first !

Second, dabgumbit.

This just goes to show you, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now, quiet! The're about to announce the lottery numbers...

Why stop at $7 billion? More is better, just ask the NEA. Lets all use the tax reform (see previous blog) and send voluntary tax money to New York. Then the teachers can voluntarily teach math with the new voluntary tax money. Let the new state department of education set the requirements low enough so that the students will pass if they can write and spell their own name. (5 points for knowing their name and 5 points for being able to spell it.)

BTW: Third!!!

Okay, I know it's "only" 2 million, but I did have to do a Google search to find out where Palau is.

BREAKING STORY

The "U.S. Department of Education Funding by state for 2001" spreadsheet has been recalled due to the discovery that none of the numbers added up. Due to recent budget cuts, the DOE has been suffering from a shortage of "math people" to work on its budget spreadsheets.

"We've had to hire math experts from outside our department ó many of them past and current teachers ó to work on DOE budget spreadsheets," said James A. Kadamus, a deputy commissioner for the department.

"Now there is one math person. Creating a budget spreadsheet is an enormous task for one person. We can't be responsible for things like columns not adding up and the like."

An unnamed spokesman for the Education Department opined that the critical issue is not whether the numbers do, or do not, in fact add up.

"The DOE should hold hearings to explore the feelings of students, parents, teachers and others about the numbers and the DOE budget in general."

Another source from the NEA added, "it is SO myopic to concentrate on numbers. What we really need to focus on is empowering people - when they feel good about their math skills, we know we're doing a good job. And although US students rank about 17th among the industrialized nations in actual performance, they rank close to the top when asked how confident they feel about their math skills. I think this shows we're getting the job done."

Did the FORMER States Testing Director of NY take a job in FL in connection with the upcoming Presidential elections?....ballot usage education.
Mattel(TM) & LeapFrog toys (TM) are both vying for the contract to support the effort.

When asked for his comment on the situation in New York's schools, Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel replied, "Them Yankees is jus' stupid."

(Yes, Cletus is from the South. When was the last time you ever heard of a guy from Vermont named "Cletus"?)

Cletus lives in Springfield, right?

Yeah...this test is reeaaallll hard...

http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mathre/mathatestju03.pdf

seriously, our nation has some really retarded people

One more note:
Keep in mind they get scientific calculators to use!!!

"Alii" Pooke,

In my various travels around the world defending conservatism and eliminating the liberal ability to vitiate mass infections, through the spreading of Conspicuous Relaxtion Anal Proclivity
[More commonly known by its anagram C.R.A.P.].
I have allowed myself the opportunity to pick up a smattering of the Palauan language.
I thought you might be interested.
Please feel free to educate yourself and all your various peer groups, including the fine people here at Scrappleface.

Palauan = English [Pronounciation]

Alii = Hello [ah-LEE]

Ungil Tutau = Good morning [oong-EEL-too-TAW]

Ungil Chodechosong = Good afternoon [oong-EEL OTH-o-song]

Ungil Kebesengei = Good evening [oong-EEL-kebba sung Ay]

Dorael = Let's go [do-RILE]

Ke ua ngerang? = How are you? [ka-wannga-RANGH]

Sulang = Thanks [soo-LAHNG]

Ak morolung =I am leaving (Good bye) [ahk-more-oh-long]

Ngtecha ngklem? = What is your name? [ngte-AHNG-KLEMM]

A ngklek a = My name is [Ahng-KLEKK-a]

Ngteland a cheral? = What is the price? [ngtela-ah-RAHL]

Choi, O' Oi =Yes [OH-OY]

Ng diak = No [Inh-dee-AHK]

Mei Come! [MAY]

Bo momengur = Have something to eat! [Bo-mo-mung-OOR]

Merkong! = Stop, that's enough! [Murr-GONG]

Ak morolung,
Dr. Harden Stuhl

Kewl.
But how do you say: Dang, them Yankees is stupid.

Here's another math problem:

If 63% of students fail the math test, how many points must be added to each test score to ensure that the number of students who pass reflects the same racial, ethnic, and gender balance as the general student population?

