a
later
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why americans are so dumb

September 19, 2005

It’s because of the ‘education’ they’re getting.

I’m sitting here looking at Jack’s schoolwork. The teacher has given him an F on a paper for having only 7 correct out of 12 questions. However, he actually has 10 correct.

On the sheet, there is an array of dots, 4 columns and 9 rows. It asks for the ‘number model’ for the given array and Jack has written 4*9 = 36. The teacher has marked this wrong and written 9*4=36 instead. Did she not learn about the commutative property of multiplication?

The following question asks for the number model for a 5 column, 5 row array and Jack has correctly put in 5*5=25.

The next question asks “Which of the arrays above shows a square number?” and Jack has answered ‘both’. The teacher has marked this, and the next part of the question (explain your answer, to which Jack has written ‘25 and 36 are square numbers’), as wrong.

Um, hello, since when is 36 not a square number just because you happened to arrange it in a 4 by 9 grid? A value is a value is a value, and 36 is always a square number.

And this is only 5th grade. And a supposedly ‘good’ school system.

categorizing: ann arbor • rants

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commenting:

Ugh. Go call out the teacher!

Comment by srah — September 20, 2005 @ 7:06 pm

Dear Ann,

I will submit your report to my colleagues at the Pedagogical Department. They like jokes, although it might not be so funny for you.

Of course, you will not get an answer as they are fully engaged but, I am sure, they will read it. And, I am sure again, they know a lot of other examples happend on the other site of the “Atlantic puddle”.

Cheers
Igor

(Dr.Mag. Igor Tureček)

Comment by Igor Tureček — September 25, 2005 @ 12:55 pm

Dear Laura,

I am very sorry for the name confusion.

Cheers
Igor

Comment by Igor Tureček — September 25, 2005 @ 1:06 pm

[...] was in 5th grade, I had a run-in with his teacher over homework which failed to acknowledge that both 36 and 25 are square numbers, no matter how they are displayed in an [...]

Pingback by mitten muses, rants and raves about life, the internet, web design and art » why americans continue to be dumb — September 24, 2007 @ 6:43 pm

With fifth grade teachers like this educating the American populous, it appears we will soon be getting many more winners on “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”

I propose a new educational policy… forget No CHILD Left Behind… how about No Teacher Left Behind?

Comment by Michael Beck — October 14, 2007 @ 11:33 am

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This is Laura Fisher's blog, coming to you from Ann Arbor, Michigan. You might know me as mitten and you can find me in many online communities under that name. Comments are welcome here, or you can write to me more privately via the contact form.

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