Had to give my juniors a math writing assignment for their school writing portfolio. Since we were learning about exponents at the time, I gave them 2 different investment scenarios that they had to write about. I found out quickly that my students had no idea what these terms meant: interest, compounding, quarterly, and that the number of years means you don’t get the money until the end.

Ah, yes. The rule of 72.

I had a class similar to this my junior year at Whitley back in 1974-75. Can't remember the name of it, though.

 

Took it at the same time. Ours was Accounting.

Took it at the same time. Ours was Accounting.

 

This class was about more than money. However, the part of the class dealing with writing personal checks and opening and maintaining bank accounts stuck with me.

Agree to a point. But people forget that Algebra teaches logical thinking and problem solving skills—even if you never ever use Algebra again for the rest of your life.

 

I remember doing what my teacher called "what percent?" problems in high school algebra. Those are phenomenally easy for me now. I recently applied to refinance my remaining student loans and being able to calculate the interest based on the numbers in front of me made that process so much easier. Student loans may not be the best example because you're usually starting with interest rate and going forward, but when looking at a budget and figuring out what you can afford to pay, it's a great skill to have.

School librarians today may as well be computer teachers, as well.

 

In the old days, libraries were practically gatekeepers for knowledge as it was expensive to gather and maintain.

 

Now, libraries might be the best floodgates we have to hold back a lot of the nonsense out there. The best librarians are masterful curators of information that can point students toward useful sources and away from the frivolous.

More technology, less traditional instruction

I don't think that you will find an employed welder, electrician, or plumber.

 

Would that be "unemployed"?

Would that be "unemployed"?

:lol2: Yes indeed.

In the old days, libraries were practically gatekeepers for knowledge as it was expensive to gather and maintain.

 

Now, libraries might be the best floodgates we have to hold back a lot of the nonsense out there. The best librarians are masterful curators of information that can point students toward useful sources and away from the frivolous.

And where I work, the librarian is also responsible for several rows of student computers

When I went off to COLLEGE my parents splurged on one present for me. A calculator on which you could add, subtract, multiply and divide. As a special function, you could get a square root.

 

And the the price was only $79.95!

 

Was it solar? That was BIG at the time!

Was it solar? That was BIG at the time!

Our classroom calculators today will create a table of ordered pairs, solve an equation, and so much more. Just teaching the students how to use these calculator features is almost a course itself.