In article , Robert Casey
writes:

Phil Kane wrote:

On 18 Jul 2003 05:17:42 -0700, N2EY wrote:

OTOH, millions of young children today are "forced" to learn how to do
basic arithmetic even though inexpensive calculators have been around
for decades.

What "learning"? Go into your local fast-food place or grocery
store and see the blank look on the clerk's face if s/he has to make
change and the register is not working.....

Yeah. Even if the register is working, some get confused when, for a
bill of $5.72, I
hand them a ten and a single. "I was hoping to get back a five and some
coins"....

For some reason I don't encounter that sort of thing around here.

Back in the mid sixties, in grammar school we spent a huge amount of
time on arithemitic chores like long division. Back then before calculators
and
home computers, it probably made some sense to learn how to do this by hand.
Nowadays, they probably should teach some of this, and also get kids to
be able to make judgements of an answer is wildly wrong, or reasonable
(like did I hit the "x" key when I wanted "+"?).

They do, at least in the local public schools.

My grammar school "taught to the test". We had yearly achievement
tests (computer graded multiple choice, somewhat similar to the SAT)
and they wanted good scores. So stuff like creative writing was not taught
(doesn't show on the test). No music either. Anyway, if you had some
wits about yourself, a computer graded arithemitic test with multiple
choice answers is a lot easier than one the teacher grades (if it's an
addition problem, all you need add is the right-most colunm and then
you pick the answer with the matching least significant digit).

Ugh.

The point still remains - should the whole subject of basic arithmetic simply
be dropped because we now have calculators?

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , "Kim W5TIT"
writes:

Except, what about the "useful skills" that you learned in college and have
never turned into a career?
heh heh, walked right into that one...

Slam dunk! So much for the Soma cum Loud "Human Resources"
graduate...:-)

LHA

In article , "Kim W5TIT"
writes:

Except, what about the "useful skills" that you learned in college and have
never turned into a career?
heh heh, walked right into that one...

Kim W5TIT

Kim:

I have a job that I enjoy, has little or no stress, and has great pay and
benefits. Had I taken an entry-level job in Human Resources, I'd be making
about a third less money, have no job security whatsoever, and I'd most
likely be under the thumb of some menopausal nightmare of a YL boss.
I got a degree in HR because that program gave me the most bang for the
buck in transfer credit, and I wanted to have a B.S. in something - anything.
The fact that I no longer desire to sit in a cubicle all day doesn't mean that
I haven't gained anything by obtaining a college education. BTW -- do
YOU have a college degree? What was YOUR major?

73 de Larry, K3LT

"Larry Roll K3LT" wrote in message
...
In article , "Kim W5TIT"
writes:

Except, what about the "useful skills" that you learned in college and
have
never turned into a career?
heh heh, walked right into that one...

Kim W5TIT

Kim:

I have a job that I enjoy, has little or no stress, and has great pay and
benefits. Had I taken an entry-level job in Human Resources, I'd be
making
about a third less money, have no job security whatsoever, and I'd most
likely be under the thumb of some menopausal nightmare of a YL boss.
I got a degree in HR because that program gave me the most bang for the
buck in transfer credit, and I wanted to have a B.S. in something -
anything.
The fact that I no longer desire to sit in a cubicle all day doesn't mean
that
I haven't gained anything by obtaining a college education. BTW -- do
YOU have a college degree? What was YOUR major?

73 de Larry, K3LT


Yeah, I always like how your job description ends up sounding like a
defense...LOL

No, I don't have a college degree, Larry. I didn't have the money to waste.
I also didn't have the time to waste. I wanted to do too many things, so I
set out to do them. And, I've accomplished most of them.

With or without that college degree I now earn quite a healthy living, with
a lot more room to grow. So, you wasted your time, in my opinion, and I did
not, in my opinion.

Kim W5TIT


---
Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net
Complaints to

Larry,

What is your chosen occupation? Sounds like you've found your niche.
I'm still looking for mine.

-Robert

"El Asesor" wrote:

Gee I looked at the subject, then the contents and I
am totally baffled.

Come on guys/gals -- if your post is for one person
only or you change subject matter --- please change
the subject title.

Don't make a hundred (thousand?) readers open up
something totally unrelated to the subject.

Yeah I know -- who made me a net-police person? But
dog gone I get tired of opening up these posts that
have nothing to do with the subject.

Yeah I know --- then don't open em up. But there is
some good stuff here --- don't want to miss them.


I agree. If someone is going to change the subject of a discussion, please
change the subject line and take it out of the tread. By doing so, you
reduce the distraction for those not interested in the new subject, but also
better attract those who are interested in that new subject (it's no longer
buried in a thread they may not be interested in).

Of course, this can't be done in every case or every time a person has a
quick out-of-context comment, but it should at least be tried when it looks
like the new subject is developing into a major discussion in itself.

And this is not an attempt to be a newsgroup policeman - it's simply a
polite plea from a fellow newsgroup participant.


Dwight Stewart (W5NET)

http://www.qsl.net/w5net/