[FRIAM] New Mexican's Sunday's story on education proficiency

[Edward Angel]

The following is hard to believe but true.

Last weekend, I was in line at Walgreens. The older woman in front of me gave the cashier a $20 bill for a $13.54 purchase. The young cashier was completely unable to figure out the correct change. After a couple of failed tries, the older woman tried to teach the cashier how to subtract $13.54 from $20 but that was a failure. She then tried to get the casher to add to $13.54 until the cashier reach $20. When that failed, she helped the cashier add small change and dollars until she got to $6.46.

I don’t think giving everyone a calculator is the solution.

Ed
_______________________

Ed Angel

Founding Director, Art, Research, Technology and Science Laboratory (ARTS Lab)
Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, University of New Mexico

1017 Sierra Pinon
Santa Fe, NM 87501
505-984-0136 (home)		 	angel at cs.unm.edu <mailto:angel at cs.unm.edu>
505-453-4944 (cell) 				http://www.cs.unm.edu/~angel

> On Aug 7, 2024, at 9:28 PM, Frank Wimberly <wimberly3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm not sure my 30+ year old daughter knows the times tables.  She works for the Secretary of Public Education. If you ask her about it she will say she uses calculators and spreadsheets.  I think.
> 
> ---
> Frank C. Wimberly
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, 
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
> 
> 505 670-9918
> Santa Fe, NM
> 
> On Wed, Aug 7, 2024, 9:12 PM Russell Standish <lists at hpcoders.com.au <mailto:lists at hpcoders.com.au>> wrote:
>> It is a test that you know your 7 or 8 times table. And the definition
>> of a prime number (which could be given as part of the question, if
>> not the curriculum).
>> 
>> I would expect most 9 or 10 years olds should know their times tables.
>> 
>> Or am I wrong abut kids these days?
>> 
>> On Mon, Jul 22, 2024 at 12:43:54PM -0600, Tom Johnson wrote:
>> > Ms. O'Hara:
>> > 
>> > RE your story Sunday, "Does proficiency give full picture?"
>> > From your lede:
>> > "Pop quiz: What number is both a prime number and a factor or 56"?
>> > 
>> > If I understand correctly, this is a question on an exam given to fourth
>> > graders, 9- or 10-year-olds.
>> > Could you please point me to some source in the city or state education
>> > departments who can tell me what short- or long-term value this question about
>> > mathematics -- NOT arithmetic -- has for students that age?
>> > 
>> > We live in a state where it is a rare cashier who can do the mental
>> > arithmetic to make change from a $20 bill. Can we first find out if fourth
>> > graders can do that before getting into primes and factorials?
>> > *--
>> > ============================================
>> > Tom Johnson - tom at jtjohnson.com <mailto:tom at jtjohnson.com>
>> > Institute for Analytic Journalism   --     Santa Fe, NM USA
>> > 505.577.6482(c)                                    505.473.9646(h)
>> > Visit Global Santa Fe
>> > ============================================
>> 
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>> -- 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Dr Russell Standish                    Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
>> Principal, High Performance Coders     hpcoder at hpcoders.com.au <mailto:hpcoder at hpcoders.com.au>
>>                       http://www.hpcoders.com.au <http://www.hpcoders.com.au/>
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