So instead of saying 63% failed, lets say that 37% passed. Then we can make an easier ratio equation of 37%pass/43.8 mill = 50%pass/x. Now, cross multiply and divide we get x=59.2mill. Subtract the original 43.8mill and we are left with 15.4 million more to get the 50% pass quota. The other $6.9846 billion can go to kill-whitey-studies classes or cultural diversity stuff.

Cass: your a hard act to follow.

NEA: Not Even Attempting to teach your children anything except multi-culti crap that will do them absolutely no good, just home school them for real results, but you'll still have to pay our salaries and shell out for our useless programs on diversity and self esteem, cause mommy guvmint knows best, just ask bill and hillary c, chucky schumer and barbara boxer, nancy pelosi and teddy "rose nose" kennedy, they'll tell you what's up

Gabsboy:

Last week I read that the new PC term is "whiteness studies", which encompasses all the lousy things white people have ever done without recognizing pesky little things like the abolitionist movement, etc.

What I keep wondering is, slavery was an established practice in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, Egypt, and throughout Africa for centuries before America was discovered. The Spartans enslaved the helots, Romans enslaved conquered peoples from most of Europe and Asia minor. It was the standard way of dealing with prisoners of war and conquered peoples, regardless of skin color. It still exists in Africa today, along with white slavery in Eastern Europe and female and child slavery in Asia.

So exactly why is it the fault of white people? We fought a civil war to end it in this country. And exactly who do the "whiteness studies" folks think provided the African slaves in the first place?

Hint: it wasn't Europeans or Americans - try looking at native Africans who conducted slave raids and Arab traders who acted as brokers. Yet white Christians get the blame - the very people who founded the abolitionist movement. Interesting how history gets re-written to satify an agenda...

"Johnny, Janie, I don't give a rat's a** about your feelings, self-esteem, or cultural diversity. Shut up, sit down and study. Do your homework tonight or you'll flunk this class and get held back. How will your self-esteem fare when you are 17 years old in the 8th grade? Read your book, and I don't care if it was written by or about dead white men. Nor do I care if it uses insensitive language like 'Indian' or 'Negro.' Nor do I care if it doesn't glorify the 'contribution' of whatever ethnicity you think is getting shafted this week."

It would get them fired then sued, but I think a lot of teachers would LOVE to be able to give a speech similar to the one above.

17 yars old an' en 8th grade? Wha tar ya, sem kend o' giftted stoodunt?

OK, maybe I've missed the point but why would the government want an educated populace? Don't you think they know how dangerous that would be? [], if we were all numerate we wouldn't get fooled by Social Security and other scams.

The many abhorrent tragedies taking place in the American educational system are many, but this is truly sad. I am a product of the NY state educational system of several years ago. At that time, passing the Regents' exams actually meant something and I felt a personal sense of pride in the accomplishment (forgive me for my elitist, self-serving attitude). My older children (16 and 17), in spite of the schools' best efforts to prevent it, are capable of passing the tests that I was given. My eight-year-olds could pass the current exams. What a farce.

cut-n-paste

"After defeating George Foreman for the heavyweight title in Zaire, Muhammad Ali returned to the United States where he was asked by a reporter, "Champ, what did you think of Africa?" Ali replied, "Thank God my granddaddy got on that boat."

OOOOOoooooooo......thats why I don't have freinds.

Darn, it's almost time to go to my other job so I can keep up with those student loan paymnets. Man....I feel like a sl.....

I have to apologize for my last post.
I swear, some of my closest freinds use to be black.

SRG: You know I always love your comments, but wish you didn't hold back your feelings so much - c'mon, let it all hang out just this once - tell us what you REALLY think... :)

"Alii", Some Random Guy,

The Palaupution terminology for "Dang, them Yankees is stupid" is completly lost to me.

Palaupution is a very eccentric language and takes poetic license with words.

They quite often paint pictures with their native verbage which can even confuse the language specialist.

Even to someone like me,who enjoys to oratorize for incessantly large amounts of space here at Scrappleface.

Palaupution is a very hard language to correctly translate and not necessarily concentric to the same thoughts and ideas of the addresee or the addressor.

