Why kids suck at math today

[Fritzo]

I was just helping my daughter with pre-algebra, and realized she doesn't have her multiplication tables memorized. They allow kids to use calculators for everything now, so they don't have to memorize these things. When asked to multiply 7x6, she went "uhhhhhhhh....." and had to write it out.

When "I" was a kid, we had cool gadgets like The Little Professor to make sure that stuff was drilled into our heads. Today's kids don't have cool toys like this, and I think it's hurting them.

The day I got a 10/10 on level 4 division on that thing, I got all excited and showed my mom and dad my score, and they got me ice cream

 

[spidey07]

Not knowing multiplication tables is the same as being unable to do long division. That's math fail. We had that crap pounded into our heads. I agree though, asking somebody what percentage 15 of 60 is will get a blank stare.

Then again I was in the math club, umm, the physics club...oh...and the chess club!

 

[GagHalfrunt]

In grammar school in 2nd or 3rd grade we had to write out the entire multiplication tables from 1x1 up to 12x12 every day, memorize them and pass an oral quiz on them with no calculator or even scratch paper. We damn well knew it by heart before we were allowed to move up to the next grade.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I don't recall multiplication tables per se, but I don't have any issues with math in general. I mean come on, 7x6 is 42, so therefore 7x6 is the pathway to the answer to the universe

 

[tboo]

My math professor didnt know his multiplication tables. He had polio when he was a kid & missed out on that part. So when he has to figure out 3x3 he has to do 3+3+3 in his head.

 

[Zstream]

Originally posted by: tboo
My math professor didnt know his multiplication tables. He had polio when he was a kid & missed out on that part. So when he has to figure out 3x3 he has to do 3+3+3 in his head.

You can still learn as an adult, bad excuse...

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Flash cards FTW! When I first started college, slipsticks were still in use and it was very helpful to memorize logs to 5 places. Times change but, the effort to learn tables is valuable as a mental exercise if nothing else. Practicing problem solving, memorization and, critical thinking help make you the best you can be.

 

[rocadelpunk]

and as a parent you're just now realizing your kid can't multiply?

 

[Q]

Originally posted by: tboo
My math professor didnt know his multiplication tables. He had polio when he was a kid & missed out on that part.

I don't know why but this made me giggle

 

[Fenixgoon]

we did multiplication tables in the 3rd grade. i pwnd them.

<--- engineer

 

[Parasitic]

It's ok, we'll let the kids in Eureka do our math for us.

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: tboo
My math professor didnt know his multiplication tables. He had polio when he was a kid & missed out on that part. So when he has to figure out 3x3 he has to do 3+3+3 in his head.

Polio or multiply sclerosis?

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Not knowing multiplication tables is the same as being unable to do long division. That's math fail. We had that crap pounded into our heads. I agree though, asking somebody what percentage 15 of 60 is will get a blank stare.

Then again I was in the math club, umm, the physics club...oh...and the chess club!

You're a fucking geek! :laugh:

Oh wait, I was in two of those too!

Oh, and I see it in my kids classes now (4th grade). Told to use a calculator to get answers? WTF?

We didn't get to use a calculator until college calculus (at least for me).

 

[God Mode]

you have to teach them with wow gold

 

[nageov3t]

memorizing multiplication tables is roughly as important as learning cursive writing.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: tboo
My math professor didnt know his multiplication tables. He had polio when he was a kid & missed out on that part. So when he has to figure out 3x3 he has to do 3+3+3 in his head.

Polio or multiply sclerosis?

Wow, it's all the terrible effects of "better nate than lever," crammed into a single line.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Not knowing multiplication tables is the same as being unable to do long division. That's math fail. We had that crap pounded into our heads. I agree though, asking somebody what percentage 15 of 60 is will get a blank stare.

Then again I was in the math club, umm, the physics club...oh...and the chess club!

and parent fail, how could you let your kid get that bad off, OP? :-/

i mean, i suck at math but like...algebra with fractions type of math.

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
In grammar school in 2nd or 3rd grade we had to write out the entire multiplication tables from 1x1 up to 12x12 every day, memorize them and pass an oral quiz on them with no calculator or even scratch paper. We damn well knew it by heart before we were allowed to move up to the next grade.

yep, same here. :thumbsup:

 

[TuxDave]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Not knowing multiplication tables is the same as being unable to do long division. That's math fail. We had that crap pounded into our heads. I agree though, asking somebody what percentage 15 of 60 is will get a blank stare.

Then again I was in the math club, umm, the physics club...oh...and the chess club!

