85% of people in America don't know basic math.

I'm sorry to say it but Britain is failing it's future generation too. The standards in education have fallen dramatically.
 

I think the plan is to create a society in which everyone is equal. This is being done by bringing everyone down to the level of the least able. It's creating a society of ignorant peasants. I suppose the poorly educated are easier to control.
 
Jace said:
'We'..(the class)..sat there and..said out loud..the Times Tables....
Thought...what a waste of time.

But...it did 'sink in'..
And...has 'come in Handy's

Anyone else...remember those days?'
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Absolutely. I also thought it was a waste of time until in my career I needed to handle budgets for a sales team's travel expenses, marketing funds for accounts, funds for conferences and events, etc. And I needed to present an annual budget to our company's president, who came from a banking background, so I needed to know my stuff.

In retirement I manage the finances for our household and make sure we will have enough $$$ to live on long-term. This is no less important. I'm no CPA but I sure was glad I learned math.
 
Lavinia said:
I think the plan is to create a society in which everyone is equal. This is being done by bringing everyone down to the level of the least able. It's creating a society of ignorant peasants. I suppose the poorly educated are easier to control.
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That's about offering the white western world to China on a silver platter. But there is hope: The former members of the Warsaw Pact (Central and Eastern Europe) don't play that game and Italy's new PM is making a statement ...
 
Jace said:
'We'..(the class)..sat there and..said out loud..the Times Tables....
Thought...what a waste of time.

But...it did 'sink in'..
And...has 'come in Handy

Anyone else...remember those days?'
Click to expand...
Yes, we did too, in Kowloon Junior School.....Hong Kong.
The times tables are imprinted in my memory.....like the alphabet song is.
I can still perform long division and long multiplication sums on paper, not that I have to with cheap calculators available. Oh yeah, smartphones too......
 
Was never a fan in school, but I could do all the basic stuff. When I went into business for myself as a contractor I had to step up my game doing bids, and keeping books. When I started doing machining work the formulas became more involved and have learned enough to do what I need to accomplish. I find it much more interesting when it is applied to a real world problem.
 
Repondering said:
Yes, we did too, in Kowloon Junior School.....Hong Kong.
The times tables are imprinted in my memory.....like the alphabet song is.
I can still perform long division and long multiplication sums on paper, not that I have to with cheap calculators available. Oh yeah, smartphones too......
Click to expand...
But can you do this šŸ‘‡ ā‰ļø
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Nothing new there. Found that out decades ago in the USAF after living my K12 years in outer suburban California neighborhoods, was introduced to the education level of most other young enlistees from the rest of the nation. Math may be poor but worse are all those from secondary schools that still can't write a coherent sentence in English. Oh, I guess that is why the one sentence Twitter world is so popular.

Thanks to years of open borders and visa overstays, here in California most public school demographics are dominated by immigrant children that have language issues. Huge differences in test scores in all subjects between rich upper class neighborhoods and the rest. But hey, Wallstreet gets cheap labor for their Global Economy, real estate and financial corps wealth seekers play golf living in Palm Springs, and teachers unions are happy with endless expanding jobs and career choices.
 
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85% that's huge... however it could potentially be because since Millennials were at school they've been permitted to use calculators in class. I was never happy about it but it was allowed....so in reality it may mean 85 % of a certain age bracket ( those under 50)

Fortunately even tho' my daughter is a Millennial.. Maths was her forte and she went onto get A level in Maths...

I was and still am good at Mental arithmetic... but just scraped through Maths at school.. it was my worst subject
 
I came from the old way of mental math, long division, and etc. But times have changed with technology. Millennials and Gen Z would want nothing do with the old system when they can compute whatever they want with a cell phone. As a boomer, I am with it. If for example, I was sitting at my laptop, I would simply open another window to use a calculator.
 
And that's sad! Wait...are you among the 85%, does your title contain a typo or are you just funnin' us? You said thank God you are in the other 25% when, of course it should be 15%. :D My brilliant granddaughter is so much better at math than I ever was. Her mother said she walked in on her showing a calculation to her teacher after class and the teacher was saying "oh that's how you do that!" Her mother said she felt like she was watching a scene from A Beautiful Mind. BTW

welcome-beach-680x425-3135037026.jpg
 
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Nosy Bee-54 said:
I came from the old way of mental math, long division, and etc. But times have changed with technology. Millennials and Gen Z would want nothing do with the old system when they can compute whatever they want with a cell phone. As a boomer, I am with it. If for example, I was sitting at my laptop, I would simply open another window to use a calculator.
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The thing about using any calculator that does not print out results is you should always do whatever problem a minimum of twice (preferably entering the components in a different order, by reversing a division problem by multiplying your answer by the devisor). Always check your work. i developed the habit early (Dad taught me all 4 basic math functions when i was 4 yrs old and taught me to double check my work.)

Oh and no-one should feel bad if they have trouble with algebra and other 'higher math'. Two different kinds of thought processes involved often those adept at basic math, struggle with higher math and vice versa. When there are errors in higher math they most often are not from how the algorithm is formed but how the person performed basic math (add, subtract, multiply, divide) within their formula.

Edit: Personally i've always found basic math more useful and relevant in everyday life. While i struggled with algebra courses i've never had problems with formulas for figuring sales tax, interest, the area or volume of a space (like how many cans of paint do i need if 1 gallon can covers X sq ft.) because those are very practical applications to me.
 
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When my son was born...1984...the big thing on the news was boys failing in math. So I made sure he had a good start before public school. To this day he has excellent math skills. Spelling is another story. But he works in the steel construction industry and does multi million dollar builds. His math skills have helped him think on his feet in meetings and when negotiating changes on the fly. He can calculate gains and losses while everyone else is still asking their phone for the answer. His boss is amazed when someone throws our a 2 or 3 percent increase or loss. Some at the table shrug and think its not much. Others try to punch it into their phone before weighing in. My son will have the dollar figure ready for debate. He's also amazed at the otherwise successful people in his business that have such poor math skills. They rely on technology and him! We can do better!
 
Evada said:
But can you do this šŸ‘‡ ā‰ļø...
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Rather trivial as long as one still knows by pencil how to calculate multi digit square roots. Basic issue for we Earth monkeys that a majority don't understand once they leave school due to the nature of neural plasticity is, use it or lose it, as otherwise any thing learned will gradually degenerate.

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In this era as a now retired hi tech career person, I regularly use Excel at an advanced level to efficiently perform of complex math and despite not writing C code much anymore, code in HTML with CSS regularly. That, writing grammar skills, and more gives me a huge advantage over others on web boards like this, especially given all my imaging science skills.
 
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Lavinia said:
I think the plan is to create a society in which everyone is equal. This is being done by bringing everyone down to the level of the least able. It's creating a society of ignorant peasants. I suppose the poorly educated are easier to control.
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Russia is proof of that. They also have an 85% alcoholism rate.

hmm.
 

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