For example in English, it would come out sounding something like this,
" They have the brains of Beach Lizard droppings stuck to the backside of my soiled undergarmentsî.
"Intrinsically" Ironic, because there aren't any lizards in Palau and they don't wear undergarments.
Which makes my point about confusing more relavent.

Another expressive way they may attempt to communicate that particular thought, might be to yell out,
ìThey must be ignorant liberals from the other end of the island!î,
and then in a large group of 14 to 20 people, would proceed to whack you in the knees with a variety of coconut shells.
While they may not be advanced in certain cultural areas,they seem to have have advanced in the political arena and they excel in group activities.They are also the largest importers of Coconut shells in their small but conservative part of the world.Which has been a boon to the neighboring island economies.

In conclusion (I mean yours - not mine),I do believe in the Palaupution dialect, everything would sound entirely different than English,although the relative meaning would be the same.Confusing and very much like pig-latin.Very similar to the Democratic party and most of the "Merkong" you can get off their website. :)

Hope that helps - Ungil Chodechosong,

Harden

Stuhl thanks for the much needed laugh.

SRG---I'm with Cassandra. I'm concerned you internalize far too much! Please please please feel free to express your true feeilngs here. It's "safe" here! Don't try to hold it all in!......You don't even have to say that "Hi, Im Some Random Guy and I don't express myself well"....introduction....just let it GO!

Cassandra So good to read your stuff again. Glad you're back...still beaming with pride for your newly "badged boy"?....You posting again brings the "scrappleroom" back to some "normalcy"...well you know what I mean....

...now I return to working on ridding my video mind of images of beach lizard's wearing soiled undergarments.......:~}

LFCat:

It's true - I am guilty of being a really proud Mom. They looked so sharp in their uniforms - at the swearing in, my son stood next to the class President (a guy I was instantly certain was a former Marine from his bearing - turned out he was). I thought my son looked almost as professional, which is saying something since the class President looked like a Drill Instructor.
(Not that I'm PARTIAL or anything)

The best part was seeing how proud he was - I teared up a lot when no one was looking. Oh well, enough sappy stuff...missed you all - glad to be back :)

Hello Cat Person,

Glad to see you are well...

Harden

Cassandra..I am woman hear me ROAR...The sappy stuff is NEVER a bore (:~}).
I could ancticipate pretty much--having happened--exactly what you described.
Will he be an officer in D.C., then? I would guess so if he trained there, (is the obvious lost on me(:~})?)
Macho Macho Marines (:~})...not hard to spot, eh? Especially since you're betrothed to one!

********************
Dr. Stuhl..HELLO or Alii (:~}).
HEY...I thought about you the other day. I heard Mel Gibson speak briefly at a life giving leadership conference at my church. He spoke about The Passion. Saw a 4 minute trailer of it. WOW!.I'll link something about it to my name..There's also a petition thru Hollywood Hero's circulating as well in support of the movie which American distributors seem to NOT want to touch....(surprise wasn't my 1st response to THAT "news"!)
Movies due out in March! Mel G is an incredibly humble man!

[*****LADIES!...there's a pic of Mel at that link, too!(:!})]

There always seems to be a certain "ambience" missing from this room when Cassandra and you and some others aren't present. Darth Chef and Justin have been "m.i.a." for awhile. Mike S (Stuhls assistant) (:~})..should be back soon in just days I expect.

The 'ny' mets is my favorite squadron!

LFCat in Colorado,
Speaking of the Melster,I just saw Signs (Mel Gibson). What did you think of that movie?

Has anybody seen Greyhawk? I haven't seen him post in awhile.Maybe he posts under another personality.

Cheers,
Harden

Cassandra,

Go Marines! Semper FI! There is no Palaupution equivalent.

Cheers,
Harden

Dr. Stuhl

Greyhawk recently posted here. One place is "Scrappleface Seeks Literary-Ageny Alchemist" forum.

You could also go holler at him at his mudville gazette, ya know.

Cassandra - Indians Cherokee and others in the six nations owned slaves (tens of thousands).

