Hahaha... Oh how math has changed (in Off-topic)

How Teaching Math Has Changed

from some website:

Last week I purchased a burger at Burger King for $1.58. The counter girl took my $2 and I was digging for my change when I pulled 8 cents from my pocket and gave it to her. She stood there, holding the nickel and 3 pennies, while looking at the screen on her register. I sensed her discomfort and tried to tell her to just give me two quarters, but she hailed the manager for help. While he tried to explain the transaction to her, she stood there and cried.

Why do I tell you this? Because of the evolution in teaching math since the 1950s:

1. Teaching Math In 1950
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Math In 1960
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1970
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math In 1980
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 1990
A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question: How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers.)

6. Teaching Math In 2006
Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80.

cute... racist and inflamatory... perfect for the forums here

So [something non-PG] true... they've slashed the math curriculum down so much that most people are now allergic to math by their teacher's example.

And once this batch of american professionals die, math is gone (along with biology per inteligunt desin), and lol the economy is already collapsing (where did you think all that subprime mess came from? people forgetting how to add :P)

O,o? Racist? How is it racist?

I like it. go back to how maths used to be!

Nothing but brilliance. Thats so true. It's like the whole of England summed up in a few sentences... I'm even laughing because it's slating my B grade in maths. Haha

It's racist because the tone of the "joke" is how the teaching of math has declined.

So, it follows logically that the last item in the list would be the most declined. Yes?

Therefore, the "most declined" part of the joke involves the fact that textbooks are bilingual. If one thinks that is a decline, then yes, I would agree with novice on the use of the word "racist" for that. It is, at the very least, blazingly ethnocentric.

It would appear that reading comprehension may be in trouble as well the maths.

It's not racist at all. It's just a bluntly true, or factual, statement. If anything, the whole thing is based upon facts. The person who reads it decides if its a "joke" or not. Yes I'm from Britain.

Um .... so .... at least two of you think this is a comment on "math" ? See: Sutekh.

Neh... I've not been one for racism, nor do I believe in it, which in some points makes me fairly ignorant to what is and isn't "racist"... So I guess I see where you're coming from.

Yeah. Sut has a point.

I wish I could have lived when all the homosapiens killed all the other evolving human-like races, as well as our own subspecies, so we could rule the Earth alone.
But yeah, I am really offended by the blatant racism in this post.

Bast, it's only racist against the lazy white Americans. You can see from the last line that math "advanced" 50 years with the introduction of the new students and improved/alternative curriculum in 2006.

Here's where the U.S. (Well, OK) is in 2008 ... Bill 2211 making it illegal to give a bad grade to any student who answers any test/exam question within their religious beliefs.
So, if you get a hard question in your exam, just say "God did it", that's gotta be worth an A.

correct me if im wrong but, isn't education a state sort of thing?
And now correct me even more, state and religion are still separated in the USA?

Just correct me, cuz im just a dumb European who knows jack about how your laws are made.

wow.... Yukk

You live in one seriously messed up country.....

I mean seriously messed up.

With regards to the joke, well sure the last one seemed liked a moronic after-thought but the rest of it had me laughing.

People need to learn that not everyone should get good grades in school and that not getting good grades in school in no way discounts your value as a person.

Meh..... I'm gonna have to start educating my kids myself (though I'm still hoping for that negative paternity test!)

Jeepers. Could this be two closed threads in a matter of minutes..?

I trust the community to let this one fall off the front page without assistance from the admins however...

Flattery is a disgusting fallacy.

Here's where the U.S. (Well, OK) is in 2008 ... Bill 2211 making it illegal to give a bad grade to any student who answers any test/exam question within their religious beliefs.
So, if you get a hard question in your exam, just say "God did it", that's gotta be worth an A.

-Actually, Yukk, that interpretation isn't completely warranted by the language of the bill. Here's the second section from the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act (as taken from the Oklahoman Legislature's website, found here):

A school district shall treat the voluntary expression by a student of a religious viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible subject in the same manner the district treats the voluntary expression by a student of a secular or other viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject and may not discriminate against the student based on a religious viewpoint expressed by the student on an otherwise permissible subject.

Note that the bill proposes to protect the expression of religious viewpoints only in a "permissible subject." For a religious viewpoint to have a place in science classrooms, for example, the state and/or school boards must decide that religious beliefs have a place in the science curriculum. Given the failure of Intelligent Design proponents to mandate religious material in science classrooms with Kitzmiller v. Dover, I'd lay long odds on the possibility of such a decision passing legal scrutiny. I expect this bill would only be able to affect assignments where creativity is allowed, such as writing exercises.

A further reading of the bill leads to a model code for school districts to adopt; Article IV of the model code is as follows:

Students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of the submission by the student. Homework and classroom work shall be judged by ordinary academic standards of substance and relevance and against other legitimate pedagogical concerns identified by the school. Students shall not be penalized or rewarded on account of religious content. If the assignment given by a teacher involves writing a poem, the work of a student who submits a poem in the form of a prayer (for example, a psalm) should be judged on the basis of academic standards, including literary quality, and not penalized or rewarded on account of its religious content.

This section reinforces the requirement for religious expression to be used in a permissible subject area, and uses a poetry assignment as an example where such expression would be allowed. Again, a school district would need to identify curriculum areas where religious viewpoints would be allowable, and scientific subjects would need to survive an almost inevitable legal battle.

