Has the US lost its edge permanently?

[CAM]

Oh please. You sound like you are making excuses for not being able to relate to your students. I've experienced instructors like that. I never learned anything from them other than to rely on myself for the learning.

Again, very amusing...and wrong, too. Actually, I get some of the highest evaluations (from colleagues and students) in my teaching unit.

What they learn is that education is about ideas...it is not about me and is it not about them, as individuals. Therefore, your "relate to your students" nonsense is pure nonsense. I'm not interested in them as individuals. I'm not their mommy or daddy. That's another thing that is wrong with US education today...we're trained (wrongly) to evaluate them from the standpoint of them as unique individuals. Did they do well, based on our assessment of their capacity? Therefore, an "A" for Billy who accidentally overdosed and fried his brain in 8th grade, but a "B" for staightlaced Sally who is a 25 year old virgin who just studies and hasn't ruined her mind or body.

That whole "relate to your students" stuff is another myth in modern US education. Guess what? It ain't a rendition of the "The Miracle Worker" starring Helen Keller. I'm not a miracle worker and would never want to be one, either. Formal education is a sorting machine. It is a place of great opportunity. My students who are truly interested in learning, I will give more than the extra mile. They work on grants with me, publish with me (as teenagers), and I help them get jobs too. But, the numbskulls...hey, I am not interested in "relating" to them. That's bullshit. They should be where they are...in their own personal Hell.

Again, relate this back to the US and its future. We, as a nation, do not have time or money to "relate" to every student as an individual. Individuals have their own goals and priorities and that's great. But, there is a part of a NATION that relates to the collective and its aggregate capacities...and that's been lost as we focus on each and every little "faux genius" and his/her capacity to look out for their own selves--apparently, based on the posts here, at the expense of all others.

[vashti]

You know very well I was not referring to every student... just the ones who cared enough about whatever you are teaching to ask you a question (that apparently you have difficulty answering). And I know that would only amount to maybe a handful per class. It doesn't seem like it should be so taxing to teach to that handful of students. I'm sorry you find it so difficult.

[CAM]

You know very well I was not referring to every student... just the ones who cared enough about whatever you are teaching to ask you a question (that apparently you have difficulty answering). And I know that would only amount to maybe a handful per class. It doesn't seem like it should be so taxing to teach to that handful of students. I'm sorry you find it so difficult.

Your concern for my welfare, in this instance, is appreciated but unwarranted. It isn't so taxing for me. Not at all. It is disappointing to see the tremendous waste of human life, potential, all at the expense of the society which is paying the education bill and getting very little for it.

The Education Game has duped the public, offering the tonic of hope and delivering very little. Fortunately, it takes very few smart people to run a society as large as the US. We just have to keep the lumpen believing (falsely) that they have genius potential and we keep them off the streets and off our backs, too.

Don't feel bad for me. Feel bad for the dupes and feel bad for the society that is cratering.

[CAM]

And, I don't have any trouble answering their question....but, do they have an equal capacity to listen and comprehend? No, they don't. We really do have to focus on a common currency of interchange and logic...without that, the society doesn't work.

[IndiReloaded]

I knew a 6 year old who could multiply and divide 3-digit numbers by 3-digit numbers in his head...no manual multiplication or long division (do they even learn that anymore??).

Now, that kid was SMART...active mind, learned it on his own.

What did the school say when he started 1st grade? The teachers told the parents that he should stop doing that because it embarrassed the other kids....yeah, they wanted him to be average and malleable. The parents pulled him out of that school.

My son did something similar! He can add large strings of numbers together and would calculate his 'times table' instead of memorizing. He's a bit slower on the single digit numbers but it more than compensates b/c he can calc things like 83 x 19 quickly in his head and larger numbers also. His teacher insisted he memorize and, while we did work on it with him somewhat, we also told her it was good for him to do this--I wish *I* had learned to calc things like that as a child. I don't completely understand how he does it but it seems to involve some unusual 'grouping' method and use of some clever shortcuts he worked out for himself.

I don't think he's special, I just think he's been exposed to ideas and allowed to experiment more than the average child. Kids are able to think much, much more than we give them the freedom to. He has had access to our library since he could read and now he reads books I never learned about until college.

Funny you mention long division, tho. I had to teach him that myself--his teacher hadn't covered it yet in grade 4 & I'd had enough.

[the_robot]

My son did something similar! He can add large strings of numbers together and would calculate his 'times table' instead of memorizing. He's a bit slower on the single digit numbers but it more than compensates b/c he can calc things like 83 x 19 quickly in his head and larger numbers also. His teacher insisted he memorize and, while we did work on it with him somewhat, we also told her it was good for him to do this--I wish *I* had learned to calc things like that as a child. I don't completely understand how he does it but it seems to involve some unusual 'grouping' method and use of some clever shortcuts he worked out for himself.

Haha Your son does the same thing I do, I thought I was the only one. I don't have enough memory to learn the "times table" so I just calculate them doing stuff like 83*10 + 83*10/2 + 83*2*2, that way I only need to know the 10* and 2* which are easy and when it's an odd number, add to it.

[TheTooya]

My family runs a hedge fund, and can say the regulatory in the United States are out of control. Many private institutions no longer want to be traded on the US exchange, and are moving to the Frankfurt exchange. :/

[dewilliams2]

Haha Your son does the same thing I do, I thought I was the only one. I don't have enough memory to learn the "times table" so I just calculate them doing stuff like 83*10 + 83*10/2 + 83*2*2, that way I only need to know the 10* and 2* which are easy and when it's an odd number, add to it.

I do the same thing...I thought everybody did that?

[the_robot]

I do the same thing...I thought everybody did that?

All the people I've asked learn the tables and they just give the result directly, at least with small numbers.

[vashti]

I am a product of the American education system and therefore cannot perform basic algebraic operations or figure out basic algorithms so as to perform mental calculations with ease

God help me

God help us all.

Seriously, CAM - you must know a disproportionate number of stupid young people. Fortunately for me, I know lots of smart ones.

But I do know lots of lazy teachers.

All the people I've asked learn the tables and they just give the result directly, at least with small numbers.

That's what I do.... I don't have the memory to add multiple figures of multiple digits in my head.

[the_robot]

That's what I do.... I don't have the memory to add multiple figures of multiple digits in my head.

You just have to remember 2 numbers at a time, and the human brain can remember 5+-2 items short-term, so at least you should be able to remember one more thing, supposing your short-term memory were really crappy. I think it's harder to remember 55 key-value combinations you studied when you were a kid...

[vashti]

You just have to remember 2 numbers at a time, and the human brain can remember 5+-2 items short-term, so at least you should be able to remember one more thing, supposing your short-term memory were really crappy. I think it's harder to remember 55 key-value combinations you studied when you were a kid...

See what I mean? You are very clearly smarter than I am.

[CAM]

God help us all.

Seriously, CAM - you must know a disproportionate number of stupid young people. Fortunately for me, I know lots of smart ones.

But I do know lots of lazy teachers.

Currently, I teach at one of the lowest ranked schools in the nation. Not for long, however, Others recognize my abilities and I'm going to use my skills elsewhere.

Lazy teachers....you're right, there are tons of them. I'm not one of them.

[Sonrisa]

i love one of my teachers and completely hate the other

[CAM]

What year are you in school?