Indians (American) had slavery even without European influence. It was widepsread. Here in the Northwest when tribes gathered for a potlatch on the beach at Alki (Seattle) the local chief would have the throats of several slaves cut as dignitaries arrived. The dying bodies would then serve as runners for the visitors canoes.

In the Caribbean slavery was not as popular as cannabalism. Two of the tribes were slolwy eating their way through the third.

The most unique thing about the British, US, and French (yes, them too) societies were not that they enslaved, but that they led anti-slavery movements. Prior to the 19th century this had never occured.

Slavery is certainly gaining momentum again. It never completely dissappeared, but was at a low point shortly after World War II. Now, in terms of raw numbers slavery is at all time high.

Back to the math topic, typically most students today do not know their times tables. I would estimate the number to be around 40% (3rd grade and above) maybe less who have the entire table memorized. I am a former teacher and have witnessed kids in advanced math classes in junior high who do not know their times tables.

Math curriculem nation wide has undergone a radical change (again). Prior to the 1990s typically in any given set of material 80% of the problems would be comprehension and 20% application based (word problems). That ratio has been completely reversed because some in the business community complained that graduates were not able to do application of math.

The result I liken to your wheel edging off the road and when you realize the problem you jerk the steering wheel back the other way which of course sends the car off the other side of the road in a big hurry. When the current crop of new new math grads reach the business community in about five years then the shi'ite is gonna hit the desert dust devil. The problem is difficult to correct because all the text books have now been changed and adopted. Most of the purchases happened in the late 1990's. A second round of math changes was in swing then with some districts adopting the even sillier curriculum as early as last year in my state (WA).

California led the way on this fiasco, but unlike their whole-word reading nonsense of the 70's which they also bellwethered and then went from 1st to 50th in the nation in 4th grade reading scores before its inventor went, "Uum this doesn't work" a large amount of CA individuals put the brakes on the new new math before it got too far in the Bankrupt, ...I mean ...Golden State. The national math-ite organizations are still pushing this nonsense so it is still spreading and the battle still rages in CA.

The new new math is called by its advocates, integrated math, hoping that in teaching everything at once in a math class the student will get it all. Ridiculous, since for instance eight year olds do not have the depth of knowledge to do that and need greater curricular seperation when learing new material. Evaluations in English, history, story problems, geometry and algebra all might occur in one integrated math lesson. The end result is ... well the end result combined with a total breakdown in discipline in most classrooms can be seen through Scott's story links.

I must correct my earlier post about anti-slavery movements. The Christians of ancient Rome did lead underground anti-slavery movements, purchasing and freeing many slaves. However, the power of the state as with the UK, US, and French, was not employed to wipe out slavery before the 19th Century.

Here is a tidbit for your consideration.

Reading Comprehension - (i.e., being capable of forming a mental picture of the written word)

and

Math Application - (i.e., the actual use of concepts to solve real world problems)

...are largely dependent (statistically speaking) on intelligence. The higher order mathematics are almost soley dependent on intelligence versus say memorization or frequency of use (tho that helps).

My point is that you can instruct someone, a child or an adult, however the person's use of the concept is largely dependent on ipasative variables.

That America does poorly relative to other nations says more about the statistical mean of our "collective" intelligence than about our educational system.

One more thing, do the rest of the industrialized nations test all their children or just the ones tracked for higher learning?
We test them all.

I agree that more $$$ is not the answer. I work in education and I am unsure as to what the answer is. The only persons I know in education who think they have the answer are ivory tower fools who have just completed their latest rehashing of conventional wisdom or previously discredited theory dressed up in a new name. The likely correct answer is one very unpalatable to all of us and so will never be explored.

I suspect the answer is that mothers don't do as much mothering anymore and are in the workforce and fathers have neglected their responsibilities at home in favor of entertainment.

BTW Cassandra: nice "Breaking Story", well done, bravo!

Math is not the only problem. I get so irritated when I hear young people say things like, "Me and her were at the Mall!" I don't know if teachers are not correcting that in school now, but when I was in school, (back in the dark ages), teacher would have said, "That's not correct, It's, She and I were at the Mall!" Then again maybe it's not an english thing, but a 'selfish' thing to put one's self first, always!

