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I was at an auction last night

Posted: Sep 2, 2015

to buy 2 Cokes which are $1 a piece. I gave the 20-something boy a $5 bill and had to tell him how much change to give me. The other day, we were at a store half price sale. We bought a $25 dollar item and had to tell the 20-something girl that it ws $12.50. She said "Wow, you're good!" How will these kids survive?

;

lower standards - me

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From what my son tells me, his teachers are only teaching what the kids need to know for state tests, not teaching them how to learn, just to memorize things (which is temporary). Once the tests are done, most of his teachers over the years have simply played movies or let the kids bring things from home to do. My son taught himself most of what he knows. His elementary teachers were exceptional, a wonderful bunch of people. When he got into the higher grades, not so great. I will say, though, he had some very kind & caring teachers. Their hands are often tied by a system that says "make them know enough to pass the test" & that's all they're required to do. Make the school look good, keep your job. Once the kids aren't taught HOW to learn, they don't benefit from going to school. Whether it's public, private, or home school, if the kids aren't taught how to learn, it's over. They have to be able to figure things out. Some can do it on their own, some can't. It's sad. Sorry so long. This is a pet peeve. The kids go to school for 12 or 13 years, then graduate with about a 4th grade education. What a waste of time.

Tend to - Agree

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It is all about "funding" now for the schools, with little interest in how the children will succeed in life. Spelling, grammar, and math are the basics and the kids these days cannot even do that. It is truly sad. They take "easy" courses to just get through, but have not learned a thing. That is government interference.

No Child Left Behind - nm - Bush 2001

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x

FAIL - none

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nm

Parents should not expect teachers to do it all - sm

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Unfortunately, not all kids have parents willing and able to make sure they learn life skills.

I do think some of these problems are by state. I think our state has an exceptional education system. I have heard many comments when young people from our state interview elsewhere, the interviewers are very eager to snap up those from Minnesota.

I am concerned about what I am hearing that schools are no longer providing music and physical fitness activities. I also think they should be learning more about financial management, buying a house -vs- renting, family budgets, child care, how to sew on a button and how to fix a leaky faucet, etc.

true - me

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My son did have an economics class in high school but no gym class beyond junior high. They had the gym class, but nobody actually had to do anything. I taught him how to sew, clean, started teaching him about cars when he got his (before that, he didn't care). He had medical emergency training before he was out of diapers because of his dad's condition. He knew how to read & count early on. His dad taught him computers when young. Brilliant kid. I think when the states became so test-oriented they lost sight of giving a real education. Parents are the first teachers, but the kids have so many teachers after they enter school that the schools have to take a lot of responsibility for the failure of these people to learn the basics.

No, go back to the 80s when the most important - thing in education was that

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kids feel good about themselves. That was the downfall of the American education system.

I have a friend in business who says young adults today - don't have critical thinking skills,

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they don't actually have problem solving skills. They have been taught lists and choosing A, B, or C, but not actually how to deal with solving a problem.

Some high schools have actually dropped U.S. history - as a requirement, which explains

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much of what is wrong nowadays.

New curriculum standards no longer require instructors to teach the first 100 years of U.S. history.

Glad I'm homeschooling. - Mom2

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nomsg.

Ditto! - NM

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NM

Common Core is part of the problem, like - 2 plus 2 equal 5 if it makes you feel

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good about yourself.

You should have run into one of my - grandfriends for correct count

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Do not ask me how it is done but I have seen these kids do this. Give them a problem, they can count with their fingers and come to the right answer, in a matter of seconds. It is truly amazing. I also saw some kids doing this on a TV program one day. Maybe someone else has the name of solving problems using the 10 finger system only?

And How - Is That

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applied to real life situations?? Not very well, I would assume. Can you make correct change by doing this?? I just do not see it. sorry.

Using their 10 fingers for doing math and - you do not see how it works?

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Give them a problem and immediately solved, do not have to use calculators, etc., done with their hands. Don't know how else to explain for you. It is shown on Youtube.

Personal experience... - counting fingers

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My son could count fingers and calculate - he would assign values to each finger so that he could multiple large numbers....amazing to watch. He was Learning disabled in math and his teachers said whatever works for him, works for them.

You have seen for yourself what I am talking about - and it is Amazing

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I saw fingers flying and numbers coming fast and furious. I cannot even do that as fast with a calculator and the kids who know this only use their fingers. I know you are proud of your son.

And just how does this work for calculus 3 needed for - all engineering courses.

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We need engineers, not digital (finger) calculators.

I'm trying to picture the fingers flying, sounds - like kindergarten.

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xx

You are uninformed and apparently do not want to really - know

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because I said you could find this on youtube. You just want to make it sound simplified which apparently the smarter kids have caught on, i.e. our Asian and Indian kids.

I do not think the post was about calculus, about - people not able to use basic math

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skills in getting the correct money on refund when buying something at an auction. How did you get to calculus from her post?

If we think it is important our children learn addition and other - simple computations

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on their fingers, how can we possibly raise the engineers we need to compete in the future. We need analytical thinking, not parlor tricks.

At least maybe they will be able to make - change in life as this was

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what the post was about in the first place, not raising engineers. I swear, you people would argue with a fence post if you could.

