More Smutty Than You: TSR's Hall of Shame

[Paden]

The shit about teachers getting flack for not promoting "little Johnny" because he deserves to advance isn't new. My dad got fired back in the sixties because he wouldn't pass a jock that didn't learn the material. The guy did nothing but spin stories about his sports conquests and crap like that during class time, while the others were working on their shop projects. When asked where the power button was for a band saw, the guy said he didn't give a damn because he'd pass the class based on his athletic prowess. Dad looked at him and said, "Wanna bet, smart guy?"

Push came to shove when his parents took it to the school board and they tried to force Dad to change his mark to a B+. Both my father and the school principal told them no, the guy hadn't even bothered to learn the difference between a Philips screwdriver and a flat blade, so he didn't even rate a D-. They each lost their jobs because they wouldn't back down, just because someone's parents didn't want their special little guy to miss graduation.

What's my point? Teachers have been pressured to pass little twits for decades even though the kid didn't know the material. At times it was the student's fault, at times it was the teacher's fault. More and more today, though, it is the system's fault. The old standards of knowing the lessons have been left behind and in doing so, we've let a generation of kids down when it comes to really learning things they need to know. Sadly, I don't think the problem is going to have a happy outcome if we keep lowering educational expectations.

[rum nate]

That is just stupid, but I would believe it.

Proof that the system is fucked up is right here. My parents were trying to get my little brother to learn multiplication. He didn't want to, it was too hard for him. When my mom asked his teacher about it (5th grade teacher I think it was) she said its not his fault. All the time they get is a month in 2nd grade, and then a week in each of the following years until 6th. In that one month, you are supposed to master multiplication. If you don't, too bad, its not the schools fault. Around here its getting that less and less parents want to try and sue the school if their child fails and they wont raise the grade to what they "deserve," but rather taking it to the state and saying that the system does not work. Its not getting far, but people are still trying nonetheless.

[SoggyFox]

I've heard about teachers being forced to pass jocks by the school system, just so they can stay on the team and help the team win games - who cares about the kid.  Me, I went to a school where we didn't win alot, but the jocks were in college prep, and while maybe they weren't into Shakespeare, you did catch them reading books, just on athletes and the like.  Might not have been good for our prep clubs, but great for the kids. [Of course, most of them were druggies and dealers too, but they did make it to college, and not as part of the football program *laughs* I didn't know it til some of my college friends and I were looking for stuff and found an old classmate ]

But, thing is, I think all the good teachers end up giving up, or having to find a job that will actually support their families.  One year I went through 5 English teachers.  I know I won't go into teaching -because- I want to teach, not to stuff crap into kids' skulls.  Its like I won't go into Vet work because I don't want to have to kill an animal simply because the owners want me to, which when I was younger was a state law.  Its just stupid.

[CatOfWar]

My parents were trying to get my little brother to learn multiplication. He didn't want to, it was too hard for him. When my mom asked his teacher about it (5th grade teacher I think it was) she said its not his fault. All the time they get is a month in 2nd grade, and then a week in each of the following years until 6th.

Wait, what?  There are children in the 5th grade who can't multiply???  How the hell did they get that far without flunking every math class after 2nd grade?  Why was this permitted?  If they can't multiply, how can they hope to divide?

Does anyone remember how long they were taught multiplication?
There's only three, maybe four concepts to be taught here, right?

1) single digit multiplication tables (just memorization)
2) the theory behind multiplication, N * M means you take N copies of M and add them together (or vice versa, its commutative)
3) multiple digit multiplication
..a) mutiply stuff by one digit at a time, add zeros as needed, total the subresults
..b) and carry stuff

Ok, I should throw the base 10 number system in there too, they need to know powers of 10 to understand multiple digit numbers.

Maybe you can't do all that in a month, but I'm sure you could do parts 1 and 2 at least.
I learned parts 1 and 2 in 2nd grade, then part 3 in 3rd grade, and that's while I was also in ESL.
I don't understand how schools could be failing to teach something so relatively basic.
Are they teaching multiplication in some stupid new way now?

[SoggyFox]

There is a song about new math, by someone who taught math, even - Leher?  I suck at spelling, 'specially while head is semi-explody.  But new math is almost more like the psychology of numbers, not about how to make them -do- anything useful.

[Skoria_Bay]

My opinion on Schoolhouse Rock is the same as Rob Zombie's.  "It taught you things... without you knowing it, on Saturday morning.  And that was wrong."

Seriously?  I loved it.  And Schoolhouse Rock is the reason why no one of my generation can recite the preamble to the constitution.  But we can all sing it!

Yay for singing the Preamble! But yes, that's how I learned it. Schoolhouse Rock taught us so much. I have them most all on VHS and I love still playing them. In the News was good too as it talked about current events.

[rum nate]

The larger problem here with multiplication is that we have high school seniors who can't multiply to save their lives. The reason, It is being taught now that you don't have to memorize anything.

