In simple term, what was "new math?"

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: TumblingBones

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: Dieter

Quote: Hunterhill

I think they need to do something different. Like put the slower students in their own class
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Yeah, so the wrestling team is getting an A- in "Business Math" for managing to total a stack of checks on a ten key, while the students with "so much potential" are struggling to pull a C in calculus to satisfy their math requirement.

Every individualization adds complexity and cost.
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My mother was a school teacher early in her career. She taught business writing, letter composition,typing and business math. No making change for a dollar for her students. It was bookkeeping to the trial balance, and the mathematics that went along with it, including how to check your work. Not an easy A for the lunkhead athletes, and her children with her accountant/CPA husband became good in math as well. Same for her grandchildren.
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Once upon a time I was a grad student and supposedly working on a PhD in math at a Big Ten university. At one point I had a teaching assistantship and had to teach a semester of freshman algebra. Around the 2nd week I got a letter from the athletic department telling me that one of my students was on the football team and they wanted to be informed if at any point he needed extra tutoring. Translation: “make sure our boy gets an A or your ass is toasted”. As it turned out he already knew the material and got the A without having to spend much time in class.

As to the rest of the class, I was always mystified that someone could be accepted at a major university without knowing basic high school algebra.
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Then your school sucked. Around here, athletes get no winks-and-nods. They either pass on their merits or they don't.
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Maybe that glare off the silver spoon has blinded you to the obvious reality that there are people going to D1 schools that are perfectly good schools academically, but that rely on D1 sports income to pay the bills and many/most/all of those varsity players would not be accepted by that school any other way.

For money talks, we all know what walks, and economics will always win. There are Harvard boys who are there because of what family they are from and no more, and they will get the same treatment, just from some chin-pulling pinky-raiser rather than the football coach. Some people think that's better. But I'd rather see the jock get franked through, at least he does something that normal people enjoy and are inspired by. What is the dummy of a legacy admission or a quota admission ever going to do for me?
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That dummy of a legacy admission or quota admission isn't going to beat his gf, blow his money on drugs and strippers and end up in prison and generally live a lifestyle of a dumb jock.

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: TumblingBones

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: Dieter

Quote: Hunterhill

I think they need to do something different. Like put the slower students in their own class
link to original post

Yeah, so the wrestling team is getting an A- in "Business Math" for managing to total a stack of checks on a ten key, while the students with "so much potential" are struggling to pull a C in calculus to satisfy their math requirement.

Every individualization adds complexity and cost.
link to original post

My mother was a school teacher early in her career. She taught business writing, letter composition,typing and business math. No making change for a dollar for her students. It was bookkeeping to the trial balance, and the mathematics that went along with it, including how to check your work. Not an easy A for the lunkhead athletes, and her children with her accountant/CPA husband became good in math as well. Same for her grandchildren.
link to original post

Once upon a time I was a grad student and supposedly working on a PhD in math at a Big Ten university. At one point I had a teaching assistantship and had to teach a semester of freshman algebra. Around the 2nd week I got a letter from the athletic department telling me that one of my students was on the football team and they wanted to be informed if at any point he needed extra tutoring. Translation: “make sure our boy gets an A or your ass is toasted”. As it turned out he already knew the material and got the A without having to spend much time in class.

As to the rest of the class, I was always mystified that someone could be accepted at a major university without knowing basic high school algebra.
link to original post

Then your school sucked. Around here, athletes get no winks-and-nods. They either pass on their merits or they don't.
link to original post

Maybe that glare off the silver spoon has blinded you to the obvious reality that there are people going to D1 schools that are perfectly good schools academically, but that rely on D1 sports income to pay the bills and many/most/all of those varsity players would not be accepted by that school any other way.

For money talks, we all know what walks, and economics will always win. There are Harvard boys who are there because of what family they are from and no more, and they will get the same treatment, just from some chin-pulling pinky-raiser rather than the football coach. Some people think that's better. But I'd rather see the jock get franked through, at least he does something that normal people enjoy and are inspired by. What is the dummy of a legacy admission or a quota admission ever going to do for me?
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That dummy of a legacy admission or quota admission isn't going to beat his gf, blow his money on drugs and strippers and end up in prison and generally live a lifestyle of a dumb jock.
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Oh, what an absurd stereotype that is! I've known so many jocks, been a bit of one back in the day, most were not dumb even though it was OK to be a little dumb, and some of the crowd I ran with wouldn't even eat a piece of candy, let alone use drugs. None of them ever beat any girls. We did like strippers. So beat me with a hetero stick.