I was in all those.... and academic decathlon. Nerd competitions were fun back then.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: spidey07
Not knowing multiplication tables is the same as being unable to do long division. That's math fail. We had that crap pounded into our heads. I agree though, asking somebody what percentage 15 of 60 is will get a blank stare.

Then again I was in the math club, umm, the physics club...oh...and the chess club!

You're a fucking geek! :laugh:

Oh wait, I was in two of those too!

Oh, and I see it in my kids classes now (4th grade). Told to use a calculator to get answers? WTF?

We didn't get to use a calculator until college calculus (at least for me).

Knowing your age the math/physics/chess club was a reference to Breakfast Club, I did compete across the state/US representing the school though so I guess I really am a geek. I'll add the chemistry club if we're being real.

I'm all for using tools (like calculators) but if you don't understand the principles behind the tool then that tool is worthless. A chimp can see another chimp use a stick to get bugs/food after he sees another do it. It's a different kind of chimp indeed that has a grasp of how and why and can use that tool for other things.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: Engineer

Originally posted by: spidey07
Not knowing multiplication tables is the same as being unable to do long division. That's math fail. We had that crap pounded into our heads. I agree though, asking somebody what percentage 15 of 60 is will get a blank stare.

Then again I was in the math club, umm, the physics club...oh...and the chess club!

You're a fucking geek! :laugh:

Oh wait, I was in two of those too!

Oh, and I see it in my kids classes now (4th grade). Told to use a calculator to get answers? WTF?

We didn't get to use a calculator until college calculus (at least for me).

Knowing your age the math/physics/chess club was a reference to Breakfast Club, I did compete across the state/US representing the school though so I guess I really am a geek. I'll add the chemistry club if we're being real.

I'm all for using tools (like calculators) but if you don't understand the principles behind the tool then that tool is worthless. A chimp can see another chimp use a stick to get bugs/food after he sees another do it. It's a different kind of chimp indeed that has a grasp of how and why and can use that tool for other things.

I wasn't kidding!

Oh, and I don't think either of my kids (4th grade and 10th grade) were "formally" taught to divide. The youngest gets it now but the oldest didn't care much for it and the calculator won.

 

[HannibalX]

I attended private schools for grades K through 6. We started memorizing our multiplication tables while in Kindergarten. At the time we didn't know what they were for but we sung them out loud as a class and by the end of the year we knew them up to twelve.

Public schools are garbage with the exception of well off neighborhoods. If you're living in a middle-class area chances are your local public schools are terrible compared to the local private schools. When I entered grade 7 I attended public school. The first semester I made straight As in every class. The teachers told me I was gifted, I told them there was a school full of gifted kids where I came from then (where I was a B student). Basically, the entire year during grade 7 I had review. Everything we were presented I had learned in grade 4 in private school, from history to math and science. Math was a joke, most of the kids couldn't do basic addition and subtraction. The main focus for the year was fractions which half the class couldn't grasp, and it wasn't their fault. Grade 8 was much of the same, review, outside of pre-alebra which not everyone was required to take, only a handful of students volunteered to take it. Don't get me started on high school.

 

[TehMac]

The problem with public schools is not shitty teachers (although there are plenty of them everywhere) or lack of funding from the government. These schools raise tons of money for the sake of "the childrenz"

The problem is that the schools blow money on stupid shit. I remember my grade school used money to rebuild the fucking playground, while my high school used money to buy an HDTV to put in the library that no one would watch, nor could they hear because everyone was talking. The librarian is a fucking retard.



The second problem is that summers are too long, which means that your average kid is not going to do anything academic in the summer, he's going to fuck around, and the longer he fucks around, the more he is going to forget and the less prepared he will be.

They're talking about giving a laptop to disadvantaged schools with this problem. That's not the fucking answer, the answer is to extend the school year, lessen the summers, sprinkle more holidays here and there. I'd be in favor of a 1 month summer break and 3 day weekends.

Originally posted by: tboo
My math professor didnt know his multiplication tables. He had polio when he was a kid & missed out on that part. So when he has to figure out 3x3 he has to do 3+3+3 in his head.

shens

 

[Evadman]

I slept though almost all my math classes. That sh!t was easy.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Engineer


I wasn't kidding!

Oh, and I don't think either of my kids (4th grade and 10th grade) were "formally" taught to divide. The youngest gets it now but the oldest didn't care much for it and the calculator won.

That's sad. You can't multiply if you don't know how to divide. You can't add if you don't know how to subtract. You can't integrate if you don't know how to differentiate. And so on and so forth. Without the base understanding everything else above that crumbles.

 

[Regs]

Yeah I was too lazy to memorize my multiplication tables or my parents were full of "fail". So my teacher was twice as lazy and diagnosed me as retarded.