The Amalgimated Brain Trust

[Mark Wedel]

I remember buying some lunch meat at the deli counter once and asking for 3/4 of a pound. The person there was like 'that is .5 right?', since they just have digital scales, and was bummed when I told them it was .75 since they apparently just missed that on a test they took. I thought fractions was something taught in elementary school.
However, I might also say that those kids working as cashiers or slicing lunch meat at the deli counter might not be the sharpest tools in the shed. The smarter kids might be working better jobs.

[Edward Weber]

Teens did not, will not, learn the same things we did.
Simple math should not be an issue, just as using a smart phone should not grant one special powers.
Every generation has a slightly different knowledge base from which to draw from.
There are however a few simple objective facts that everyone needs to acknowledge.
There is not an app for everything.
Google doesn't know everything.
You should be able to remember something simple, like a phone number, with having to put it in your phone.
Not everything old was better
and so on

I do tend to agree with the OP, this is not always rocket science when it comes to ample everyday tasks, although it does take a few more brain cells than swiping your phone.

[Jim Koepke]

I remember buying some lunch meat at the deli counter once and asking for 3/4 of a pound. The person there was like 'that is .5 right?', since they just have digital scales, and was bummed when I told them it was .75 since they apparently just missed that on a test they took. I thought fractions was something taught in elementary school.
However, I might also say that those kids working as cashiers or slicing lunch meat at the deli counter might not be the sharpest tools in the shed. The smarter kids might be working better jobs.

Now there's a thought, many service and counter attendant jobs are going unfilled. Could it be because there are so many young people whose education has propelled them beyond having to flip burgers or wrangle shopping carts?

jtk

[Alan Rutherford]

I worked part-time at the cash register in a grocery store my last year in high school. (When was the last time you saw an 18-year-old at the register?) That was in the late 1950's when registers did no math except for adding up the totals. The only price I remember was frozen orange juice in 6-ounce cans (half the size of the 12-ounce cans that are more common now). 6 for $0.75. I think the reason I remember them is that it would have been challenging to figure the price for quantities other than 6. But it was taken in stride. I'd like to see some of today's cashiers handle that.

BTW, the typical customer spent about $17 and if I remember correctly the $17 of groceries fit in 2 standard paper grocery bags. It might have been 3 bags. Prices have gone up some since then.

[Rob Luter]

Been there. About 20 years ago I was having lunch in a local cafe. The power went out. We finished our meal and went to the counter to pay. The register was down and the kid flying the counter was clueless. I did the math in my head, including tax. When I told him the total he looked at me like I’d just revealed the secrets of the universe. “How did you do that?” I wasn’t stoned in Jr. high math class.

[Zachary Hoyt]

6 for 75 cents is okay as long as they are bought in even numbers, at 2 for a quarter. Odd numbers would require rounding, which is never fun in a retail context.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

A boyhood friend tried The Missing Dollar Riddle on me. I asked my mom for help trying to figure it out. She very quickly told me "That is not math, that is a trick of words" Mom was a teacher and usually taught English.

[Stan Calow]

The sweet potato calculation in the OP was what we used to be taught as a story problem. A calculator won't help someone figure out how to solve it if the person cant break down the problem into parts. It's the attitude that bothers me: "I dont need to know how to do some things because the computer will do the hard stuff for me." Taking pride in one's ignorance or lack of skill is not a commendable trait. A grade school teacher of mine used to say "if you dont learn how to think, you'll be paying someone else to do it for you."

[Maurice Mcmurry]

OP sure has an appetite for potatoes!

[Patty Hann]

OP sure has an appetite for potatoes!

SWEET Potatoes. Ever had Sweet Potato Pie? Yum.

[Jim Koepke]

SWEET Potatoes. Ever had Sweet Potato Pie? Yum.

I love Sweet Potato Pie. Down where I used to live most of the BBQ places also had Sweet Potato Pie on the menu, yummm.

jtk

[George Yetka]

I think the world could be saved if they stop making school so "inclusive" the no kid left behind way of doing things doesnt help anybody, no one is going to work for it and if they do it will be for a dumbed down version of a curriculum. People still have to live after HS and college. Life is the only real education we have left.

I do think that everything comes later. 60 years ago people had kids at 18 so life came at them fast(quick way to learn) now kids live with their parents till 30. The flipside is a person could afford a 3 bedroom house on an acre of land 60 years ago. Now you need to make your first 1/4 million before you can afford anything.

[Pat Germain]

I think there's a big misunderstanding about "No Child Left Behind". I've heard many people say that means students are promoted to the next grade with no consideration for their abilities. As I understand it, No Child Left Behind is a federal governmant program where students are regularly tested and if the test scores are consistently low, the federal government takes over the school.

I'm not saying students who are promoted to the next grade have actually mastered all the skills from their current grade. I'm saying whether or not students are advanced to the next grade has nothing to do with No Child Left Behind.

Personally, I attribute most of our country's current problems to perpetually underfunded public education, but a detailed discussion about that would not be permitted here.

[Ron Selzer]

"The flipside is a person could afford a 3 bedroom house on an acre of land 60 years ago. Now you need to make your first 1/4 million before you can afford anything."

BS. I tried to buy a house back in the 70's Wanted to buy a new house for 36-40k could not qualify with 2 incomes. Finally bought a house in 1980. House cost 13k NO inside toilet, outside outhouse. No central heat, had room gas heaters, upstairs had gas lights. 110 vac 30 amp electric service, 3 lights and 3 receptacles in the house. House was built in 1913, one family owned. Removed plaster to find brick inside the downstairs walls. Gutted the house, installed all new mechanicals, moved in and drywalled and finished as we could pay for it.
10% interest on the mortgage. A few years later rates went up to 18% with 5 year minimum before refinancing. Glad I bought when I did.
Interest rates all still very reasonable compared to back then. I won't go into which President and political party caused it, do to forum rules. I lived thru it, not the great times some people think it was. Better now than then.
Ron

[Ron Selzer]

Kids are not allowed to "fail" in the schools now. The Teacher must pass them, whether by tutoring, holding the whole class back to work with the ones who refuse to do their work, etc. Teacher has to pass the kids.
Ron