Community Chat

[SaRina]

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@Mominohio wrote:

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@SaRina wrote:

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@Mominohio wrote:

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@jackthebear wrote:

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@Jacie wrote:

I don't disagree, technology marches forward. However, since we still use money, it would be nice if people knew how to count/make change.

SURPRISE. Have parents and teachers let us down yet again on the basics?

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different topics are being taught in the schools, we can disagree about it, but perhaps the need to make change isn't needed,  Heck if I needed to count change back now I wouldn't be able to  automatically either

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Those who don't get it, tend to be taken advantage of, whether it is the new technologies or the old skills. Best to know both, don't you think.

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Perhaps we are the fortunate ones for this reason.  We can take solace in knowing (and teaching, if we choose) those skills that are disappearing....and we can have the benefits of new technology.  But I would bet there will come a time that there is no need for the older skills. Right now, we are in transition, so both old and new are of benefit.

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People who actually believe this frighten me. 

The more we give over to others doing for us (or things doing for us) only makes us weaker and dumber.  

IT is nice to have all of today's luxuries, but so dangerous that people not only lack many of the old skills, but do so willingly and proudly. 

There will come a time in all our live (or has already) when we are in a 'fix' because some new way has failed us or is unavailable for a period of time, and only those who have older skills and the knowledge to use them will be functioning (like my GPS example I posted earlier).

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I guess I frighten you, lol.  I'm a thinker and I often think outside the box.

Of course, I'm talking about way, way ahead in the future when there will be things that we cannot possibly comprehend today.  BTW, you may think I'm speaking from a place of technology acceptance.  I am not.  I'm still using my first and only cell phone from 10 years ago (it's a flip phone) and I'm on my first and only computer, which is 6 years old.  I don't have "blue teeth", lol, or have any idea about the electronics situated in my car.  I am quite comfortable with the old.  But I recognize that change is the natural progression of things.  Change is never easy to digest.   :-)

[Mominohio]

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@Melania wrote:

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@Mominohio wrote:

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@kdgn wrote:

The need to count change back disappeared when cash registers became sophisticated enough to tell the person what amount of money to return to the customer. 

Amount tendered minus the amount charged=change back. That's how it's been done for a very long time now. And that's how the cashier has been taught to give the change: the total return given on the receipt. 

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That is how it works. Until. Until the power goes out and you are in line at the grocery and you have to stand there forever because the cashier has no clue how to operate without her computer (it has happend to me). Until you go to a garage sale, and have no idea if you are getting the correct change for your $20. 

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If the power goes out the registers don't open...moot point.

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Most can be manualy opened with a key, and some businesses will continure with a  calculator and pen and paper to process out the customers inside, before closing (some won't). Of course cash is the only thing taken, and that is a whole other subject that will set people on fire!

[Mominohio]

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@Karnerblue wrote:

Skills are taught and passed down.  If we don't take the time to do it, then you can't really blame the younger generation -- they are brought up with the tools they need for the future.  How many of us really know how to fend for ourselves if we really needed to.  Like I mean kill for food or fish, skin an animal and cook it.  Find shelter or start a fire without matches.  It's just the way of the world. 

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My exact point! We have taught, at least basically, all those skills you listed. Do we do them everyday? No, not even 'often' but there has been the exposure, and the doing. 

"the way of the world" would be better, in my opinion, if people knew a mix of old and new. And I do understand that the schools are not going to be able to cover it all. But for us to not teach our kids, and those adults who never were taught to seek it out (gee, on this great 'new' technology it is easier than ever to do) is short sighted.

[LilacTree]

They are voting with paper ballots in Maryland "to ensure the accuracy of the vote." 

That's real progress.

[hckynut]

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@mstyrion 1 wrote:

When these kinds of threads come up I always have to wonder why, if you think a skill is important, you don't just teach your kids yourself.  

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Many of us that visit these forums do not have children, and are not in the teaching profession. I pay a lot of property taxes, and 85% of it goes to public school system.

I've taught young kids to ice skate and to play hockey and do not want to add the 3 RRR's to my teaching resume'.

To answer your question. Sure parents Should, but many Don't, and that is why I added my comments to this thread. It isn't my place to teach these skills to the children of others.

hckynut(john)

[Blahblahvampemer]

Change is fine.  Change is expected.  Is it a good change though?  

We're producing some of the most ignorant people on this planet, and how will society function when a computer isn't handy?  

[LilacTree]

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@hckynut wrote:

@Mominohio

I left my response in that thread also. Happy to see you taught your kids how to do basic math without a calculator. It is a shame that so many have to rely exclusively on electronics to do simple add/subtract and divide.

I an typing this on our tablet from my hospital room. Been here since Saturday afternoon with suspected heart issues. Also since my Hemoglobin numbers have dropped drastically, once again, internal bleeding is the suspect.

Have a Pandanoscopy(Colonoscopy and Endo) in 1 procedure, scheduled for tomorrow. So looks like I will be drinking my 20th Gallon of GoLytley Colon Cleaner later today.

Anyways, math/bookkeeping/general business were my main classes in high school. Working with money, in my opinion, a person needs more than exclusive electronic devices to complete cash and other transactions.

hckynut(john)

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Oh no, John, not again!  My thoughts are with you.  You're such a brave man.  Ford

[Puzzle Piece]

POSTERS  I just had a thought though I've entertained this thought for a while. 

If the young aren't taught skills that are practical and useful, the why don't some of you/us voluteer to do the teaching.  It could be at your home, or place and the young people would be exposed to things that will come in handy in their lifetime. 

[Blahblahvampemer]

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@jackthebear wrote:

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@Jacie wrote:

I don't disagree, technology marches forward. However, since we still use money, it would be nice if people knew how to count/make change.

SURPRISE. Have parents and teachers let us down yet again on the basics?

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different topics are being taught in the schools, we can disagree about it, but perhaps the need to make change isn't needed,  Heck if I needed to count change back now I wouldn't be able to  automatically either

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The fact that someone can't make change is alarming.  It's not difficult to count up, and if people can't utilize their brains mathematically as well as with language, the brain degrades quickly.  With little use in youth, they'll be a mess as seniors.  

[Blahblahvampemer]

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@ChynnaBlue wrote:

Reading a map wasn't a skill most people had long before GPS. I used to work in a job where we analyzed maps and property all day. I worked with the company for 13 years and spent 8 of those years training people. Each new hire went through a 2-week training course to learn about the different types of maps, learn how locate the same property on a street map, a plat/property boundary map, a survey, a FEMA flood map, and aerial map. They had to learn to read the different scales on maps and even learn how to measure exactly where a house was on a lot using all of those maps.

We had a lot of people who couldn't tell East from West even with a north arrow on a map. I even encountered three people, including a city planner, who couldn't tell North from South. Many of the people who came in had little to no experience reading maps. I remember reading maps as part of my elementary school classes, but it appeared that schools must no longer cover this information.

And this article is from 1993, decades before GPS in most cars and every smart phone: http://articles.mcall.com/1993-08-05/features/2934587_1_cartographers-franklin-maps-social-studies

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Not a shock as the schools started falling apart in the 60s.  My dad taught in a technical field, and by the time he retired, the young men had gone from being ready to hit the ground running to needing up to a year of remedial classes.  Maps were a basic when I was a kid.