Dependence on technology

[theletch1]

The wife and I were lifting at our local YMCA earlier this week when a group of high school kids came in. They weren't regulars in the free weight area so I'm assuming they were part of an after school program. There were three of them and they decided that they'd do a few bench presses to see who was the stronger. After several minutes of arguing amongst themselves in a low voice one of them turned to the room at large and yelled "Hey! What's 30 plus 45?!" My immediate answer was of course 75. The bar weighed 45 pounds and they were adding 30 to it and couldn't figure out what the total weight was. The kid looked at me for a second and said "Wow, that was fast." "It's second grade math, man." was my reply. "Heh, we're in 10th and couldn't do it 'cause we didn't have our calculator." I just stopped, cocked my head to one side and bit back the response that was building up.

Have our children become so dependent on technology that they really can't do simple math in their heads? Will we soon be seeing children who can't do handwriting because they become so used to typing that it just won't seem necessary? What other skills that us "old folks" have might they lose along the way?

 

[Sukerkin]

I'm surprised only that it's deteriotated so far, so fast. I've grown used to the failure of 'mental arithmetic' when it comes to multiplication and division but to not be able to add two integers together ...

Of course, back in my day, the exam regs included "Use of slide rules is not permitted" . It harps back to a major soapbox of mine wherein education has become more about 'validation' of the poor little darlings egos and sating the legislatures desires for "improving statistics". I know that having a poor opinion of the young is a tradition going back to the times of Ancient Greece but if kids like that are the future ... :shudders:.

 

[Kacey]

As a teacher, this is one of my pet peeves - from both sides. When kids are young, they should not use calculators, because they are learning to calculate - and without an understanding of how to calculate they cannot understand how to apply those calculations to real-life problems. I believe that, with very few exceptions (students with severe learning deficits), students should not be using calculators in elementary school (for those from other educational systems, that's grades kindergarten through 5 - ages 5-10). Once they have demonstrated that they understand how to calculate, and when to use which calculations, then yes, they can - and should - use calculators for calculations beyond a certain level of complexity, because that is, realistically, what they will do the rest of their lives.

I have worked with teachers who require students as young as 8 to use calculators "because counting on their fingers takes so long"; I have worked with teachers who require students over 12 who still count on their fingers (due to learning disabilities) to not use calculators "because they can't use them on the standardized assessment". I have problems with both viewpoints - the first, because it keeps the children from learning basic facts; the second, because it focuses so much in basic calculations that students do not learn how to to do the logical processing necessary to complete problems, because the students are so focused on the computations that they miss the instruction and practice of other things. Like many other things, a balance is needed; sadly, there is very little balance in education today.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

That's a scary thought, instead of us controlling machines they control us....HOLY CRAP!!! MY TV SHOW IS ON!!!!! *ZZZZIINNNGG*