[paperbeth]

I once did a short stint as a reading tutor for Americorps. (I was placed in the same district that Mary Kay LeTourneau had worked in, before her scandal.)
A very poor district with a lot of ESL students, I thought I could actually do some good. I remember my friends trying to tell me that there was no hope for those kids and I was wasting my time. It would make me so mad, and I just wanted to prove them wrong.
I had 12 students a day, one at a time, that I would tutor at the school in between their regular classes. Most of them were ESL. These kids in particular were very good at decoding what they read, but terrible at actually understanding what they were reading. They could read aloud with great articulation, but when you asked them what just happened in the story, all you get is a blank look. I had a hard time with that, but the worst part of the job was the mountain of paperwork required for everything. Americorps needs to be able to show that they are doing some good, so they make their volunteers fill out evaluations for everything. I ended up resigning my spot because I simply could not keep up with the paperwork. It was a ridiculous amount of forms and charts and evaluations, all supposedly designed to define their progress, but instead it got in the way.
I miss working with the kids, but I hated that job.

[Darqstar]

There is a song about new math, by someone who taught math, even - Leher?  I suck at spelling, 'specially while head is semi-explody.  But new math is almost more like the psychology of numbers, not about how to make them -do- anything useful.

New math is pretty much old math now.  I was born in 1961, and when I went to school, we learned this "new math."  We still had to memorize the multiplication tables.  Do I remember them now?  No, not really.  But, I can do enough in my head to get by.  And if I can't, I can use a calculator.  In truth, I think it's better to know how to multiply in my head, than to be able to spit out numbers just because I've memorized them.  That might make it seem faster, but it also isn't any help if you forget the exact formula.  It also leads to problems when someone had memorized it wrong.  Like my brother, who for the life of him, cannot remember the '7s and the '9s, he gets them all mixed up, and since he never really learned how to do it, just how to say it, he can get confused. So, while it might take me a bit longer if I can't remember exactly what 7 x 8 =,  in less than a minute, I'll have the answer anyway, because I'll just figure it out in my head. 

One of the things about new math was that it was supposed to teach, not just memorize.  Yes, we had to memorize the multiplication tables while the kids who went to school in the '70s-'80s (vs. me, '60s-'70s) it wasn't as important, but that is because they had calculators.   My first reaction was to go, "Well, that is completely unfair!" (because we oldsters love to gripe that we had it sooo tough) but then I found out that kids were learning Algebra in Jr. High.  When I went to school, only the brilliant children were taught Algebra in Jr. High.  The rest of us plodded along with basic math.  We did a little geometry, and some practical Algebra, that wasn't called Algebra, but not real X, Y, 2B or 3C stuff.  Jr. High Algebra was stuff like, "7 x ___ = 49" and we had to figure out what went in the blank.   My niece and nephew (born when I was in my mid teens) were doing real Algebra, what was called "Algebra 1A and 1B" in Jr. High.  My nephew, who was a really good student, not a genius, no one suggested a school for the gifted for him, but he was always high honors,  took Algebra in 6th and 7th grade, then Geometry in 7th - 8th, and by the time he graduated from Jr. High/Middle school, he had learned more math than I had by the time I graduated from HighSchool. 

So, yes, kids do have better tools than we did.  Kids have computers, calculators, the Internet, etc.  However, at least in the case of my niece and nephew, I felt it was justified.  If they could use a calculator to help with their homework, then yeah, they'd better be learning beyond  their parents, who didn't have those tools.

[SoggyFox]

We were never allowed to use calculators, and I was one of the 70s-80s kids.  I actually learned to play with numbers, which I think if they did that, even the kids with a problem with math would maybe pick up the basics.  Then again, while I'm an art/music/lit geek, I've always been good at the more abstract maths too - put me in a general practical math class and I struggle, make it algebra or even trig and I'm fine.  Not sure on Calc, I was flunking the last class I took, but that's because the teacher taught one thing, the book taught another and the tests were neither.

[Paden]

When I was in second grade, you either had multiplication learned or you flunked. If you didn't want to get held back, you went to summer school. They don't have that now, though, it seems.

[rum nate]

Around here you progress to the next grade level unless your parents hold you back. Once you get to high school, its the same way, but you can do credit recovery and/or summer school to pass the classes you didn't pass in the normal school year.

[neriana]

Not sure on Calc, I was flunking the last class I took, but that's because the teacher taught one thing, the book taught another and the tests were neither.

That killed me with second semester calculus in high school too. Until then I had a steady A- in my advanced math classes. We had one of those "teachers" who was actually a coach.

Before that, the hardest thing in math for me was long division. I don't even remember how to do it now; that's what calculators are for.

[Yaardarm Monkey II]

Here's a real doozy for ya:

At the store, buying an item for 12.51.  Hand the teen behind the register 20.01

The register is busted...watch the high school kids head explode when she tries to grasp why I am paying 20.01 for an item that costs 12.51 and what amount of change I should get.

Witness the total inability to understand basic math with relying on a machine to give the answer.

[SoggyFox]

Every time a young person, [teen/young adult] counts back my change, I smile and compliment them on being able to use the old skills.  Myself, I've worked with most every kind of register pre-90s.  Everything from the pre-programed with menu items to the old-fashioned push-buttoned ones with the separate columns for each place [.01, 1, 10, 100] and no register at all, but just a money belt - at least most times with those you don't need to figure tax.