Kids Today...

Last week Malcolm and I were driving and a few 20-somethings were crossing the street. We resurrected a conversation we've been having for a few weeks: Tattoos seem to be mandatory for people of this age. We laughed as we thought of how we sounded "old"...talking about "kids these days and their crazy tats" (short for tattoos, because that's the hip lingo). When I think of tats I think of 2 things: pain and hepatitis, neither of which I want. I do not feel passionately enough about anything to have it permanently engraved in ink on my skin.

Things have changed a lot over the years for me. I am not sure how I went from 16 to 42, but it happened. I recall a time when 4o was ancient, something I am sure some of my students think when they look at me. I usually work with young children, but sometimes work with high school students. High school students have no idea how easy they've got it. (See, only old people say that.) My student today brought in his Geography project on world religions. He had to pick a religion and make a poster about it. When I went to high school, that would have been the extent of the directions. This kid brought me a 2-page document. The first page had a list of the things the poster should include. There were 10 categories and each was listed like this: 1) Origin of religion a) Why did it start? b) When did it start? List at least 5 major milestones in this religion's development. Include a visual.

On the reverse was what we teachers call a rubric, or a list of criteria on which your project will be graded. It lists how it will be graded (Creativity, Neatness, Level of detail, Clarity, etc.). It then lists what constitutes Excellent, Good, Pair, Poor.

So basically, you get an outline to follow, and if you follow the written instructions you are guaranteed at least a B. If you make the extra effort - and the rubric tells you what is considered the extra effort - you can easily get an A. We got our papers back with some random letter or number grade, with no clue as to why or how we got it.

So, imagine my annoyance when my student handed me 3 pages of random sentences about Christianity not in any order, or organized in any fashion. I asked him if this was all he'd done; of course, it was. I xeroxed his "notes" and had him write the 10 categories (and their accompanying questions to answer) each on a piece of paper. We then cut up his sentences and taped them under each category, to form a rudimentary outline. I helped him fill in some of the gaps, but he still has a long way to go to even meet the basic requirements.

I guess it irritates me that the students basically get handed an outline of what to do and if they simply do just that they can get a decent grade. Yet, many kids don't even bother to do this. They are being handed a gift of an assignment, and don't even realize how easy it is, especially with resources like the Internet. Now I will admit that maybe it seems easy to me, because I am 42, not 15; but, even at that, if you can't finish this kind of assignment with at least a B, I don't hold out much hope for you. Tests are the same. Kids bring in a "study guide" for a test, which is basically the test; all they need to do is complete the answers and they have the info they need to ace the test. But they don't bother to do it,and I'm not sure why. Most of them are smart enough; they just don't care, and their parents don't bother to impose any expectations on them.

I got good grades in high school, not because I cared a whole lot about school work, but because my parents basically said I had to do my best or no social life. Mo-ti-va-she-own! Not every student is an A student; some kids will try hard and earn lower grades, but that's OK if that's their best. I tell my daughter that I expect her to do her best, and I also help her with her schoolwork. I am not Parent of the Year, but I do think it's part of my job as a mother. A lot of kids I see don't have parental help at all.

And so, as I lament the current state of our youth, I begin to take my place as a middle-aged grump. Don't even get me started on that noise they call music...

Does Anyone Really Care What x Equals?

Math and I have never been friends. Let me re-state that: Higher mathematics and I have never been friends. I can do - and find useful - basic math operation: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. I also think it's a good idea to know your basic shapes and how to find area and perimeter, as these are useful when designing a garden or measuring a room. Speaking of measurement...another good skill...comes in handy many ways. I also think decimals and percents are useful, as these help you calculate sale items when at the mall. Beyond this...well, I'm not sure who came up with the rest of the stuff.



Actually I am pretty sure higher mathematics developed because people were bored. No TV to watch, no pubs to visit; they already contemplated their existence and life's meaning so why not play with numbers? Actually I have no idea when or who started higher mathematics, and quite frankly, I don't really care. (Obviously I am also poor at history.) I do, however, have a bone to pick with whoever started this nonsense.



Let's take algebra for instance. Yesterday one of my students, who I usually do not tutor in math, brought me his algebra (insert gasp) homework. It looked something like this:

y=2x-1/4

2y=3/4x-1



First of all, who the hell ever thought of inserting letters into math problems? They were fine with all digits, as far as I'm concerned. Then he had to plot these equations on a graph and solve for both letters. Then he had to list the points where the 2 points intersected. Huh?

Now I can do this:

2x=6



I may be even able to do the kinds of problems where you have to get all the x's on one side or something like that, but solve for 2 letters and graph the equations ? I had no clue what to do AT ALL. He mentioned something about "rise over run" and rise and run is exactly what I wanted to do. Apparently this means something different in algebra. Something to do with a slope.



I could not help him at all. I didn't even know where to start. I'm sure he thought I was dumb as a rock, but I really just hate math that I view as completely pointless. When, in life, have I ever had to calculate a slope? I am sure my engineer husband could quote me a thousand uses for algebra, but since I don't do any of those things it means nothing to me. In fact, I bet it means nothing to most people.



Here's an idea: Why not save the algebra, trigonometry and calculus for students who plan to go into careers where this knowledge is helpful? These classes could be taken as electives in high school or college. I think schools should spend more time teaching useful math skills such as:



The Stock Market: Friend or Foe?

What IS the Economy and How Does it Work?

How to Save for Retirement-It's Closer than You Think

What Credit Really Is and How Long It Will REALLY Take you to Pay Off that Fancy Cell Phone

How to Pay Bills-On Time

What is a Mutual Fund Anyway?

Honestly, I think courses in how to manage finances, how to negotiate a mortgage, or where to invest your money are far more useful to the average person than graphing equations. You should be able to read a financial document and understand it before you cosign it, rather than be able to calculate the cosine of some angle. (Go ahead...ask me how long it took me to come up with that one.)