Problem is:

Sometimes the truth is funnier then fiction.

You mean the truth that the "joke" used bilingualism as a punchline?

Yeah, that's hilarious.

Sut,

Live a couple years in S. Florida.

The fact that people who come to American to live/work etc.. do not even bother to learn the language is sad.

Yes, there is humor in it. It is quite funny to dial up AT&T and hear Spanish the moment I get on the phone and have to dial "1" to get English.

If I did not find the humor in it, I would be very upset. I can certainly see the movement for English as the national language. Are all those who support that racist?

Speak a lot of Mohawk, Seneca, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Tuscarora, do you? Or you're the last living speaker of Calusa, very popular with the immigrants to Florida?

Ranger,

To emulate your self-righteous nature from a different thread involving TVs (of all things):

I know of this. You don't. Have you ever taught ESL? Known anyone who has? Spent time with a lot of non-English speaking immigrants? Listened to them? Tried to reach common ground with the folks trying to learn our language? Heard their dreams and about their families? I'd love to hear about your experiences so we can share thoughts.

Better yet, ever been to Canada? I hear (not really, I know for a fact) that signs in certain areas are in TWO LANGUAGES! What a bunch of horrible, loser people must live in those regions, not to consolidate and learn a common tongue. You hear that you hockey players to the north! Losers, I tell you! Eh!

Ranger, you are a loose-mouthed, close-minded person, and I am absolutely sick of it. You make "worth" arguments regularly, when you have NO IDEA what the other person/concept/idea is worth. "Live a couple of years in S. Florida." That's an answer? I don't have to live where you live to speak on something! Where you live is in no way special or unique or magical or more correct than where I live. The "joke" is offensive, stupid, unfunny, and off the mark. That's just for starters. Live a couple of years in St. Louis! HAH! How about that! Wow, burn.

Why is everything you say correct, but anything anyone else says is not? Because you live in S. Florida? Because you are a doctor? Because you CHOSE _both_? If S. Florida is so terrible, and you have to dial a 1 to feel comfortable, move! If being a doctor was so hard to attain, be something else! But don't wear it like some fracking badge like you are better than the rest of us, because you _aren't_. That I know for very certain. We are all the same, even says so in the Constitution (a decent enough document until something better comes along). At the very least, there has to be an underprivileged, abused, handicap doctor out there who worked his way up, and I hope someday he comes on CB and reaches the top spot and starts posting how much better he is than everyone else.

Because you'll have to comply. It's the tone you yourself have set here. That doctor will be worth more than you because he had to work harder, do more, and make more sacrifices to get where he is. If not, then you aren't allowed to make the worth arguments either. Fair enough?

Might be worth sticking around here, actually. I love having something to look forward to.

I work the registers at the pizza place down the street. I've had more than one time when someone was simply astounded that I could calculate how much change to give them when they gave me assorted coins when I already had the drawer open. I've also had many people assume that I couldn't, and they promptly returned their coins to their pockets when they realized I'd already hit the button.

"Have you ever taught ESL? Known anyone who has? Spent time with a lot of non-English speaking immigrants? Listened to them? Tried to reach common ground with the folks trying to learn our language? Heard their dreams and about their families? I'd love to hear about your experiences so we can share thoughts."

Yes, my wife teaches at the local CC-ESL. There are plenty of non English speaking people at work that I try to converse with. I am learning Spanish but it is an ongoing process. Even took classes at the local CC myself. We even had had a person from Honduras live with us for over a year with her 1 year old daughter after her husband threw her out. She was a relative of someone my wife knew. And guess what, she did not speak a word of English. At least my wife is fluent in Spanish. But I am very familiar with immigrants and what they deal with.

When the wife and I go to Mexico on dive trips, I try to only speak Spanish.

So please save me the self righteous crap. Since you found the joke above to be racist, everyone has to? I can see how you, living in the midwest, likely have never has to deal with people who look at you with a shrug when you try to converse with them at the supermarket, or the library, or the movie theater trying to buy tickets.

I know in some part of Canada they speak 2 languages. In Europe most people speak at least 3. However, unfortunate or not, this is America where most people only speak English.

And I have made a lot of sacrifices to get where I am. More then you will believe. But I will leave you to stew in your own anger at me or the world. In 5 years, when my contract is up, you bet I will most likely move. But for now, it is where the job I have needs me.

However, if you cannot see the humor of the joke Nic posted, then I feel sorry for you. Sorry you are so PC you cannot enjoy life a bit.

Feel free to post yet another attack on me. You do it very well.

I think it's funny. Lighten up folks. Not everything is a PC battle.

I didn't think it was demeaning, it was just showing how our society has evolved in what we require of our younger generation. And yes, I believe that if you live in America, you should speak English. If I moved to France, I would learn French. :)

"Speak the language of the ruling class or die"

Read that a couple times you pompous ignorant dinks

History has so many instances of this sort of vile behavior I find it amazing we are so short sighted and forgetful.

Calming down is the wrong thing to do, when someone says something that is intended to convey a underlying message of what really can only be considered hate (that's right, I said it) it's necessary to call it what it is.

Ranger, you chose to chime in on a thread that Beee had asked we let die, you deserve whatever you get for your ego fueled post. You couldn't possibly consider that your opinion might be wrong, not even long enough to respect the wishes of an admin.

I'm sorry for continuing this flamebait of a thread

Thread closed.

Move on, folks.