5 ms·

> When all my first-grade classmates were memorizing math facts like “2 + 3 = 5” > I was called out during class when my teacher saw me fiddling with my finger

by msravi 5y ago

> When all my first-grade classmates were memorizing math facts like “2 + 3 = 5” > I was called out during class when my teacher saw me fiddling with my fingers during a classroom exercise From their LinkedIn profile, it appears that the author went to school in the US. I'm not from the US, but my impression of US schools is the complete opposite of one where students are taught to "memorize math facts" or one where students get "called out" for doing something in a different way. In fact, from the many workbooks that I see on the net, my impression is one where a lot of pain is taken to ensure that students understand the material without resorting to rote memorization. Also, my impression is that students, if they show independence of thought or potential in an area, are given a lot of support to pursue it from within the schooling system in the form of being put on accelerated paths, freedom to attend classes of higher grades, etc. In contrast, many other countries have rigid grade structures, where students are forced to stick to the level of discourse in their grade in school, and can only pursue their interest outside the schooling system. Perhaps some of the European systems have it better, but this flexibility to rise beyond your grade within the school system is something that isn't available in a LOT of countries.

spywaregorilla 5y ago
I think there's significant variance, but I don't think this is necessarily the norm. Everyone must memorize some basic tables as well as standard algorithms, but I wouldn't say it ever struck me as a problem. The only exception to this for me was pre-calc, in which they taught us trigonometry rules without explaining it's basic relationships to the unit circle. Our calculus teacher was dumbfounded the next year when we had no intuitive understanding for these things. It took an hour to correct. No big loss. Shrug.
C19is20 5y ago
Music...where 3 + 3 = 5. Ie c to e is a third, and e to g is a third, but c to g is a fifth.
- nixpulvis 5y ago
  Nothing like some good ol' off by one errors.
- drchopchop 5y ago
  Not really. C to E is a major third (4 semitones), E to G is a minor third (3 semitones), and C to G is a fifth (7 semitones). 4 + 3 = 7
- kaoD 5y ago
  Scale degrees are 1-indexed. Unison is the "first" when it should be zeroth if you want to add indices like that. (3-1) + (3-1) = (5-1)
- kevinventullo 5y ago
  Or where 2^7 = 1.5^12. Not really as most professional musicians understand the problem, but it shows that no instrument can be “perfectly” tuned.
- dekhn 5y ago
  it's just 12 notes, ignore the letters. I wrote this program to help me understand scales and modes better. #define TRUE 1 #define FALSE !TRUE void print_key(); void show_scale(); double power(); char notes[13][3]={"A ","A#","B ","C ","C#","D ","D#","E ","F ","F#","G ","G#","A "}; char scale_name[8][12]={"Ion(M)","Dor","Phryg","Lyd","Mixolyd","Aeol(m)","Locr"}; int scale[16]={2,2,1,2,2,2,1,2,2,1,2,2,2,1}; int main() { int key=3,i,its; printf("\nWelcome to Scale Printer.\n\n"); do { print_key(key); printf("\n"); for(i=0;i<=6;i++) { show_scale(key,i,scale_name[i]); printf("\n"); } key = (key + 7) % 12; its++; printf("\n"); } while(its<12); return 0; } void print_key(int key) { int i; printf("Key of %s\t:",notes[key]); for (i=0;i<13;i++) printf("%s ",notes[(key+i) % 12]); } void show_scale(int key,int mode,char \*modename) { int i,j,scale_note; scale_note=key; printf("%s of %s\t:",modename,notes[key]); for(i=0;i<8;i++) { printf("%s",notes[scale_note]); scale_note = (scale_note + scale[i+mode]) % 12; printf(" "); for(j=1;j < scale[i+mode];j++) printf(" "); } }
- j7ake 5y ago
  You’re loose with your definition of a third. If you play C to E and E to G you will notice they are not the same distance.
