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Categories: Failure of Education
Failure of Education
Facts Explaining Our Situation
We always wonder why the US has the problems that it has. Here are some facts that might explain it. 54% of adults read at or below the sixth-grade level. There are eight times as many Read more…
17 Comments
it's just Boris · May 23, 2023 at 9:33 am
Two hours five minutes:
1.5 hours to drive to and from Home Depot.
0.5 hours to pick out a good circular saw and blade, grab some safety glasses, and check out.
1 minute to move the board and sawhorses near the power outlet
1 minute to glance through the saw’s manual
1 minute to install the saw blade, plug it in and put on the safety glasses
30 seconds to make the cuts, including repositioning the board
1.5 minutes to sweep up
(Hey, any opportunity to buy a new power tool…)
Big Ruckus D · May 23, 2023 at 12:03 pm
Add another 1.75 hours to drive out to the edge of town (to the only real lumber yard still in business) to buy your boards, since the Home Depot lumber is so badly warped it’s only fit for building boat hulls or skateboard ramps.
Actually, add another 30 mins to that to do the credit application for a new card at 29.4% interest, just to be able to buy the lumber at current prices since you are already maxed out on your other 7 accounts. That’s America in 2023, fuck yeah!
The next question on the worksheet was:
A train arrives in East Palestine, OH at 7am carrying several tons of hazmat, travelling at 30 mph. How long does it take for the whole town to get screwed by the government?
It's just Boris · May 23, 2023 at 1:23 pm
Trick question: they were screwed before the train even got there.
Don Curton · May 24, 2023 at 9:20 am
Don’t forget the30 minute ride to ER, the 12 hours waiting in the ER behind dozens of illegals, 15 minutes to get stitches, 45 more minutes to get discharged, 30 minute ride back home, and an hour to clean up the dried blood all over the garage.
Or is that just me?
Rick · May 23, 2023 at 9:39 am
And the Ed major giving the test has NO idea why the official answer is wrong. Same kind of question as “An orchestra of 100 players can perform Beethoven’s 6st Symphony in 40 minutes. With 150 players how long will it take?”
Fetterman · May 23, 2023 at 9:59 am
Bicycle chicken corn missile dog?
Aesop · May 23, 2023 at 10:58 am
Fetterman’s reply wins the Internetz for the day!
I’m reminded of the classic math teacher answer:
“If one man can build a house in twelve days, twelve man can build a house in one day. It’s pure mathematics.”
“Right!” replied the class wiseass. “So it stands to reason that 288 men could build a house in one hour; 17,280 men could build a house in one minute; and 1,036,800 men could build a house in one second. It’s pure mathematics.”
Toastrider · May 23, 2023 at 11:14 am
It took me a minute, I admit. Then I thought about it.
‘Wait, if it takes 10 minutes to cut through the board, every additional sectioning adds +10 minutes. So 20 minutes, not fifteen.’
Paul Chappell · May 23, 2023 at 11:22 am
I use the joke about the 3 finalists in an interview for a job… Last question was 2+2. The Mathematician answered “$, and I can prove it a number of ways if required”. The interviewer thanked him for his time. The Engineer answered “4, it’s obvious. Was there anything else?” The interviewer thanked him for his time. The Accountant replied “What do you need it to be”… Guess who got the job? But then I’m just an engineer, so what would I know 🙂
Richard F · May 23, 2023 at 11:23 am
I’ll be honest, I had to look at it again. And I’m not an ed major, just a dude who didn’t have his coffee yet.
Yep. 20 minutes. 10 per cut. Dumbass.
oldvet50 · May 23, 2023 at 1:48 pm
If you fold the board in half and make a cut through the now thicker board, it will take a little longer to cut through it….because its thicker, so 15 minutes makes sense in this case.
wojtek · May 23, 2023 at 6:59 pm
Good one 🙂 Though I have seen worse 🙂 Or better, depending how you think about it.
Iwoots · May 23, 2023 at 10:21 pm
Please tell me this is fake. Otherwise the mind boggles at the number of people who messed up the editing of the textbook/answer page; and the number of teachers who demonstrated the worthlessness of their college degrees by not telling every student ‘Take a Sharpie, and black out #4.’
Jim_R · May 24, 2023 at 8:58 am
In grade school in the ’60s, a test problem was 3 – 5 = ? My answer of -2 was marked incorrect – the teacher wanted me to answer 0. I argued that negative two is the right answer when the math is done correctly. Her reply was that she hadn’t taught me that yet, so the correct answer was 0…
wojtek · May 24, 2023 at 10:41 am
Unfortunately this is the standard approach today as well: the answer must fit within the concepts that were taught, and an answer (even a correct answer) that does not fit, is wrong. E.g., regular 6th grade math and a question about the length of the hypotenuse in a right isosceles triangle with adjacent sides of length 1. The answer teacher expects is 1. Not root of 2. Clever teacher will not penalize the student for the correct answer, but will still expect an answer of 1 next time. Stupid teacher will penalize the student for a correct answer.
Divemedic · May 24, 2023 at 11:15 am
There are times when you must do so as a teacher. See my post tomorrow for an example of that.
wojtek · May 24, 2023 at 10:46 pm
Oh sure, of course sometimes you need to oversimplify with kids. Esp. with science. But nothing excuses a teacher who punishes a kid for a correct answer (which was the real-life conclusion of my story above). Still, looking forward to your post tomorrow. A great blog, glad to have found it.
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