I despair of the education system.

George_Michael

daytona0 wrote: »

You despair about the fact that someone can use a calculator to accurately work out the solution to a real life problem?

I think that they were despairing about the fact that someone actually needed or was required to use a calculator to work out what 20 parts of 100 were.

bod1467

Part of my misspent youth was going to the pub and playing darts ... a great way to boost mental maths agility with the 4 basic operands ... + - * /

wrightk

Pennywise wrote: »

I really despair. Just been to a carpet shop to order a small square of vinyl and fitting it for a small storeroom. Shop assistant discounted it to a round £100 plus VAT and then proceeded to get a calculator out to calculate the 20% VAT. For heaven's sake!

bet that made you feel really superior

Hermione_Granger

wrightk wrote: »

bet that made you feel really superior

Wrightk, no one needs a calculator to work out that for some reason you have a very large chip on your shoulder over this topic.
There is a simple answer.
If it upsets you that much, don't bother opening the thread and reading the comments.

daytona0

George_Michael wrote: »

I think that they were despairing about the fact that someone actually needed or was required to use a calculator to work out what 20 parts of 100 were.

Is that an incorrect way of solving the problem?

George_Michael

daytona0 wrote: »

Is that an incorrect way of solving the problem?

No.
Incorrect or not, when it gets to the stage that someone working in a shop, someone that deals with money and figures on a daily basis has to use an electronic device to work out what 20% of 100 is, then there is either something wrong with how they were educated or there is something wrong with the employment policies of the company that they are working for.

Be honest now, how would you react if you went into a store to purchase two items priced at £5 and £3 and you saw the cashier calculating the total by counting on their fingers?
After all, is doing that an incorrect way of solving the problem?

wrightk

Hermione_Granger wrote: »

Wrightk, no one needs a calculator to work out that for some reason you have a very large chip on your shoulder over this topic.
There is a simple answer.
If it upsets you that much, don't bother opening the thread and reading the comments.

Seeing as this is a public forum im entitled to open and read anything on here. Just because i dont agree with your view,you dont like it.

Yes there are people who are terrible at maths and struggle daily,we live in an age where technology is there to help. What is a till?Essentially just a big calculator, shall we all go back to the days of no tills? there are also a lot of people who feel the need to go around correcting everyone as if they are far superior intellectually and blaming it on the education system 'it wasnt like that in my day' stereotypes which really are quite boring

daytona0

george_michael wrote: »

no.

q.e.d.

....

Cornucopia

Ways to freak out shop cashiers....

1. Buy more than 3 or 4 items, and be prepared to immediately give them the correct amount of cash after the items have been put through the till by adding up the total in your head.

2. In stores where a transaction involves giving the cashier a 7 or 8 digit item number, say it to them instead of writing on a small piece of paper with a small pencil. You have to get it right, though, because otherwise you look really, really silly.

Nick_C

If we don't educate our young people properly, then we will continue to lose jobs to people from those countries that do.

Stories of what it used to be like in the good old days may be boring to the young and ignorant, but if you don't know how much better education standards were the past then you cannot understand how poor they are now.