Quote:
Originally Posted by Mortis
Ok, I'm not the only one that remembers having to "Show your work" and no calculators in class?
When my daughter started 6th grade one of the things on her school supply lists was a calculator, I have to admit being a little confused. I was told, when I demanded to know why a 6th grader needs a calculator, that the children need to be taught how to use the "Proper" tools. I really thought the "Proper tool" would be their mind? But I am sure I'm over reacting and they will always have a calculator handy for those difficult math problems: "If I leave city "A" on a train traveling at 100km/h how long will it take me to get to the drinking car?" 
I have worked with some younger people, I am only talking about the younger people I have worked with, so this is not a generalization, that needed a calculator to figure out percentage! They couldn't do it long hand? Hell these youngsters couldn't split the cheque without a cell phone calculator, I mean really the final bill was $80/4 people, they needed a calculator to figure this out, but they could always figure out how many more pigs they needed in Farmville!
Why do I feel the urge to chase kids off my lawn all of a sudden?
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Maths exams here require the students to show their working.
Correct answer but no working fails, whilst working but wrong answer at least gives some marks.
Some kids at 15-16 do not know fractions ..... nor are they clear about what % means.
At least one has used a calculator to work out what 1 * 10 is .....