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

steve smith sasmyth at swcp.com
Thu Aug 8 13:42:56 EDT 2024


> By the way, my daughter's title in the Secretary of Public Education 
> Office is Financial Technician.  I can multiply two 2 digit numbers 
> mentally pretty fast.
>
> Frank
I so know the massive slowdown when I go from 2-3 digits (even 2x3) 
multiplication...   it goes from something mostly intuitive and barely 
notational to worse than 50/50 and then acutely beyond if I go to more 
digits, though not linear with quantity, superlinear with exponent/digits.
>
> ---
> Frank C. Wimberly
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>
> 505 670-9918
> Santa Fe, NM
>
> On Thu, Aug 8, 2024, 7:11 AM Edward Angel <angel at cs.unm.edu> wrote:
>
>     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
>     <https://www.google.com/maps/search/New+Mexico+1017+Sierra+Pinon+Santa+Fe,+NM+87501?entry=gmail&source=g>
>
>     1017 Sierra Pinon
>     <https://www.google.com/maps/search/New+Mexico+1017+Sierra+Pinon+Santa+Fe,+NM+87501?entry=gmail&source=g>
>     Santa Fe, NM 87501
>     <https://www.google.com/maps/search/New+Mexico+1017+Sierra+Pinon+Santa+Fe,+NM+87501?entry=gmail&source=g>
>     505-984-0136 (home)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,
>>     <https://www.google.com/maps/search/140+Calle+Ojo+Feliz,++Santa+Fe,+NM+87505?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>     Santa Fe, NM 87505
>>     <https://www.google.com/maps/search/140+Calle+Ojo+Feliz,++Santa+Fe,+NM+87505?entry=gmail&source=g>
>>
>>     505 670-9918
>>     Santa Fe, NM
>>
>>     On Wed, Aug 7, 2024, 9:12 PM Russell Standish
>>     <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
>>         > 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
>>         http://www.hpcoders.com.au
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