dfxm12 5y ago
I'm not from the US, but my impression of US schools is You can't generalize US schools. There are a lot of them, and they generally answer to different authorities, local school districts, state school districts, religious (Catholic) schools do their own thing, etc.
antiterra 5y ago
The algorithmic flexibility is part of ‘common core’ which is in most US schools now. However the method teaching algorithmic flexibility is often forcing the kids to use each of the several algorithms and marking their answers wrong if they didn’t use the technique requested by a specific question.
Bodell 5y ago
I remember having some issues the year when I switched schools and states in 3rd or 4th grade (not sure exactly). The school district we moved to had kids memorizing all their multiplication tables and would do 2 min tests to ensure they were memorized and not thought about. I did terribly on these tests because I had not memorized them the year or a half year before like the other kids since I was at a different school. My mother got upset that I was being failed in math because she knew I was good at math. So she took me with her to parent-teacher day made me do double-digit multiplication in my head in front of my teacher. This was something no other kid in my class could do and made it apparent to my teacher that I should not be failing math. As an adult, I have mixed feelings about this experience. My mother used to brag about this she had me do it in front of her friends, other parents with kids my age. I distinctly remember during this in a Perkins while trying to enjoy my breakfast. For me, this was simply a trick involving a larger “working memory” as opposed to “rote memory”. Being that it was still a matter of being a “trick” that required practice albeit a different kind of practice it becomes something I thought of as a trained monkey scenario. This has come up a lot I’m my life. I worked in construction for a while out of high school and my boss would treat me this way as well. He would have me be his human calculator to help him figure out measurements. One time this was going on in a complicated octagonal room where we were trying to lay out brackets for a projection screen. He asked me to run some numbers for him and I refused. I did this because I understood what he thought he was doing but knew that his method was flawed. So I refused to give him the wrong answer, even though it was the right answer to the numbers he gave me. It caused I really big fight where he began talking down to me and tried to put me in my place. Another Forman was there who witnessed the whole thing and I ended up doing a job with that other guy like 6 months later, but he had not forgotten the incident. He brought it up and gave me a long speech about how I should have just given my boss what he asked for instead of the correct measurements. Something I, to this day, steadfastly disagree with. Fast forward a year or two and my boss was fired due to his incompetence in measuring and ordering the materials that cost the company many tens of thousands of dollars. Intelligence and thinking skills, in general, are practiced and exercised. However, they are not trained-monkey tricks. It is a method of living well and garnering fullness from life. And to no other end is it acceptable to waste such a thing.
bordercases 5y ago
It's because he's hyperbolizing.
necheffa 5y ago
I graduated highschool in the U.S. in 2009. Was forced to memorize times tables, long division, random formulas. Rarely was proof based instruction provided. Some teachers encouraged creative thought, others would mark a correct answer wrong because you didn't use the specific method they taught in class. Ironically, having graduated college with a minor in mathematics - I still don't have my times tables memorized.

