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Are we still acting like this excuse was the actual explanation for why you couldn't use a calculator?
They just said this. It was easier than trying to explain the nuances of education to kids. The actual reason was "because you have to learn to use your brain to do shit, it's kind of important."
Like, this is the equivalent of being upset the gym teacher wouldn't let you use a segway in class. You're missing the point.
While I agree that it is good to learn to do math without a calculator, it's not necessarily the case that the teachers who said "you won't have a calculator with you all the time" didn't think that was the exact reason. Also, there's nothing wrong with just stating the real reason if that's what they really believed.
and unless you're carrying one of those solar powered calculators in your pocket, how are you gonna charge your pocket calculator in the post apocalyptic era? You gonna waste guzzoline to run your car to charge your phone?
One of my professors, at uni, put it best. You should be able to second guess your calculator.
Also, it's often faster to do an approximate calculation in your head, rather than getting out a calculator (or phone) and plugging the numbers in.
112 x 9.
By approximation, it's 100ish by 10ish, so around 1000. This can often be enough. (E.g is a current below 1500mA?)
The calculator should give 1008. If it claims it is 10,080, or 12.4, you know you've screwed up, and should recheck your calculations. If you can't do it in your head, then you can't check for issues.
I do it in my head and then on a calculator because I don't trust my head to do it correctly
Me: 4 + 4 = 8
Calculator: 4 + 4 = 150
Me: pft, stupid brain. This is why we have to use a calculator!
I had a coworker go get a calculator to put in, I shit you not, 10+190
I have to do this before my coffee in the morning. My tired brain can't be trusted to do math.
the thing is: the calculator will always get it right.
our brains use all kinds of shortcuts and patterns so it's not even that rare for mental calculations to end up completely wrong, or you get the right answer but write the wrong thing, which is less likely to happen if you see the digits in front of you and copy them.
When I was a kid and they were parroting that dumb shit, I already had a calculator wristwatch. In fact, I probably bought that calculator watch specifically because my teachers kept saying that. Even back then it was well within the budget of a 6th grade punk who shoveled a couple of driveways or mowed a lawn or two.
I get being annoyed by the excuse when your kid, but it's bizarre seeing adults still harping on this decades later.
You couldn't use a calculator in math class for the same reason you couldn't use a segway in gym class. Because there's a lot more going on in a math class than just teaching you how to enter the correct answer.
Like... presumably most people here took some college of some kind, it shouldn't be hard to grasp that education is a complex and multifaceted thing. It was never just about getting every answer right.
I absolutely agree with you. I do still laugh at the meme, though. It's not because I think my teachers were wrong for teaching basic arithmetic; it's just that "because you won't have a calculator in your pocket" turned out to be an ironically bad reason. 100% still glad to have learned it, though.
This was the dumbest fucking take even before everyone had an always-on pocket computer with them at all times.
Outside of insane scenarios during which you would have everything you need at your immediate disposal, the option always existed to say "I need a calculator for this, brb."
It literally doesn't matter; you can't make proper use of the calculator without knowing how to do the problems without it anyway, so this is just stupid bullshit lazy people throw at you to justify not putting effort into anything
Yeah. You'll probably have access to a calculator these days, but that doesn't mean it's not worth knowing some basic arithmetic. Playing around with arithmetic is a good way to gain an understanding of the fundamentals and have a better sense of what the operations mean and how they work, which helps even when you do have a calculator.
They were still saying this shit in '05 when phones were commonplace amongst teens too.
LYING FOOLS
Yeah, I remember being told this in 2005. Granted phones then were just phones with the calculator program built in because its an easy thing to tack on that costs basically nothing to add. I had a cell phone by then that was basically my own home line (it was always just at home for friends to call me), but like even then adults were largely expected to have a phone of their own. A few years later the 1st iPhone came out.
