Schools don't teach anymore...?

Question

I babysitt an 11 year old girl, she is in sixth grade, recently I was helping her with her homework, it was math.
She was multiplying fractions. What surprized me, was that, she didn't know how to do it, without her fancy calculator (which she left at home). Her teacher, she said, had never told her that you could do it without a calculator.
I was shocked.
I showed her the "real" way to do it, that actually involved doing math, and she did the whole page of work.

This scares me, because, we are teaching our kids to be so dependent on technology, that they cannot do anything by themselves. And at such a young age...
Where is the work ethic?

Do you think this is terrible?

The thing is, I believe firmly that we should teach computer skills, I just also believe firmly that before anyone should be allowed NEAR a computer or calculator, they should be able to do what they are about to do WITHOUT the computer or calculator, especialy for math. Teach them the real way first, and THEN the shortcuts, then at least they know the real way.

Answer 1

This is terrible. Look at this question that someone posted.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylc=X3oDMTB1a2x0anY5BF9TAzIxMTU1MDA0NDMEc2VjA3BlZXBfZQRzbGsDcQ--?qid=20071207061926AAAIse2

This person didn't even know about the attack at Pearl Harbor or who the president was who gave the Infamy Speech the day after. The lack of education in schools today is mind-boggling. We spend so much on oil and war efforts our children are not getting good education.

Answer 2

Yes but do you think this is enough Sex Ed last for about 45 minutes once a week for 4 weeks!!! They show you how to put on a condom, give out a few leaflets about different contraceptions (that you have to give back), give you diagrams of the male and female body which you have to lable with the correct organs, tell you very very briefly about STD's and STI's and show you a video about some teenagers that are being pushed into having sex and show you how to say no untill your ready. This is done in year 10 and isn't repeated again. Personally I think all boys take it as a joke and girls get embaressed, there should be two seperate classes for a girls and boys and they should talk about everything thoroughly. No wonder so many people that are still at school get pregnant!!!

Answer 3

It's true. We teach calculator skills now. It starts in grade three. It isn't used all the time, but slowly introduced. The basic math skills are still taught without the calculator: adding, subtracting, multiplication and division. But as the math gets more complicated, the calculator is used.

Do I think this is terrible? I don't know. It is what it is. We need to teach our children what they will use the most and that today is technology. By grade 6,7 and 8 a lot of things are taught on the computer. The kids start making power point presentations instead of the old bristol board. They need to be able to compete in a technological world, so we have to teach them young.

Answer 4

This is a sad truth about our country. Even I, at 23, have a hard time shying away from the calculator now a days. Many kids have only learned on calculators and will never know the logic behind the math. I think will all the things being taught in today's schools some things like this go overlooked. I agree that it is terrible.

Answer 5

Well, I think her teacher may have been teaching something other than the multiplication. I mean, I am 11, in 6th grade, in Pre-Algebra math class. My teacher lets us use calculators for problems like 49x57 or whatever, if that's not the concept. Like, If we were learning how to solve algebraic expressions. If it was 5y+40(-12)= -156+24. This is what my math teacher would solve it (I copied this from my notebook):

5y+40(-12)= -154+24
5y+ (-480) = -154+24 (used calc for 40x(-12))
5y-480+480= -130+480
5y= 350
y = 70 (used calc)

We use a calc to make the multiplication quicker, so we can spend more time on the concept we're learning. Stop making over-generalizations.

Answer 6

I see nothing at all wrong with this. Why does it really matter when all that your expected to know as an adult in a real world situation is the right answer? Often children give up in subject ares because they are not progressing due to the lack of prior knowledge. Using a calculator helps children learn the problem solving process without being held back or discouraged from lack of poor math facts. Why not use it?

Answer 7

Oh I hear ya. Think of all the toys they have out for pre schoolers... those mini electronic computers with games that you hook up to your television...digital cameras! DIGITAL CAMERAS for preschoolers!! Is all you need these days a computer and you can raise a child?
I think it IS getting a little out of hand. Don't get me wrong.. I love technology, I think it's a GREAT thing. GREAT. But we are not using it responsibily. Or maybe I just believe that some things should be taugh and passed down the old traditional way. I want to be the one to teach my child there A B C's .. not a computer.

Meh... Good question!

Answer 8

I agree with you. Of course I also don't see the point in leaning it b/c other than cooking how often do you need to know how to divide fractions?I personally think children are being taught too much they don't need(when was the last time you had to use an algebraic sentence to solve for 4 variables?) but the school district likes to look good on those state tests.

Answer 9

It's the same as saying that we as a society have become too dependent on toilet paper and should be taught to use leaves and corn cobs. Society changes with technology and we are forced to adapt or fall behind. New advances are being made everyday and it all becomes things to be learned. You cannot expect kids to learn everything they need to learn for the present in addition to everything we had to learn as kids....they would be in school until they were 30.

Answer 10

most teachers are so busy trying to babysit that there isnt alot of time left to actually teach more than one way to do things, that and some teachers have gotten lazy and THEY might not be able to multiply without a calculator