Well, howdy, y'all, Fr. Sarduchi and Jericho especially. Regarding math curricula, I have taken it upon myself to make sure my kids can do math. They get the lesson at school, I reteach if necessary at home. I believe what Jaime Escalante said: "Math is the great equalizer." If you can do math, you can do anything, including fight your way out of poverty. You can also understand that Social Security is a bankrupt system and must be scrapped. You don't need to rely on ideology or belief, and you won't be hoodwinked by a politician with an axe to grind.

I have found the Saxon math series [link added by editor] to be a single point of light in the dark night of math education in the US. While I can understand why every schoolbook now contains some reference to Martin Luther King, I cannot understand MLK in math books. Numbers, concepts, logical thought processes, mental discipline, rote memory leading to deep understanding - these are what math books should contain. The Saxon series is on white paper with black type. There are graphs, charts and visual aids as necessary, but NO full-color photographs of children "feeling good about math" running a lemonade stand, or happy middle-schoolers putting up a bulletin-board bar chart made of yarn. There are word problems every single lesson, and a strong focus on "automaticity" in the use of math, which means that the author reviews lower-level skills in every single lesson, so that the times tables are always used, never forgotten.

If I had a magic wand, I'd put this series in every school district in America, and get rid of the pc, dumbed-down, technicolor books and workbooks employed in every school I've seen.

While I'm ranting, there is no workbook in this series! Yes! The child is required to (pregnant pause) COPY DOWN THE PROBLEM! Onto his OWN PAPER! What does this do? Improves hand-eye coordination, and penmanship. It requires a concentration on accuracy and proofreading. It requires tenacity. It shows in the most immediate way that multiplication, addition, subtraction and division done with the rows all messed up leads to random results, so it enforces internal discipline. And further, the use of word problems every single day means that for a few sentences, at least, a child must focus on reading and pull meaning from words, thus improving reading comprehension which helps all other subjects.

This series is a national treasure. It's called Math 54, An Incremental Development. Other books follow: Math 65, Math 76, Math 87, Algebra 1/2, etc. He's even written a Calculus and Physics series now! My son was given this book because he receives special services due to autism. I was told that it was a "special ed" series. But upon researching further, found that it works for the full spectrum of learning abilities, because if you can do more than the Math 54 book, you just use the Math 65 book! I found that it is very popular among home schoolers who are very concerned about the quality of math education their children receive. And, when a new private school opened near my home, which advertised their strong college-bound curriculum in all areas, what math series did they choose? Saxon Math. They'd never even heard of it being called a "special ed" book.

If you care about your kids' math skills, you should check this out. I bought the books (from a homeschoolers' supply store) because I think they are a treasure. We work wtih them over the summer, to dilute the mediocrity of the school curriculum. www.saxonpub.com.

Fr. Sarducci and Jericho both raise interesting points. I recently read an article about the new "Singapore method" of teaching math - when explained, it was essentially a return to working large numbers of problems (drill) and memorization (e.g., times tables, etc). In other words, the old school method we grew up with. Of course, we can't call it what it is - we have to give it a catchy name. (the method was based on analyzing what Asian students did differently to produce higher test scores)

On the intelligence issue Fr. Sarducci raised, that is something I have often worried about. As a math tutor, I was often frustrated by the inability of most students to make the leap from canned problems to applied thinking. Intelligence may have a bigger role than anyone wants to admit, however if you take the intelligence spectrum of the current student population as a given, they will develop better thinking skills when given a rigorous exposure to math than if not. And I believe that even adults learn problem solving skills if they get enough practice.

A third issue is lack of preparation. If you barely passed Algebra, you won't do well in Calculus because you don't understand the underlying concepts and 80% of Calculus is Algebra. Social promotions cause lots of problems in math because you can never catch up.

