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It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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US teacher: Those boys need to be on Ritalin, they’re way to Hyper.
What does it profit the US taxpayers to spend $15,000 a year educating each kid that only wants to jack cars, pimp drugs and whores, rob, rape and commit murder all night and vote Democrat for life?
The “education” as you call it, is part of the reason that these kids want to do all these things…..but that has always been part of the plan. See the great videos of John Taylor Gatto for more info.
Yes, but our children have “Desmond is Amazing” and “Drag Queen Story Hour” at the library.
Somehow I don’t think these children are learning math using Common Core.
Kinda reminds me of an EE 421 final about 45 years ago…….
PS: Passed with flying colors…..
This looks like rigorous training to get relatively high performance from people of average or below intelligence. US kids of the same age who do math well simply do it in their heads. Fluttering your fingers quickly is only 1-2 steps above counting using your toes.
I agree, of course, with criticism of the trans agenda and relative lack of substance in US schools. If you’re a US parent, homeschool. After a few years of quality homeschooling you should have kids performing at or above the levels common through the 1950’s – which would make them above 90th percentile today, in most schools.
True. For all we know the typical math problem was 7+8, although I’m guessing many North American kids at the same age nowadays wouldn’t be able to figure out 7+8 in their heads.
These days with Common Core, its more important that you feel good about yourself trying to solve that horribly complex math problem than it is to get the correct answer…..which, according to Common Core, is “purple.”
I haven’t dealt with Common Core directly, but have looked at it from a distance a few times. In theory, part of Common Core math is actually trying to teach the advanced methods that smart people use (whether by their own discovery or from teaching) to do more math in their heads. Unfortunately this seems to be done without mastering the required fundamentals first, so you get absurd situations and it totally falls flat, leaving students worse off than if the time had been spent only on mastering the fundamentals.
The emotions stuff is going along with the same dreck and idiots doing Common Core, but it seems to be separate, just a fellow traveler.
Want to be really good at mental math? Practice, practice, practice, all the time and in various different ways. I know someone who can do cube roots of irrational numbers in his head, quickly, but then he is a math prof and an actuary, and apparently has memorized all pertinent logarithms… I’m not quite there but I am able to do 99% of the math I need mentally, without using a calculator or the phone’s calc app. I mostly use those for roots and larger squares. Memorizing squares up to 25 lets you do most squares and square roots in your head, FYI.
P – that stuff is parlour tricks. In some fields, academia for instance, it might be handy, or for someone who does a lot of those type calculations, which may apply to you.
But being truly good at math is about being able to visualize how to set up a problem. The actual calculations can be then done by a monkey. And hence why how people do the calcs – fingers, toes, etc. – is of no consequence, and signifies zero about a persons true skills. The question is – can they “see” interconnections and the steps required in resolving the problem.
My experience is that someone who can see the connections doesn’t need to flap their fingers. YMMV I suppose.
I’m not sure what exactly you’re calling “parlour tricks,” but I think an actuary who has memorized logarithms can likely work faster and more accurately than one who counts on his fingers and toes. I also work with hundreds of accountants and am disappointed at the large number who can’t do basic math without electronic help. They are less effective than those who can, even though much of accounting is not math.
I’m not acquainted with many monkeys IRL but I’m skeptical that they can add and subtract five digit numbers quickly and reliably.
P – thanks for the response. It is a slow day! ?
As I understand it, the counting is effectively mimicking an abacus – which is quite accurate.
Re accountants, most are at best moderately skilled in math. Mine, who are pretty good, routinely run calcs past me. I can see discrepancies and visualize issues without doing the actual math. “That number is wrong”. “How do you know?” I do not know exactly, but could figure it out if you give me a minute, but seeing as it is your job, you figure it out, but I assure you it is wrong.”
Monkeys is a generic term that covers a range of the population that is effectively innumerate, especially when it comes to setting out math problems. Once someone sets out the problem, a monkey can either use a calculator or spreadsheet to generate the answer.
Do not underestimate the Chinese.
