4 ms·

You're pinning too much on supposed bad teachers, and not enough on your past-self's youthful incomplete understanding. 1/2 of a pie is 2/4 of a pie, 2 slices

by gohrt 10y ago

You're pinning too much on supposed bad teachers, and not enough on your past-self's youthful incomplete understanding. 1/2 of a pie is 2/4 of a pie, 2 slices of four is the same fraction as 1 slice of 2. It's exactly the same idea as the equivalence classes, where the ratio matters but the description does not. You just didn't understand that at the time. > the very idea of discussing solutions to an equation will never be allowed in an elementary school classroom. My kid is in first grade and his homework is to solve equations of the form "7+2=__" and "9-__=7"

nilkn 10y ago
With all due respect, that sounds like straight-up circular logic to me. You're arguing that 1/2 = 2/4 because "1/2 [...] is [...] 2/4". You're just restating the conclusion as an explanation of itself, which is completely unsatisfactory. Another way of putting it: > 2 slices of four is the same fraction as 1 slice of 2. The phrase "is the same fraction as" is obviously inappropriate and explicitly circular and self-referential in any definition of "fraction". I don't think you've thought about this as deeply as you think you have.
tropo 10y ago
Similar problem from a local school: "__ - 9 = 9" The teacher would accept 9 or 0 as an answer, not 18. A parent (with math degree even) who was volunteering pointed out that 18 is correct. The teacher ruled against this, arguing that 18 was unacceptable because math with 2-digit numbers hadn't been covered yet. This was at a "good" school, in a county full of nerds. Such logic. Poor kids... and people wonder why kids hate math and give up on it.
- glandium 10y ago
  How do they justify 0 or 9 as an answer? 9 - 9 is not 9, neither is 0 - 9.
  - tropo 10y ago
    Yeah... I suppose the "logic" is that stuff involving 9 could connect up with stuff involving 0 or 9. Since all other 1-digit answers seem more distantly related, and the answer has to be 1-digit because 2-digit hasn't been covered, 0 and 9 are the most attractive answers and therefore correct. ??? Remember, that was a class with smart kids in a school in a good area. Imagine what it might be like in not-so-good areas or in the classes that aren't for smart kids. People who truly hate math are teaching. My sister-in-law is an example. She got a "degree" in "early childhood education". It's a joke. The hardest math she had to pass was algebra, as is taught in 7th grade. Boy did she complain about that class. She thought it was really hard to pass algebra. I'm horrified she got more than halfway through high school without it, yet there she was, taking it in college. Teachers have serious credential inflation. Many have Master's degrees... but are those degrees worth anything?

by gohrt 10y ago

nilkn 10y ago

With all due respect, that sounds like straight-up circular logic to me. You're arguing that 1/2 = 2/4 because "1/2 [...] is [...] 2/4". You're just restating the conclusion as an explanation of itself, which is completely unsatisfactory. Another way of putting it: > 2 slices of four is the same fraction as 1 slice of 2. The phrase "is the same fraction as" is obviously inappropriate and explicitly circular and self-referential in any definition of "fraction". I don't think you've thought about this as deeply as you think you have.

tropo 10y ago

Similar problem from a local school: "__ - 9 = 9" The teacher would accept 9 or 0 as an answer, not 18. A parent (with math degree even) who was volunteering pointed out that 18 is correct. The teacher ruled against this, arguing that 18 was unacceptable because math with 2-digit numbers hadn't been covered yet. This was at a "good" school, in a county full of nerds. Such logic. Poor kids... and people wonder why kids hate math and give up on it.

glandium 10y ago
How do they justify 0 or 9 as an answer? 9 - 9 is not 9, neither is 0 - 9.
- tropo 10y ago
  Yeah... I suppose the "logic" is that stuff involving 9 could connect up with stuff involving 0 or 9. Since all other 1-digit answers seem more distantly related, and the answer has to be 1-digit because 2-digit hasn't been covered, 0 and 9 are the most attractive answers and therefore correct. ??? Remember, that was a class with smart kids in a school in a good area. Imagine what it might be like in not-so-good areas or in the classes that aren't for smart kids. People who truly hate math are teaching. My sister-in-law is an example. She got a "degree" in "early childhood education". It's a joke. The hardest math she had to pass was algebra, as is taught in 7th grade. Boy did she complain about that class. She thought it was really hard to pass algebra. I'm horrified she got more than halfway through high school without it, yet there she was, taking it in college. Teachers have serious credential inflation. Many have Master's degrees... but are those degrees worth anything?