Whole Human Math

We could subtitle this ‘joke’ to read: “Why We Home-Schooled Our Son”.

[Saxon makes wonderful Math books]

This came from our contributor JLH to the Baron, as a distraction from his computer woes…
…if you’ve heard the joke already, just pass it on:

1. Teaching Math In the 1950s (when I was in school)

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

2. Teaching Math In the 1970s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

3. Teaching Math In the 1980s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is $80. Did he make a profit?Yes or No

4. Teaching Math In The 1990s

A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100.
His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment:
Underline the number 20.

5. Teaching Math In 2000s

A logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and inconsiderate and cares nothing for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He does this so he can make a profit of $20.

What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question:

How did the birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down their homes? (There are no wrong answers, and if you feel like crying, it’s OK. See the box of recycled tissues on your desk).

Like gag me, dude. See #6 for the real future.

6. Teaching Math In 2020

Un hachero vende una carretada de maderapara $100. El costo de la producciones es $80. Cuanto dinero ha hecho?

ANSWER: His profit was $375,000 because his logging business is just a front for his pot farm.

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In my humble opinion #6 should have been written using Chinese characters. It will be part of a free-time Math exercise at The Mao-MaryJane Righteousness Re-Education Camp for Guailous #35 in Encino. The problem to be solved would have to be re-written to reflect the fact there are no private profit-making ventures in this part of Outland China.

11 thoughts on “Whole Human Math

  1. Ah, So! I see you have 2020 vision!
    Yes, the lumber had to be cleared so that the pot could be grown.

  2. Well, there could be also “Teaching Math In 2010s”:

    A pre-op transgender logger cuts down a beautiful forest because he is selfish and cares more for his gender identity than for the habitat of animals or the preservation of our woodlands. He wants to add the $20 profit to his gender reassignment surgery.

    What do you think of his choice? Topic for class participation after answering the question:

    How does this forestry operation affect the logger’s HIV-positive, African undocumented immigrant lover whom the cruel Bush administration refused to accept as a refugee?

  3. These days it might make more sense to just combat train your kids for the Hunger Games; that’s essentially where they’re going to end up given the way civilization is headed.

  4. A non political organisation called “Civitas” produced a pamphlet approximately 5 years ago entitled “The Corruption of the Curriculum.” I think you can still get it on Amazon. It shows the substitution of indoctrination for education in UK schools. It’s worth a read.

    • indoctrination instead of education? try graduating from college these days! “right thinking will be rewarded, wrong thinking will be equally punished,” Talosian Magistrate (Star Trek, the Menagerie) You want to graduate? Adhere to the party line or else you will be expelled.
      We were instructed in Deuteronomy to teach our children who would be by our side as we walked, sat down, and rose up. We were not told to send them off to be in the company of pagan strangers.
      Common Core and Hitler Jugend rhyme.

  5. Teaching Math Today.

    Write your answer in the blank space below. There is no question because there are no wrong answers. Try to make your answer a number, but if you can’t you are still a great student!

    _________.

  6. The simplest, cheapest and quickest singleton remedy is abolition of the B. of Education degree, similar to the abolition of the B. of Medicine degree of a century ago. Aspiring teachers should compete for their jobs based upon achievement in challenging B.A. and B.S. disciplines.

    Schools of Education attract academic underachievers, have gimme curriculums and bloated GPAs.

    Whom do you want teaching your kids math, the B.S. with twelve hours of Integral and Differential Calculus, or the B.Ed with three hours of Calculus Appreciation, augmented (or excused) by fifteen credit hours of dubious Theory of Education.

    We can expect an uproar from the AEA, the parent organization of the teachers’ unions who hold our education system hostage, as the prospect of teat withdrawl presents itself.

    see: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51566.The_Conspiracy_of_Ignorance

    • That’s why I like private schools, however humble they may be. The teachers are well-versed in their subject areas -usually retired from long careers – and bring a depth of knowledge a union teacher hasn’t acquired. These older people usually don’t need the money but have reached an age at which it feels important to pass things on.

      Erik Erikson called this impulse “The Age of Generativity” in his “Eight Ages of Man”, a chapter in his book from 1950 – still in print, still going strong:

      Childhood and Society

      A fascinating man with his own ‘mysteries to be lived’.

    • Agreed totally. I like to tell people that 20 years ago:
      -“colleges of education” were very often referred to as the intellectual sewer of any college campus.”
      -A degree in “education” is almost a guarantee that the holder is not education.
      -Not all teachers are stupid but the stupid people can only get into the colleges of education

  7. This is why I, a high school history teacher who wishes to keep his job, introduce myself as a professional swindler of the young.

    • Kepha, I have a teacher friend in Philadelphia- gay, as it happens- who’d describe himself similarly.

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