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Thread: Are They Teaching Our Kids?

  1. #1
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    Perhaps the times have changed since I was in second grade, reading "Spot and Jane" books, but I am a bit concerned on the material that is being taught to my daughter, who is currently in second grade.


    For example, look at the picture below


    Look at the numbers nine and four on the left. This what I was taught in school. The ones on the right (in the red box) is what is being taught in school these days. I am not saying that these numbers are wrong, but they do not fit in, with the rest of the alpha-numeric symbols that they are teaching in school.

    The NINE and the FOUR have evloved in 30 years to a "digital" form. I can see why people use those numbers, because they see them on digital watches, calculators, cellphones, etc...

    Now look at the J and the I on the left, in the picture. They have no serifs (the little fancy hat). People assume that the letter "J" exclusively uses the serif. This is false, unless you use the serif on ALL of the letters in the alphabet. As a matter of fact, the font on this web page is wrong. The I's and the J's have serifs, but the rest of the lettering here is sanserif. Very inconsistant.

    Reputable publications and businesses will not display such inconsistancy. (Except for Pennsylvania license plates)


    Here's another...
    Today, my daughter had a math problem. But personally, I believe that it is not correct. Here is exactly what the homework displayed.

    John read 5 more books than Cindi.
    Cindi read 13 books.
    How many books did John read? ___________

    If John read 10 books, how many books did Cindi read? _________


    We all know that the answer to the first part is 18 books. But the second question is tricky. If you look at the question, it is not clear enough to find the answer they want. My logical answer is 13. Why? Well it clearly says that Cindi read 13 books. You cannot dispute that. I can't help that John may have read 10 books instead. What do you think that the answer should be.

    Here's another...
    My daughter has to read two books for homework. She reads them to family members to improve her skills. I thought maybe she was reading the book wrong, but she wasn't. Whatever book this was, was not published with correct grammar. I am not an expert but here is an example...

    John sat down in the chair. And his mother baked cookies.

    Since when is it acceptable to use a the word And to start a sentence? The word "and' is a conjunction.

    Here's another example...

    The suit needs cleaned.

    Wrong! The suit need to be cleaned.

    I know that they are not teaching the kid grammar yet, but I don't think it is a good idea to have them read books that cannot use proper grammar.
    ------------------------

    I may sound a bit too picky on these things, but I believe that it is very important to stress the little things such as this, in hopes that the next generation of people can communicate with eacher with clarity and minimal errors. Not like the K-Lite lounge where everyone uses the word noone, when they mean "no one", or your instead of you're.

  2. Lounge   -   #2
    Keikan's Avatar ........
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    You wanna know what they should learn?

    More fractions
    Ohh noo!!! I make dribbles!!!

  3. Lounge   -   #3
    Incorrect grammar and spelling is a pet peeve of mine. If I were you I would definitely complain to the school district about the material being taught.

  4. Lounge   -   #4
    MagicNakor's Avatar On the Peripheral
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    Originally posted by Spindulik@29 October 2003 - 07:30
    ...John sat down in the chair. And his mother baked cookies.

    Since when is it acceptable to use a the word And to start a sentence? The word "and' is a conjunction.

    Here's another example...

    The suit needs cleaned.

    Wrong! The suite need to be cleaned.

    I know that they are not teaching the kid grammar yet, but I don't think it is a good idea to have them read books that cannot use proper grammar...
    It's acceptable to start a sentence using "and." However, it's not often taught in schools because the students end up making sentence fragments.

    It does seem as though the editor let some things slip through, which is fairly common.

    If the suite needs to be cleaned, think about letting room service in.

    Some numbers have different variations. Other than 9 and 4, there's also 0, 1, and 7.

    I honestly cannot remember what "version" of J and I was taught to me, and I don't have the workbooks anymore.

    If John read 10 books, Cindi read 5.

    things are quiet until hitler decides he'd like to invade russia
    so, he does
    the russians are like "OMG WTF D00DZ, STOP TKING"
    and the germans are still like "omg ph34r n00bz"
    the russians fall back, all the way to moscow
    and then they all begin h4xing, which brings on the russian winter
    the germans are like "wtf, h4x"
    -- WW2 for the l33t

  5. Lounge   -   #5
    Keikan's Avatar ........
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    The old numbers you can make a "69"
    Ohh noo!!! I make dribbles!!!

  6. Lounge   -   #6
    RGX's Avatar Unstoppable
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    I know, sme of the stuff kids come up with that they have been talk incorectly is really unbeleivable, im not exactly someone who fumes about bad grammar but if kids are growing up thinking this is normal what are they going to be like as adults?

  7. Lounge   -   #7
    Gemby!'s Avatar Poster
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    i am still at school and my grammar could be better - there are people who have worse grammar than me which may be because of those books !!
    so i would complain !

    i also think that numbers are better now than they were before because they are more simple to write but it also depends , some kids at school do still write like that - the teachers even write like that !

    but my school is sorta crummy so...
    Single handedly destroying the NHS from the inside

  8. Lounge   -   #8
    bigboab's Avatar Poster BT Rep: +1
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    Originally posted by Spindulik@29 October 2003 - 06:30
    [b]

    [color=blue] John read 5 more books than Cindi.
    Cindi read 13 books.
    How many books did John read? ___________

    If John read 10 books, how many books did Cindi read?
    I think the logical answer would be 5. John reads 5 more books than Cindy.

    In fact the whole thing is wrong. The wee buggers are not reading any books at all. That is one of the things that is wrong with todays education.
    The best way to keep a secret:- Tell everyone not to tell anyone.

  9. Lounge   -   #9
    Snee's Avatar Error xɐʇuʎs BT Rep: +1
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    @bigboab

    It's weird, but I got taught the right-hand digits, but the left-hand letters (presumably they are the easiest ones for computers to scan), naturally I use the right-hand letters now, just to mess with the machine was my reason for starting with it. Before they started teaching it to me, my writing was "correct" according to their model (though my digits were the other way around).

  10. Lounge   -   #10
    Octopussy
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    RAWR! Spindulik I don't see what's so wrong about the 9 and J thing....That's what I'm learning. You can see this pwnage grammar I have now...

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