kitchen table math, the sequel: new aphorism !

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

new aphorism !

from the instructivist:

People will not earn a living, they'll learn a living.

I'm adding that to my collection.

I must say, Instructivist has outdone himself. This will be a classic in the Annals of the Revolution.

Should such occur.

.
Posted by at

7 comments:

Barry Garelick said...

Brings to mind a dialogue I had with my advisor at ed school. (She has a masters in math from a good school, but I think it was the PhD in education that may have altered her thinking):

I had asked her about the Praxis II exam in math that is required for certification. She advised me to get a graphing calculator since it is required for the test.

I remarked:

Yes, I'm aware of the graphing calculator need. I've seen the
sample questions which require that one visually inspect a graph
of a polynomial to see where the zero's of the polynomial are in
order to answer the question in less than 30 seconds. Seems the
rudiments of math are fast becoming a lost art.

Her reply:

It's not that the rudiments are becoming a lost art. More that what is rudimentary is changing in a technology-based, age-of-
information. For example, as technology facilitates the generation of graphs and other complex visual representations, students need to be able to interpret them. There was a time when writing down the plus and minus symbols was considered a "crutch". What is "basic" or "fundamental" or "rudimentary" is by no means fixed and never has been.

And so as long as we're revisiting oldies but goodies, I offer this quip from Steve H as a rejoinder:

"Has anyone checked what 8 x 7 is lately?"

April 24, 2007 at 12:15 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

Has anyone checked what 8 x 7 is lately?

One of my favorites!

I quote that a lot.

I love instructivist's line about educrats being infatuated with change.

April 24, 2007 at 2:04 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

I wish to heck I could put my hands on the board email from a couple of years back in which the Board president, who works at Morgan & Stanley, said the reason they were adopting Trailblazers was that "math has become language-based."

This was back when I first met Carolyn, before we started writing ktm.

April 24, 2007 at 2:05 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

math has become language based

April 24, 2007 at 2:05 PM
KDeRosa said...

Geem now whose fault is that?

April 24, 2007 at 2:23 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

haha

oh gosh - hey!

if you're around, did you see the latest Board Meeting Guidelines???

April 24, 2007 at 2:50 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

I'm going to have to have an attorney on retainer just to deal with my School Board.

April 24, 2007 at 2:51 PM

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