Quote:
Originally Posted by jswinden
Yep, in the USA they often do. The little buggers are packing laptops, iPads, and iPhones. It is a wonder they get around to actually learning anything. In my day we had to use slide rules in math class. Even in college we were not allowed to use the new TI electronic pocket calculators that had just hit the market. The profs were afraid we would program the answers into them. Now a days though USA school kids rely on computers and calculators. That is why McDonald's and other fast food restaurants have to use special cash registers with pictures on them instead of numbers! The kids who work at McDonald's cannot add numbers. I think we went way overboard in the use of computerized aids for school kids because now they cannot even add well, much less work calculus equations.
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I'm pretty supremely unconcerned about any of that. He can already do arithmetic just fine, thanks, being the end of Australian primary school with some quality teaching and learning having taken place. His last lot of formal testing they were allowed to use calculators for one portion, and he didn't bother, just for a challenge.
Any teacher with a clue is aware of things like How Calculators Work. The tests at the moment tend to have one portion with calculators allowed, and one not, so that kids both learn head/paper calculations and learn to use appropriate tools. The tech isn't a problem; some teaching methods may be. There have always been illiterate and innumerate kids out there. It's also possible that these days, they're expected to function in environments they would not have been expected to function in in the past.
Back in my day, most high school students graduated without even knowing how to touch-type. They were completely unprepared for the modern world!!1!