Hey there…
It sounds like your mental math is similar to mine. Yes, I know almost immediately if something is wrong, even if it takes me longer to figure out the exact extent to which it is wrong.
Practical math has two major aspects – mastery of the basics, and ability to do higher math. Many people suck at both, many others can do one but not the other. Both are valuable.
While your own math skills are probably similar to mine, it sounds as if your expectation of others is far lower. Probably because you hire blue-collar workers and I work mostly with the graduate degree crowd. This is purely an observation, not any attitude. I’m aware that the masses have generally poor math skills, but since cash registers and card readers are involved in most of my financial transactions, this is no longer very important in my daily life and therefore on my radar screen. People tend to focus on the skill level of those who they spend the most time with.
As far as the Chinese in general, all projections are speculation. I see a very large population with relatively high IQ, but many factors tending to hold them back. It doesn’t really matter as I think we can all agree that the US desperately needs to get its own house in order.
FWIW though, most of the recent major fuckups involving engineering or computer science in the US have also involved major tasks outsourced to foreigners, both in their own countries (India, mostly) or H1-B workers here. With so many relatives in engineering, it pisses me off to no end that US politicians etc. push US citizens to go into STEM fields, then cut the legs off from the people who do so by a variety of sleazy tricks that make it hard for qualified US citizens to get the jobs they thought were waiting for them.
Funny story – a school friend of mine was born in India and migrated here at age 7 with his family (legally). He ultimately went into computer science and got a Ph.D. in CS from a top-10 school in that field. I saw him at a high school reunion shortly after and he was bemoaning that he might have to go to India to get a job because of how messed up the US market was. It’s important to note that he is genuinely smart, nothing like the all too common adult migrants who have a phony credential but an IQ of 90-something.
Very good insight. In the real world, knowing what, how and why to use math to solve a problem can be critical as I am finding in some important functions using programming concepts.
My son informed us that he has come to grasp that TAXES on income/productivity are an inefficient way to fund government.
And… no more belief that UBI answers any problems. He still believes people like him (his generation of educated snobs) do not have a problem with race.
Now that about a third of his pay goes to fund government largesse, he seems to have developed some conservative principles regarding money, though.
Finally. I suspect he will become a bit more aware of racial issues now that he’s moved out of Overland Park lakeside and into the city proper.
Bob – and just how do you know it is true based on that video?
P – what a load of shit. I have always used my fingers, and outside of serious academia I have never met my match in match. Less than one out of ten thousand can match me in math.
Using fingers, or toes, or any other damn thing, is indicative of exactly nothing. Fingers are a tool.
Your claim that these kids are substandard students is based on zero other than your own desire for it to be true. Far more likely it is just the opposite. If that video is taken at normal speed, those kids are performing at a very high level indeed.
The Chinese are smarter than Americans by a significant margin on average – by at least 5 IQ points. You are underestimating them, as are many Americans. They are going to kick US ass, and that is a fact.
They are a force to be reckoned with. They produce more engineers in a year than the US has in total.
The big cutting edge companies do not recruit Asians because they are cheap – some companies do, but not Google, etc. – they recruit them because out of the millions of Chinese, Indian, etc., techies, there are some really, really good ones, and there are not enough cutting- edge brilliant US techies to fill the need.
Which IQ tests were you refencing?
Chisanbob. I tried to learn it when I was a kid but I just didn’t have the patience.
https://youtu.be/X3SV-OcBGnE
“From the neurocognitive perspective, finger counting provides multisensory input, which conveys both cardinal and ordinal aspects of numbers. Recent data indicate that children with good finger-based numerical representations show better arithmetic skills and that training finger gnosis, or “finger sense,” enhances mathematical skills. Therefore neurocognitive researchers conclude that elaborate finger-based numerical representations are beneficial for later numerical development.”
The PRC is still a totalitarian regime run by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. These kids are being trained to obey or else! It’s easy to motivate a population that lives in fear of being sent to the mines or re-education camps.
And these quick calculations systems are nothing new (see Trachtenberg Method)
https://trachtenbergspeedmath.com