And why would you think someone from either a rich family or a politically-favored demographic wouldn't do that? The worst guys I knew were from rich and connected families. Believed they were entitled, fully unconcerned with the rights of those they considered beneath them, outraged when they got caught and indignant when someone else wouldn't shoulder the blame for them. That's how the bigshots the Ivy League prepares for their roles are now and likely always have been.

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: TumblingBones

Quote: GenoDRPh

Quote: Dieter

Quote: Hunterhill

I think they need to do something different. Like put the slower students in their own class
link to original post

Yeah, so the wrestling team is getting an A- in "Business Math" for managing to total a stack of checks on a ten key, while the students with "so much potential" are struggling to pull a C in calculus to satisfy their math requirement.

Every individualization adds complexity and cost.
link to original post

My mother was a school teacher early in her career. She taught business writing, letter composition,typing and business math. No making change for a dollar for her students. It was bookkeeping to the trial balance, and the mathematics that went along with it, including how to check your work. Not an easy A for the lunkhead athletes, and her children with her accountant/CPA husband became good in math as well. Same for her grandchildren.
link to original post

Once upon a time I was a grad student and supposedly working on a PhD in math at a Big Ten university. At one point I had a teaching assistantship and had to teach a semester of freshman algebra. Around the 2nd week I got a letter from the athletic department telling me that one of my students was on the football team and they wanted to be informed if at any point he needed extra tutoring. Translation: “make sure our boy gets an A or your ass is toasted”. As it turned out he already knew the material and got the A without having to spend much time in class.

As to the rest of the class, I was always mystified that someone could be accepted at a major university without knowing basic high school algebra.
link to original post

Then your school sucked. Around here, athletes get no winks-and-nods. They either pass on their merits or they don't.
link to original post

Maybe that glare off the silver spoon has blinded you to the obvious reality that there are people going to D1 schools that are perfectly good schools academically, but that rely on D1 sports income to pay the bills and many/most/all of those varsity players would not be accepted by that school any other way.

For money talks, we all know what walks, and economics will always win. There are Harvard boys who are there because of what family they are from and no more, and they will get the same treatment, just from some chin-pulling pinky-raiser rather than the football coach. Some people think that's better. But I'd rather see the jock get franked through, at least he does something that normal people enjoy and are inspired by. What is the dummy of a legacy admission or a quota admission ever going to do for me?
link to original post

That dummy of a legacy admission or quota admission isn't going to beat his gf, blow his money on drugs and strippers and end up in prison and generally live a lifestyle of a dumb jock.
link to original post

Oh, what an absurd stereotype that is! I've known so many jocks, been a bit of one back in the day, most were not dumb even though it was OK to be a little dumb, and some of the crowd I ran with wouldn't even eat a piece of candy, let alone use drugs. None of them ever beat any girls. We did like strippers. So beat me with a hetero stick.

And why would you think someone from either a rich family or a politically-favored demographic wouldn't do that? The worst guys I knew were from rich and connected families. Believed they were entitled, fully unconcerned with the rights of those they considered beneath them, outraged when they got caught and indignant when someone else wouldn't shoulder the blame for them. That's how the bigshots the Ivy League prepares for their roles are now and likely always have been.
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I said what I said. But you're the one complaining about kids today not being able to do math, all the while defending the D1 jocks who...can't do math!

Quote: AZDuffman

Quote: billryan

Quote: aceside

I totally agree. Another game that requires memorization is blackjack, in which basic strategy is the key to success. Most card counters have trouble memorizing the basic strategy table, not to mention extra deviation plays when counting cards.
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I didn't learn BJ by memorizing it; I learned it by analysis. Knowing why you should make a decision is infinitely superior to simply parroting a chart.
Rote learning teaches you what to think. Teaching someone how to think is vastly superior. Sadly, most people are more comfortable not having to think very much.
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So you want us to believe that instead of memorizing a chart that you can buy for $1 in most casino gift shops you wrote a computer program and used your computer programing and math knowledge to simply get the same info as is on the card?
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I never said anything like that. 90% or more of BS is a no-brainer, and I sat down with a deck of cards and played out the possibilities on the ones I had problems with. I wasn't aware of strategy cards until after I'd taught myself how to play. On Long Island, in the 1970s, almost every LV night was single- or double-deck, and I never saw a strategy card. I had a second-hand Scarne book, but his BS was all wrong. I certainly didn't have access to a computer.