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I had a calculator in first grade and I am capable of making change and I'm even part of the stupid generation from public schools. We used calculators to check our work. Seemed reasonable but what do I know.
I'm not sure if I understand your meaning but if I read this right, you used calculators to check your work. That's a whole nuther animal from doing your work with calculators and I see nothing wrong with using them to check your work except for one thing--I've seen a lot of kids input their numbers wrong and then how do you know whether you got the calculator part wrong or the number fact? In first grade, parents should be supervising that very carefully.
I'm not sure if I understand your meaning but if I read this right, you used calculators to check your work. That's a whole nuther animal from doing your work with calculators and I see nothing wrong with using them to check your work except for one thing--I've seen a lot of kids input their numbers wrong and then how do you know whether you got the calculator part wrong or the number fact? In first grade, parents should be supervising that very carefully.
My recollection of elementary school math is we were provided calculators but had to show our work or else we would get marked wrong. Hell some of the books had the answers in the back to the even or odd problems but that may have been later.
My recollection of elementary school math is we were provided calculators but had to show our work or else we would get marked wrong. Hell some of the books had the answers in the back to the even or odd problems but that may have been later.
Probably later b/c I remember that in algebra but not before and I actually found them quite helpful b/c I could look up the answer and then work till I got it and then I knew I had gotten it right.
As I am much older than many of the posters here, I've seen people unable to make change without calculators, too, and I've been given the wrong change before. At least with a calculator, if you put the right info in, you'll get the right answer.
I know that there are people my age (60) who cannot make change without calculators, but they didn't get jobs as cashiers. Today, people who can't make change do get jobs as cashiers because there is nobody else to hire. Young people who can make change without calculators don't want or need jobs as cashiers.
I know that there are people my age (60) who cannot make change without calculators, but they didn't get jobs as cashiers. Today, people who can't make change do get jobs as cashiers because there is nobody else to hire. Young people who can make change without calculators don't want or need jobs as cashiers.
IME, there were plenty of cashiers, waitresses, etc who couldn't add or subtract in the pre-calculator era. I am 64.
IME, there were plenty of cashiers, waitresses, etc who couldn't add or subtract in the pre-calculator era. I am 64.
Damn true. And there were a lot of people who couldn't spell before spelling tests fell out of fashion at some schools. People remember the past through rose colored glasses sometimes, methinks.
Damn true. And there were a lot of people who couldn't spell before spelling tests fell out of fashion at some schools. People remember the past through rose colored glasses sometimes, methinks.
I try not to remember the past through rose colored glasses. Mostly I remember my parents being broke while working at dead end jobs. Luckily, I have not had that experience.
However, while idiots are nothing new, I think that my interaction with them has increased due to changes in the job market and the educational system. I can't prove it but it sure is a strong impression. In just the last two days I've encountered employees in a hardware store who don't know what a fan is, and a security guard in a museum who didn't know where the bathroom was.
I remember my spelling classes to be useless. All I had to do was memorize words. To be quite honest, I became a better speller with spell check. While I'm typing a word and it highlights red, I know immediately I misspelled something. After misspelling certain words frequently, I got into the habit of spelling them correctly. Obviously spell check doesn't correct grammar, but grammar doesn't fall under spelling.
I know that there are people my age (60) who cannot make change without calculators, but they didn't get jobs as cashiers. Today, people who can't make change do get jobs as cashiers because there is nobody else to hire. Young people who can make change without calculators don't want or need jobs as cashiers.
I suspect they don't teach kids to make change these days b/c cash registers will do it for you but I went into a store once and the power had gone out and they said they were going to have to close, b/c even though the cash registers still worked and it was daytime, no one knew how to make change. I taught my kids to do this and they are grateful b/c for both of them their first jobs are as waitresses and they need to make change.
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