school its just so useless. Plus thanks to common core we have to go so quickly that I am not really learning anything, just memorizing it and then forgetting it. I say spread out the important math so we can learn more of it and actually LEARN it. Then keep all the extra complicated needless stuff for advanced classes so people that actually need that stuff for there careers can learn it.

barrymcerlea

The day I have a need to use logarithms or differentiation in the work place will be the day I take back all the crap I said about my maths teacher, because I still don't know how to do my taxes or calculate interest rates.

Edit to add:- while I understand that (for example) logs can be used to calculate interest rates, I do not know how to apply them. I know scores of potentially helpful formulas, all of which are useless because I am taught to an outdated, irrelevant specification that does not move with the world as it evolves, and only requires that I know the theory behind the subject, but not the real life application of it.

lynnmckenz82

I think half the US population needs twice the knowledge of mathematics that it currently has.

I learned my math the fun way:

marcjas458

NOVA_POLARI wrote:

The thing is the math in elementary school and Middle School is very important but once you get into high school its just so useless. Plus thanks to common core we have to go so quickly that I am not really learning anything, just memorizing it and then forgetting it. I say spread out the important math so we can learn more of it and actually LEARN it. Then keep all the extra complicated needless stuff for advanced classes so people that actually need that stuff for there careers can learn it.

Agreed.

mathumster385

*blushes* I think Taco Belle rocks! But on the subject of Schoolhouse Rocks, my fav is "My Hero Zero"

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direwolf987

Well, 22nd out of 24 isn't last

As for the new way of teaching math, well I've seen it and it is stupid IMO. It adds three or four unnecessary extra steps to get the answer. Here's an example:

[Deleted User]

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empathy77

Math and I are good friends.

danco214

People are amazed when I am working at their house and when I am writing up the bill I never pull out a calculator, even for the sales tax (7% in NJ). Many times they will pull out a calculator to double check me.

Then there are the cashiers... I was in a store and my bill came to $8.02. I handed the kid a $10 and said I had the 2 cents. They entered $10 in the register then when I handed them the 2 cents, they had no idea how much change to give me since their register told them $1.98, that's what they gave me. I said it should be $2 change, that's why I gave the 2cents, so they handed me another dollar. now I had $2.98 change. And this is our future generation

HappyGamer73

The worst thing our schools have done is to allow the kids to use calculators on a regular basis. For the vast majority of the math they do, when my kids pull out calculators to do their homework I tell them to put it away and do it right! If you don't have some idea of what the answer is going to be before pulling out the calculator, it is far too easy to hit the wrong key without realizing it and come to a completely wrong answer.

direwolf987

HappyGamer73 wrote:

The worst thing our schools have done is to allow the kids to use calculators on a regular basis. For the vast majority of the math they do, when my kids pull out calculators to do their homework I tell them to put it away and do it right! If you don't have some idea of what the answer is going to be before pulling out the calculator, it is far too easy to hit the wrong key without realizing it and come to a completely wrong answer.

I remember my teachers telling me, "You won't always have a calculator" when I was in school. Boy were they wrong :P

SakuraNeko08

direwolf987 wrote:

HappyGamer73 wrote:

The worst thing our schools have done is to allow the kids to use calculators on a regular basis. For the vast majority of the math they do, when my kids pull out calculators to do their homework I tell them to put it away and do it right! If you don't have some idea of what the answer is going to be before pulling out the calculator, it is far too easy to hit the wrong key without realizing it and come to a completely wrong answer.

I remember my teachers telling me, "You won't always have a calculator" when I was in school. Boy were they wrong :P

Strange, when I was in high school our teachers told us to forget everything we had learned in previous and spent a lot of time going over how to use scientific calculators to do simple math like fractions and such.

Since I grew up on the East coast where they use the SATs for high schoolers intending to going to college, when I moved to Oklahoma, I had to take basic tests on math and such because I hadn't taken the ACTs, which the Midwest uses. I found out rather quickly I had completely forgotten how to do long division and fractions without using a calculator. Fortunately when they signed me up for tutoring lessons, the tutor found all I needed to see was one example and I remembered everything.

9d51ca2b37f2d94f

empathy77 wrote:

Math and I are good friends.

Me too. She's all right....

NOVA_POLARI

HappyGamer73 wrote:

The worst thing our schools have done is to allow the kids to use calculators on a regular basis. For the vast majority of the math they do, when my kids pull out calculators to do their homework I tell them to put it away and do it right! If you don't have some idea of what the answer is going to be before pulling out the calculator, it is far too easy to hit the wrong key without realizing it and come to a completely wrong answer.

Once you get into highschool some problems are literally impossible to do without calculators. By the way I am not exaggerating I mean it's LITERALLY impossible to get an answer without a graphing calculator. Well unless you want to spend a few hours per problem that is.

9d51ca2b37f2d94f

I can ask Siri to perform complex mathematical equations and she tends to give somewhat accurate responses.

mystery2mi

direwolf987 wrote:

Well, 22nd out of 24 isn't last

As for the new way of teaching math, well I've seen it and it is stupid IMO. It adds three or four unnecessary extra steps to get the answer. Here's an example:

Every time I see an example of this, I go "Huh???" :? :x