MathMom:

Funny - I almost mentioned the Saxon series in my last post but was trying to keep it short. My boys used Saxon for 2 years in SC and their test scores increased dramatically. It is hands-down the best math series I have seen. What I really liked about it was the emphasis on practice - when a new concept is introduced, only a few problems on that concept appear in that lesson. The rest are drawn from previous lessons, so there is constant reinforcement of the essential concepts.

I used to tell students that math is different - it is a skill like riding a bike. No one expects to simply read a book and then just "know how" to ride a bike - it requires practice if you want to be any good. Math is active, not passive: you learn by doing - not be reading about it and "recognizing" the correct answer.

I don't see what the big deal about math is.
If I hadnít failed the math section of my examination that would have allowed me to study for a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Eidgenˆssische Technische Hochschule in Zurich, I would have gone to Zurich, and stayed there for four years in order to study mathematics and physics.
I would have become a teacher in those branches of the natural sciences, choosing the theoretical part of them.
Above all, the reason being: is my disposition for abstract and mathematical thought, and my lack of imagination and practical ability in case you are wondering.
So you see my friends, if I would have applied myself and been studious with my math disability, I would have passed the test and I never would have been able to bag Marilyn Monroe.Dieses hatten Frauen enorme Br¸ste. This should be a lesson for all of you.

Jerico: "...now slavery is at an all time high"

What is your source for that? I'm not doubting it, but I've had this discussion with others and additional sources are always helpful.

Albert Einstein,

You are too hard on yourself.
While your accomplishments as a mathematician are circumspect.
I think your accomplishments with Marylyn Monroe and the usage of my pickup line,
ìWould you like to see where your x-axis and the y-axis meet to form a point of originî,
so funny I actually had to stop correcting, Theaetetus's mathematical theorems.
Poor Theaetetusës he always takes it so personally.
Forgive me if I don't stop myself now,I tend to postulate to a point of complexity.

Elementally yours,

Euclid of Alexandria

Rabidfox -- Regarding the slavery at an all time high. I am the source. I am speaking in terms of numbers not percentage.

The number of slaves in the US system at the height of US slavery was less than 5 million.
Including all the slavery in the Americas of which Brazil was the biggest slaver the numbers likely did not exceed 25 million.

There are easily double that number of sexual and domestic slaves in the middle east. When one includes the slaves held today in North Africa, S.E. Asia, South Asia, and Europe as well as the few, relatively, held in the Americas including the US the numbers the numbers total enslavement likely exceeds 100 million.

This far exceeds the number held in ancient times even at the height of Roman enslavement.

Sorry, I can't direct you to a source. Just raw knowledge and logic on this one.

Math Mom, Yes today Saxon has the best system by far.

A suggestion: Try getting a hold of an early 1980's math book or one from the seventies or sixties. Sometimes they are sold at garage sales or you can find them in used bookstores. You will be amazed at the difference.

I collect old textbooks. I had a 1890's 9th grade math book that I gave to a friend several years ago when he as dept. head was getting ready to do a math adoption. Though I went through the engineering math sequence in college and accumulated 24 credits there was not only math I could not do in this 100plus year old 9th grade math book there was math I had never seen.

We have slipped a lot farther than we realize. I wonder sometimes if the Romans realize how far they had fallen before they finally collapsed.

:-)!

Math Mom - One other thing on the 100 plus year old book. It was about 1/20 the size of an given Saxon book of today.

Its return would solve the whole loaded down backpack problem, eeh?

Why to go Scott ... quoted in the current Federalist!

Today the Fereralist, tomorrow the NY Times!!! ;-)

As someone who actually took the test last January and passed it, I can sight a few reasons this test had such a low passing rate. First of all, the Regents Board (who writes these tests) tends to ask questions in a vague and wordy way without clearly stating what information is being elicited. Of course I do think students should be able to figure out what is being asked, but it IS a math exam. t's not a logic or deciphering exam. More importantly, many of the topics in the exam were not a part of the state curriculum. Why does the state release a specific curriculum and then ask questions which were not included in that curriculum? I feel that since student graduation hinges on these exams, the state should at least create fair exams for students. (And yes I did pass all of my Regent exams with over 90% scores but I still have quite a few problems with the way the Regent board handles these tests.)