Unfortunately, these are not kids. They are adults with the majority being
ladies returning to school. With the welfare changes this population is
growing every quarter. Recently (after having a quarter of remedial
arithmetic) one of Culinary Arts students did not have the foggiest idea
what to do with a problem of the form ' If a certain number cans of tomato
sauce cost this much, how much will this many cans cost?' I'm afraid too
many AMericans just pay the bill and and don't even think about the numbers!
Believe me, we try to tie our problems to their voational areas, but more
and more if our students see numbers (and mathematics) as little more than
chicken scratches on a piece of paper. One area we really stress is units
(who wants a nurse administering grams instead of milligrams?) and yet many
of our students can get the answer from the calculator and not have the
foggiest notion why the answer is $ and not pounds. My daughter, a RN,
tells me not having a basic knowledge of those skills we used to drill over
has brought several kids to her hospital in life-threatening situations. By
the way, the error was made by a doctor, a pharmacist, or a nurse who failed
to catch the original mistake. Fortunately the kids were tough enough to
survive. By the way, nursing supervisors tell me that nurses do good to
keep up with a pencil, let alone a calculator. They are one profession that
must calculate all day long, according to my daughter, especially if they
are dealing with children! Somehow we must have a blend of drill to learn
procedures and conceptual undersanding! - Excuse my ramblings >>
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Sharon Smith
Augusta Technical Institute
Math Instructor
Isa 43:1-3
email ssmith@augusta.tec.ga.us
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