by msravi 5y ago

spywaregorilla 5y ago

I think there's significant variance, but I don't think this is necessarily the norm. Everyone must memorize some basic tables as well as standard algorithms, but I wouldn't say it ever struck me as a problem. The only exception to this for me was pre-calc, in which they taught us trigonometry rules without explaining it's basic relationships to the unit circle. Our calculus teacher was dumbfounded the next year when we had no intuitive understanding for these things. It took an hour to correct. No big loss. Shrug.

C19is20 5y ago

Music...where 3 + 3 = 5. Ie c to e is a third, and e to g is a third, but c to g is a fifth.

nixpulvis 5y ago
Nothing like some good ol' off by one errors.
drchopchop 5y ago
Not really. C to E is a major third (4 semitones), E to G is a minor third (3 semitones), and C to G is a fifth (7 semitones). 4 + 3 = 7
kaoD 5y ago
Scale degrees are 1-indexed. Unison is the "first" when it should be zeroth if you want to add indices like that. (3-1) + (3-1) = (5-1)
kevinventullo 5y ago
Or where 2^7 = 1.5^12. Not really as most professional musicians understand the problem, but it shows that no instrument can be “perfectly” tuned.
dekhn 5y ago
it's just 12 notes, ignore the letters. I wrote this program to help me understand scales and modes better. #define TRUE 1 #define FALSE !TRUE void print_key(); void show_scale(); double power(); char notes[13][3]={"A ","A#","B ","C ","C#","D ","D#","E ","F ","F#","G ","G#","A "}; char scale_name[8][12]={"Ion(M)","Dor","Phryg","Lyd","Mixolyd","Aeol(m)","Locr"}; int scale[16]={2,2,1,2,2,2,1,2,2,1,2,2,2,1}; int main() { int key=3,i,its; printf("\nWelcome to Scale Printer.\n\n"); do { print_key(key); printf("\n"); for(i=0;i<=6;i++) { show_scale(key,i,scale_name[i]); printf("\n"); } key = (key + 7) % 12; its++; printf("\n"); } while(its<12); return 0; } void print_key(int key) { int i; printf("Key of %s\t:",notes[key]); for (i=0;i<13;i++) printf("%s ",notes[(key+i) % 12]); } void show_scale(int key,int mode,char \*modename) { int i,j,scale_note; scale_note=key; printf("%s of %s\t:",modename,notes[key]); for(i=0;i<8;i++) { printf("%s",notes[scale_note]); scale_note = (scale_note + scale[i+mode]) % 12; printf(" "); for(j=1;j < scale[i+mode];j++) printf(" "); } }
j7ake 5y ago
You’re loose with your definition of a third. If you play C to E and E to G you will notice they are not the same distance.

dfxm12 5y ago

I'm not from the US, but my impression of US schools is You can't generalize US schools. There are a lot of them, and they generally answer to different authorities, local school districts, state school districts, religious (Catholic) schools do their own thing, etc.

antiterra 5y ago

The algorithmic flexibility is part of ‘common core’ which is in most US schools now. However the method teaching algorithmic flexibility is often forcing the kids to use each of the several algorithms and marking their answers wrong if they didn’t use the technique requested by a specific question.

Bodell 5y ago

I remember having some issues the year when I switched schools and states in 3rd or 4th grade (not sure exactly). The school district we moved to had kids memorizing all their multiplication tables and would do 2 min tests to ensure they were memorized and not thought about. I did terribly on these tests because I had not memorized them the year or a half year before like the other kids since I was at a different school. My mother got upset that I was being failed in math because she knew I was good at math. So she took me with her to parent-teacher day made me do double-digit multiplication in my head in front of my teacher. This was something no other kid in my class could do and made it apparent to my teacher that I should not be failing math. As an adult, I have mixed feelings about this experience. My mother used to brag about this she had me do it in front of her friends, other parents with kids my age. I distinctly remember during this in a Perkins while trying to enjoy my breakfast. For me, this was simply a trick involving a larger “working memory” as opposed to “rote memory”. Being that it was still a matter of being a “trick” that required practice albeit a different kind of practice it becomes something I thought of as a trained monkey scenario. This has come up a lot I’m my life. I worked in construction for a while out of high school and my boss would treat me this way as well. He would have me be his human calculator to help him figure out measurements. One time this was going on in a complicated octagonal room where we were trying to lay out brackets for a projection screen. He asked me to run some numbers for him and I refused. I did this because I understood what he thought he was doing but knew that his method was flawed. So I refused to give him the wrong answer, even though it was the right answer to the numbers he gave me. It caused I really big fight where he began talking down to me and tried to put me in my place. Another Forman was there who witnessed the whole thing and I ended up doing a job with that other guy like 6 months later, but he had not forgotten the incident. He brought it up and gave me a long speech about how I should have just given my boss what he asked for instead of the correct measurements. Something I, to this day, steadfastly disagree with. Fast forward a year or two and my boss was fired due to his incompetence in measuring and ordering the materials that cost the company many tens of thousands of dollars. Intelligence and thinking skills, in general, are practiced and exercised. However, they are not trained-monkey tricks. It is a method of living well and garnering fullness from life. And to no other end is it acceptable to waste such a thing.

bordercases 5y ago

It's because he's hyperbolizing.

necheffa 5y ago

I graduated highschool in the U.S. in 2009. Was forced to memorize times tables, long division, random formulas. Rarely was proof based instruction provided. Some teachers encouraged creative thought, others would mark a correct answer wrong because you didn't use the specific method they taught in class. Ironically, having graduated college with a minor in mathematics - I still don't have my times tables memorized.