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California needs real math education, not gimmicks

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Re: California needs real math education, not gimmicks

#382
post #359

I went to high school in China, and the Math problems in the US from the same level are literal jokes to us. At the end of the semester, my teacher doesn't have anything else planned for the last class, so just for fun he would find these problems and share with the class :"Now let's look at what American students in your age are dealing with". I remember all of the problems are so dumb that the whole class would had…

> so there is no such thing for the next generation to dream of "changing their lives" by pursuing better education.

Is there really a point in grinding to learn calc 4 if you aren’t going to use it? Is the typical Chinese citizen in the workforce going to even use calc to begin with?

Re: California needs real math education, not gimmicks

#383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And how will they get to this educator of last resort? The per child transportation and tuition costs for this educator of last resort will far exceed the amount of the voucher.

I dont see how transportation would be any different. If they can take a school bus or public trasport to school A, they could take it to school B (last resort). I don't see why the cost of an educator should be that much different at school A than B either. It might be even cheaper. California spends 23k per K-12 student now. You should be able to pay someone 100k to guard 5 jail cells with self study students.

> I dont see how transportation would be any different. If they can take a school bus or public trasport to school A, they could take it to school B (last resort).

Because the school of last resort will have to be further away in order to consist only of misbehaving kids. You don't have to take my word for it. You can see for yourself that there are far fewer schools for troubled kids.

> I don't see why the cost of an educator should be that much different at school A than B either.

Because these educators will be dealing solely with misbehaving kids. You don't have to take my word for it. There are private schools that take these kids, and they charge more.

Re: California needs real math education, not gimmicks

#384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't even know you're drawing these conclusions from what I'm saying. Here: Result I'm looking for: Decent baseline of financial stability among African-Americans Objective: Get educational attainment and good employment up Major factors I think are necessary (for relatively quick results, anyways): - culture shifts towards focusing on education - government funds public schools in terms of materials, transportati…

> I don't even know [how] you're drawing these conclusions from what I'm saying. That is abundantly clear. Here it is in a nutshell: *if* you accept that "culture is important," *then* you cannot have "race-blind hiring/whatever policies," *because* you have already accepted that one culture values hard work more than another culture. When you reject that "culture is important," then you can hire individuals based on…

When did I say to consider culture in hiring people? You're just putting words into my mouth. I'm saying culture is an important factor in getting African-Americans to be employed at good jobs, not that companies should consider a candidate's culture. If people start growing crops in hydroponic systems, end consumers won't care as long as the results are good. Wouldn't it be great if more and more African-Americans get quality education and it becomes less and less tenable for companies to have racist (perhaps unintentionally) hiring policies in the face of skilled work?

Re: California needs real math education, not gimmicks

#385
post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I did say developed world, but the link you're giving me is about China. I guess it's up to debate whether you consider that a developed country, but the IMF for example doesn't. Being more concrete, test in Europe scores are generally not a factor in university admissions* or school funding. I love being told I'm blatantly wrong about the world by confident Americans on the internet but, like, I did go throu…

I've gone to school in the US, Germany, and Australia. Tests were a major factor in all three places. But if you'd like to restrict candidates to the IMF's "developed" list, then other countries with well-documented testing cultures include Japan, South Korea, and the UK.

I mean, there are tests, sure. But at German schools for example, what do they really determine? Not your chance to get into university. For one thing, they're not standardized, except for Matura (AFAIK?). They don't influence the school's funding. Mostly not even whether parents send their kids to this school - you just go to whatever school is near you, as they're all pretty good.

They are signal for your teachers and parents. Matura might influence your choice of German schools, but that's about the only one, and even then, it's not really an important factor these days, is it?

Re: California needs real math education, not gimmicks

#386

I am just confronting this now. My daughter is 6, and I'm trying to teach her math and reading. She's excelling at reading. The thing about math is, I have to teach her math the way the standards specify. The problem is… The common core math is just strange. I find it confusing, and I did a full tour at an engineering college. Math is a “procedure”. That's why programs like MatLab/MathCad can solve equations-- they j…

Please look into Beast Academy (online without books) and work through it with your daughter. Read the comics to her and go through the exercises together as needed.

Thank you, I will look into this.
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