Teaching kids real math with computers/calculators

[Garth Wilson]

I must heavily disagree with him. If the student can't do it on paper, they can't do it in their heads either, which means they will have no idea if wildly wrong answers come from the computer because something was entered wrong.

One commenter at the link said many people will enter fields where they have no need of math. I say it doesn't matter. Life needs math. The woman next door went to a swap meet and saw some T-shirts she liked that were $3 each. She thought that was too much. The merchant, sensing her—um, how can I put this kindly—lack of understanding, said, "Ok, I'll make you a deal. Three for $10." She thought that sounded better, and she bought them. It knocks my breath out. Somehow she graduated from high school without learning 3rd-grade material.

My wife and I are involved in a kids' program Wednesday nights. There's dinner before it starts; and last year one of the leaders, just for fun, said to a bunch of fifth- to ninth-graders around one of the tables, "Ok everyone, what's ten divided by six?" Their eyes all turned glassy. Two of them had the idea to reach for their smartphones to try to find a calculator ap, but still didn't come up with an answer. I was absolutely stunned. Our schools today are not much more than babysitting and political indoctrination centers.