Simpler and Simpler, Dumber and Dumber

1. Teaching Math In 1960s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit ?

2. Teaching Math In 1970s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In 1980s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?

4. Teaching Math In 1990s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math Today

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and  cares nothing for the habitat of animals. He does this so he can  $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? (140)

Our Debased Culture.

Twitter.

The world in 140 words.

6-second sound bites.

Shorter.

Faster.

Simpler.

Is this always better?

When I was a kid in the 1960s, the only job women could get was as teachers or nurses.

Nothing else was open to them.  I can still remember when the first women went to Harvard B-school.

The most intelligent women in the world ended up as teachers. And the quality of teaching in America was superb- largely due to them.  And the school systems discovered that they could vastly underpay those women, because they had no other options.

I am also old enough to remember when women teachers made less than their male counterparts, solely because they were women.

Then, in the 70s, the world opened up to women, and intelligent and driven women became CEOs, and lawyers and doctors. And the schools, instead of responding by becoming competitive, continued to vastly underpay. And in this world, you get what you pay for.

So now we have a generation of undereducated and uneducated, who need the world to be made simple.

Don’t get too complicated.

Good and Bad

Black and White

140 characters.

My 13-year old nephew recently came home from school (in England) with his homework.  Design a sign to hang on a hotel door listing 3 services the hotel could offer. This is homework? This is education?  His mother said they are teaching them marketing.

Marketing?

I asked him (and his twin sister) to name the 6 wives of Henry VIII.

nada.

I asked them to name as many countries as they could in Europe and I would pay them £1 for each country.

It didn’t cost me much.

So I did another experiment.  I told them I would pay them £1 for every country they could name in Europe and Asia the following evening. They got them all.

The next night, I made it British Prime Ministers, from Disraeli to Brown. In order. £1 each. They had a day to prepare. They got them all.

Then I said, £100 if on the following evening at dinner they could name every Monarch in British history, from start to the present, no mistakes. Not one. If they made even one error, they would lose.\

24-hours later, I was happy to turn over the £100.

How many 13-year olds, let along adults, can take us from Egbert (829AD) through Elizabeth II without a mistake?

They can learn.

They have enormous capacity.

But it sits almost untouched.

They waste their time with 3 thing a hotel can offer it’s guests.

Did I explain how I feel?

Did I exceed 140 characters?