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On point, and to add a more Canadian flavour, I recently asked a couple of seemingly intelligent, grade 5 (!), male chess students if they knew what 8 squared was equal to (a rather simple math question for a chess player I had thought). I immediately had to rephrase the question to what 8 times 8 equals since they had never encountered the word 'squared'. One boy just shrugged his shoulders before the other piped up '62' to which I could only reply, "Well, at least you're close" ):
I hate to age myself, but when I went to school the average grade 2 student could have answered this question. And we suffered from having, for the most part, 'stupid' teachers. This was the age when the kids who weren't bright enough to go to university did their 2 years teacher's college stint and became the guardians of our young. If that wasn't classic Laurence J. Peter (i.e. The Peter Principle), I don't know what is. Fortunately, that egregious oversight was soon remedied but somehow are kids are none the brighter, at least from a fundamental math perspective ):
Sadly this is a common problem and points out a serious problem in the modern education system, particularly in Ontario.
At some point the education system decided to drop repetitive math exercises, with the argument that it created boredom and stifled creativity ("drill and kill") was the catch phrase). Math lessons instead focused on critical thinking and problem solving.
Unfortunately this ignored that fact that some skills are best learned by repetition. It's like playing the piano. You practise the scales over and over, to get the finger movements programmed into muscle memory. Likewise with math. I've see grade 9-10 kids that still do not fully know their times tables. My own son is one such case. Kids are solving polynomial functions without knowing the basic multiplication skills, relying on calculators to work it through.
I recall a McLeans article on the issue, where all provinces were showing students with poor math skills. The exception was Quebec, where repetitive math exercises are still part of the cirriculum.
It appears that Ontario schools have finally started to realize their error. There have been several action taken on the matter. However there is a lost generation of kids when it comes to math education.
Last year I helped a friend's son prepare for the math section of the SAT. Even some of the "hard" questions are trivially easy. An example of actual questions from the Kaplan SAT math workbook in the hard section:
"During a season in a certain basketball league, every team plays every other team in the league ten times. If there are ten teams in the league, how many games are played in the league in one season?"
and
"If three coins are tossed simultaneously, what is the probability of getting exactly two tails?"
I'm pretty sure that when I was in eighth grade my classmates and I would be able to solve these with little effort.
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
I can't comment about the education system in Ontario, but in Quebec I would expect any grade 5 student to answer that pretty quickly. I remember we had weekly tests in grade 3 and 4 in which we needed to perform about 50 such calculations in something like 2 or 3 minutes (and that wasn't a long time ago :)).
I can also confirm what Tom said. Standardized tests have ridiculously easy math questions. I recently saw an advert about GRE tests (for admissions to graduate degrees) and thought it would be funny to give it a try. I showed up and was really surprised to see how easy the math questions were. The hardest were probably of grade 8 or 9 level (and this test is used for admissions to masters degree in many quantitative fields).
Last year I helped a friend's son prepare for the math section of the SAT. Even some of the "hard" questions are trivially easy. An example of actual questions from the Kaplan SAT math workbook in the hard section:
"During a season in a certain basketball league, every team plays every other team in the league ten times. If there are ten teams in the league, how many games are played in the league in one season?"
and
"If three coins are tossed simultaneously, what is the probability of getting exactly two tails?"
I'm pretty sure that when I was in eighth grade my classmates and I would be able to solve these with little effort.
Question not hard but given the limited time alloted per question and the fatigue and stress of multihour test, its also not hard to forget a team doesnt play itself and a vs b and b vs a is one game not two.
How many games are played in a round-robin tournament with "n" players?
How many squares are there on a chessboard?
The second question might not have the obvious answer... for example, there is a square comprised of a1,a2,b2,b1 etc.
but I see your point. I have met many chess players who do not understand the relationship between powers of 2 and
recommended number of rounds in a Swiss tournament, but even that question has some subtleties as well.
Considering the number of cashiers that I encounter who clearly failed Grade 5 math class, it is a wonder anything can
be done at all in this world.
How many games are played in a round-robin tournament with "n" players?
How many squares are there on a chessboard?
A. n(n-1)/2
B. 8²+7²+6²......1²
agreed that children these days suck at math. my generation also sucks at math, but i'm sure it's getting worse. in high school i peer tutored and i'd routinely come across people who were ostensibly proficient enough to be in the principles (as opposed to the applications) of math class but who could not grasp the idea that a*b=b*a or that n*1=n. i never understood how these people aren't just ripped off on a daily basis. maybe they are
i blame the use of calculators. i don't understand why students are allowed to do arithmetic on calculators. arithmetic doesn't require a calculator. the whole "computers can do that; we don't need to turn children into computers" argument is unbridled nonsense. computers rule. computers are way better than us at calculating. people should absolutely strive to be more like computers when it comes to arithmetic
the goal was to avoid producing children who are like computers? mission accomplished. the school system produced a generation of children who suck at math. can't get more unlike a computer than that
Last edited by Ben Daswani; Wednesday, 24th September, 2014, 11:07 AM.
everytime it hurts, it hurts just like the first (and then you cry till there's no more tears)
i never understood how these people aren't just ripped off on a daily basis. maybe they are
I have a friend who skipped three grades. He was tutoring a guy who was in the same grade in math. The guy really didn't want to learn and repeatedly told my friend he didn't need math because he was going to play in the NHL and have people do math for him. Fed up, finally my friend just laughed and said something to the effect that it was fine if he didn't know math because surely the people that did know it would rob him blind. After that, the lessons went a lot better.
I have a part-time job where I come into contact with literally dozens of people who are horrible at math. It isn't just young people. It spans the generations.
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
Cause they don't know how to write with hands. Typing is a king these days.
the proliferation of calculator usage preceded widespread computer usage. i recall being allowed to use calculators on tests (if something other than arithmetic was being tested) as early as the fourth grade (1996), a time before most of my peers used word processors outside of "computer class" (an absurd waste of time wherein a 60-year-old tried to teach ten-year-olds how to use new technology). my brother's four years older than i am and i know he had a similar experience re: calculators
i'm sure it's just of a case of illogical people who work for the state making an illogical decision that negatively impacts the populous. basically the most normal thing ever. and c'mon, we all know why kids don't have to do arithmetic: because some kids suck at it and boo hoo
similar situation: kids these days (and in my day) can check dictionaries for spelling if something other than spelling is being tested. "computers correct spelling anyway! why place so much importance on spelling! wahhh!" but learning how to spell helps people learn patterns in word formation which helps them understand etymology and language in general. basically it helps them understand verbal communication in the most fundamental way. but no, it's better to give everyone "an even playing field" than to force people to think and give better thinkers an edge. wow, this sure turned into a rant
everytime it hurts, it hurts just like the first (and then you cry till there's no more tears)
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