Making change - Cat is out of the bag

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While we are on the subject of math skills, I must confess that I never worked in a situation where I had to make change but I would be able to do it. I've never operated a cash register either but it does not make me stupid. Is it a life skill? I was never good at math. Of course I know the basic math skills, but it was never my strong suit. I took algebra and geometry in school and squeaked by. I have wonderful language skills, though, and have always maintained that there are word people and numbers people and there are plenty of people who stink at math who are very intelligent in other areas. While we are on the subject of skills, how many of you know Excel? I had to learn it late in life to survive at work. Can you create a spreadsheet and perform calculations? Can you operate a scanner? I venture to guess that there are plenty of essential skills that you don't know either. If we are looking to employ a nation of fast food workers, then by all means let's teach them how to make change. I agree with the comments regarding the need for engineers and people with advanced mathematical skills. I wouldn't be too hard on the fast food workers. Everyone makes mistakes and maybe it was the first day on the job for the Dairy Queen employee, stuff happens.

I was at a Dairy Queen a couple nights ago... - LCO

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my total was $9.60 and I gave the girl a $20. She gave me back $9.60. I said "I should get $10.40 back." She said (with an extremely snotty attitude), "Uh no, you're change is $9.60." I said, "You need to check your math skills." She said, "You should check ours, that's what the register said!" The guy behind me was laughing and shaking his head. I said to the girl, "Get your manager over here please." Needless to say, I got my correct change and the girl at the register hopefully got reprimanded for at least her attitude!

It's the computer age and the kids today don't know how to think for themselves. If the computer tells them it's so than it's so. Nevermind that human error when inputting information might be a factor...nooooooo

Cashiers are always amazed when I give them amounts - which give me change

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without lots of small change or just bills. I was taught in 3rd grade how to count back change, and I use that skill whenever I pay for something.

My first job was in 1972, I had to learn how to count - change back. I know everything

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is computerized now, but it's good to know in case of a power failure or something.

I hope she didn't get fired - No one is perfect

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No message

Interesting Subject - see msg

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I don't have any kids, but I noticed some time back in the early 80's that they stopped teaching phonics. So, now the parents have to buy Hooked on Phonics. Okay, if they were teaching phonics in school, you wouldn't have to purchase that. The "reading" instruction was memorization of a book. Mom and Dad are soooo impressed, but the kid was not taught to read--they were taught to memorize that book.

They are not teaching concepts. My sister did not let her kids use a calculator until they knew how to do it "for real."

Exactly... - me

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Learning and memorizing are 2 different skills. Memorizing doesn't mean one knows how to USE the information. Counting & doing any kind of math without a calculator must be required before using any technology. If kid keys wrong info into calculator, the thing won't say "hey, try again, you goofed". It'll simply give the answer to the problem given. If the kid doesn't know what they're doing, they won't have any idea that a mistake was made. The kids are using cash registers at work that tell them what change to give... "In my day", we had to use math skills to figure out the change. :) Schools seriously need to return to real basics, not the "techno-basic" being taught now.

It's not just young people... - anon

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I was at a fair and bought 3 lemonades, $6 each for the refillable cup. I had a $50 bill I wanted to break so I calculated in my head what I should get for change so I could make sure they gave me the correct amount, $32. The guy who took my $50 bill was at least in his 40s. He had to conference with a younger guy on how much change I should get and then gave me $52. At first I told him he gave me $10 too much and then I recounted and realized he gave me an extra $20. Yikes!

give everyone a break - not a geek

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There are so many times I wish I had a teenager around to explain to me how to do something on my cell phone or computer. They may not know how to make change, but they sure know the tech.

Everyone is so used to using the calculators, accounting computer programs, etc. I used to think that every bookkeeper/accountant should know how to do a complete system manually, now I do not think it would be much use anyway, since everything is so tied together electronically.

I am quite embarrassed that there are times when I cannot remember my home phone number when asked because I only use my speed dial. How dumb is that?

I had to chuckle at the young grocery store checkout girl, obviously learning a new job. I tried to put her at ease by reminiscing about my first days as a checkout. I told her we had to punch in each item individually, not scan it. She was horrified when she looked my the huge pile of groceries sitting there. I remember making a $100 mistake and it still makes me blush.

like your post - we all started

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somewhere. Good point about their tech savy, so true.

And that definitely proves my opinion that we, as a nation, - sm

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are very dumb. Every time on social media that someone posts, I see NO punctuation. One person posted saying (and this is verbatim), "Need dog sitter call me 9999999. I posted no one knows if she wants one or wants to be one since there is NO punctuation. had she put the question mark or period in there, that would have cleared that up!!

Not just social media. - Every day it never fails

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that I read something on Yahoo or other Internet sites with spelling and punctuation mistakes.

There are spelling mistakes on MT Stars too - Holier than thou

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But here it's acceptable and people get banned for pointing it out and we are language specialists who are supposed to know better. The lack of punctuation and abbreviated spelling goes with text messaging but people do make typos and some people don't have good keyboarding skills, it does not necessarily mean that they can't spell.

MT Stars is an informal board viewed by a small - group of people. Yahoo and

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other Internet sites purport to be quasiprofessional news sites. I would expect higher standards. If you bought a book, newspaper, or magazine, would you expect to find spelling and grammar mistakes? We don't get paid to post here. If you get paid for your writing, it d&mn well ought to be correct.

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