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Apr. 2nd, 2013 11:47 pmOkay first of all, some person almost ran over me today in her car. What the fuck. I checked both ways before stepping into the crosswalk (even though I have right of way. Because I'm a pedestrian. In a crosswalk. With no light.) and there weren't even any cars around. And I got halfway across and she went right in front of me doing like 30MPH when I know the speed limit all across campus is 15-20MPH. I wonder if she hit someone else, since there's like two more crosswalks on that street alone and she didn't even slow down after almost hitting me.
And then in my Personal Finance class today, there was a student who didn't know what 30% of 100 was. The whole class is kind of depressing since most of the students don't know how to take 10% of a number without using their calculator, but that was a new low.
Not that I'm making fun of her, it's the school system I'm appalled with - that she could have graduated High School and got into college without anyone ever teaching her how percentages actually work. I really think percentages, ratios, and exponents should be considered as much of a math basic as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Exponents because they're necessary for a lot of higher math (just the basic theories would be nice - there's a lot of students in my econ classes who don't understand what a fraction exponent is), and percentages and ratios because they're so simple and so necessary to every day life - shopping (sales almost always operate on percents and ratios, obviously), using credit cards or accruing other debt (including financing for big, important purchases like cars and houses), taxes.
I could even leave out exponents, but I seriously don't understand how percents and ratios are considered inessential for American curriculum. At my school we spent a tiny portion of one year on them. That was it. It was pretty much set up so that if you never understood them, you could still pass the year. That's not okay. This kind of shit is seriously one of the reasons we have so many conservatives (I can tell you this, because I sit in Econ and Accounting classes every day and watch other students become more liberal as they learn more math and learn how taxes and government payouts (welfare, Pigue taxes) work. You know what understanding taxes is kind of relevant to? Your entire fucking life. Because you pay taxes. You know what's essential to understanding taxes? Some math basics!)
Not that percentages and ratios being considered basics would probably help anything. I was never taught how to do long division (by hand), and I still don't know how to.
And then in my Personal Finance class today, there was a student who didn't know what 30% of 100 was. The whole class is kind of depressing since most of the students don't know how to take 10% of a number without using their calculator, but that was a new low.
Not that I'm making fun of her, it's the school system I'm appalled with - that she could have graduated High School and got into college without anyone ever teaching her how percentages actually work. I really think percentages, ratios, and exponents should be considered as much of a math basic as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Exponents because they're necessary for a lot of higher math (just the basic theories would be nice - there's a lot of students in my econ classes who don't understand what a fraction exponent is), and percentages and ratios because they're so simple and so necessary to every day life - shopping (sales almost always operate on percents and ratios, obviously), using credit cards or accruing other debt (including financing for big, important purchases like cars and houses), taxes.
I could even leave out exponents, but I seriously don't understand how percents and ratios are considered inessential for American curriculum. At my school we spent a tiny portion of one year on them. That was it. It was pretty much set up so that if you never understood them, you could still pass the year. That's not okay. This kind of shit is seriously one of the reasons we have so many conservatives (I can tell you this, because I sit in Econ and Accounting classes every day and watch other students become more liberal as they learn more math and learn how taxes and government payouts (welfare, Pigue taxes) work. You know what understanding taxes is kind of relevant to? Your entire fucking life. Because you pay taxes. You know what's essential to understanding taxes? Some math basics!)
Not that percentages and ratios being considered basics would probably help anything. I was never taught how to do long division (by hand), and I still don't know how to.
