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In article ,
says...

On Fri, 13 Sep 2013 22:41:23 -0400, BAR wrote:

In article , says...

On Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:12:45 -0400, "Mr. Luddite" nowayalso.jose.com
wrote:

I was down in the basement going through some boxes of junk and came
across my K&E sliderule that I used back in high school while taking a
drafting course. I was never very proficient with it, but I
remembered how to do basic functions like multiplying a couple of
numbers.

So, my 15 year old grandson showed up at the house. I handed him the
slide rule and asked him if he knew what it was.

Not a clue. He played with it a little then handed it back asking
what it was.

I explained it was a slide rule and, if you knew how to use it, it
could solve very complex math problems.

He said, "Cool, but I can do all that on my cell phone".

There is some discussion that math skills like long division and doing
square roots may go the way of cursive writing.

My grand daughter, in an advanced school in Palm Beach County, did not
get long division yet ... in the 4th grade.

My daughters AP Calculas, high school, wasn't allowed to use calculators for the first
semester. Calculators should be illegal in schools.

I tried giving some no-calculator tests/quizzes for 8th graders. Many parents went absolutely
bananas. I was improperly penalizing the kids. I had one girl doing a problem at the board in which
she had to multiply 6 times 7. She wanted to go to her desk to get her calculator. I wouldn't let
her.

The dad called the principal, had a meeting, accused me of purposely embarrassing his daughter (who,
he said, was having her period - as though I was supposed to know!). I suggested he buy some
multiplication and division flash cards and use them next time they went to King's Dominion.
Luckily, the principal and I got along very well, or I'd probably have been looking for another job.

John (Gun Nut) H.

Cool story, bro!

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