Are calculators and computers such a good idea in primary school learning? Do they really teach children and young people the way to count, reckon up and subtract figures? I`m not talking about complicated mathematics for complex uses, but just ordinary everyday maths which we use everyday for tasks like shopping.
At least two incidents recently really made me wonder about this. First in a store, the young lady on a till had to count out change for a purchase from a £10 note, could she do it? No. She had to turn to the older cashier on the next till and ask her to come and do it. Second time, I observed a customer count out the cost of her shopping in small change, give the handful of the change to the young cashier. The cashier looked at the pennies and silver and had three or four goes to count it to see if it was correct, in the end she turned to the older person on the next till and said I can`t do this, can you count it !
So, isn`t it time we taught children how to count without having mechanical devices to just give them the answer?
2 comments:
It should be engrained in the basic education. I myself have experienced many a times people unable to calculate their balance.
Back in Asian countries, people stlil rely on pencils and papers. In fact we were not allowed to use a calci even in High school ( 10th and 12th grade). And it makes a difference.
i totally agree. if it gets to the point of where people cant even do simple stuff like count out change without a machine to do it for them..then maybe its time that the governments realize that and focus more on building mental math abilities, or else we'll have more of these examples happening!
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