Talking about supercomputers in your pocket... am I the only one who finds extremely funny when people ask for directions with their smartphone in their hand? Or ask for anything that can be easily solved by just using the device they're already holding? In the past I used to send "Let Me Google That For You" links, but I think I need a "Just use your smartphone!" T-shit or something. :P
Edit: while I find the situation funny, I want to clarify that I never mock people, or be rude to them. I try to go out of my way to help them, since you never know why they don't do the obvious thing.
My parents and grandparents will routinely give me directions to the restaurant we're all going to. In the past I tried to stop them as I can never remember them anyway and certainly don't use the same landmarks. Now I just nod my head and pretend like I got it all on the first try and then just use Google maps like a sane person.
I mean I agree, but also can see the advantage of asking someone who seems like a local if you're confused about the transit system or if you took a wrong turn and just want to get some place without further hassle.
Some people just cant navigate, not much help in google if you don't understand what direction it is telling you to go.
Plus maps aren't always accurate about address locations. So I think it can really depend on exactly the type of direction someone is asking for.
That said, please put a number on your house if you don't already have one.
That's absolutely true. One person asked me for directions once with Google Maps open and pointing where they had to go. Clearly this person was unable to understand the app.
For people whose childhood didn't have an internet, it makes sense. Many are more comfortable getting information the way they used to. Even though I grew up in the 80s, I prefer to avoid having to interact with people when possible, so being able to use the internet for information was a godsend.
Are people trying to argue that we shouldn't teach kids basic arithmetic?
Theres a few schools of thought when it comes to teaching math. Theres the camp that thinks that you should see 285 X 342 and figure out in your head its 97,470. Then theres the other group that goes, well we just need to teach them the concept and then the students apply it. Its people in the first camp that said you'd never have a calculator and just isn't a realistic take on the world anymore. Very rarely do I have to sit down and remember what sin(30) is, but I can still do the trig work I've needed in my day job as a software developer.
No, we teach arithmetic and then once you know it you can use a calculator
Naa it's just bad explanation on why. Use a calculator but a brain will know if you put it in right. Kind of like that scene om starship troopers and the Knife.
When I'm at work, I'll use a calculator to add 5 to 7. And I'll do it twice just to be sure.
Meanwhile almost every job or career uses a calculator to some degree. And those who dont either have no use for them or the math is so simple that you really don't need a calculator.
" or the math is so simple that you really don't need a calculator." That was the math they were trying to get you to remember and know how to figure out.
They also tell you this nowadays. All my good teachers taught me the logic to solve problems and the ability to calculate small things fast because they knew they only had to optimize for me getting my phone out of my pocket.
I've heard complaints of senior software engineers who, though they do all carry calculators in their pockets and even usually have laptops open in front of them in the meetings, avoid doing math of any kind (simple order of magnitude multiplication, for example) in front of other people. Which makes group decision-making super obtuse.
So, maybe there is something for teachers to do along the lines of let's get confident and quick at doing this math however you want to do it. I hope things are changing in this direction.
As a senior software engineer with a degree in electrical engineering, I'll 99% of the time pull up a python shell to do simple arithmetic. Or Google "1 day in minutes"
They are. A lot of the new math curriculum my kid took in elementary school was exactly about that. Estimating, quick ways to calculate things, and sort of an underlying grasp of what it all means vs just memorizing multiplication tables or something. So much better than the bullshit way they taught me 40 years ago.
I wouldn't be surprised if they still say this.
On a semantics level it may be even more true now. Of course you're not going to have an actual calculator in your pocket, why would you when you can have a smartphone
I played math games with my grandkids for pocket change. Get it right, I give them a dime. Get it wrong, they give me a dime. It's cost me at least $100, but they can now accurately do basic math in their heads almost instantly. My grandson went from failing math to excelling in the subject. He can do math faster than using a calculator.
To their credit, I didn't have a cell phone until like 2006, which was seven years after I took my last highschool math class lol
At my job I often don't have easy access to a calculator while having to do some quick maths. But that's very few jobs.