Yes, it is important to learn the times table and other basics

When am I ever going to use calculus in life?” I used to whine to my math teacher once upon a time. While I have never found a need to derive an equation from first principles since graduation, the times table, basic algebra and even trigonometry have come in handy in daily life. One day, I showed up at my usual drycleaners and was met by a new teenager who was working the cash. I produced my receipt and she scurried away to find my shirts. She punched in $11.75 in the old style register and I promptly handed her a $20 bill and 7 quarters. Without missing a beat, she handed back a $5. I paused and said, “I gave you a twenty.” She paused, took the $5 back, replaced it with a $10 and gave me back all 7 quarters. After our third pause, I said, “I’ll just take the $10,” thanked her for her service and walked out. I hope she didn’t think I gave her a $1.75 tip.

Weeks later, I helped my daughter roll up her coins from her piggy bank and I noticed she struggled with calculating how much was in a roll of quarters, dimes and nickels. I was a bit concerned at her deliberation but was more patient and forgiving. My mind also wandered off as I recall stories in the news of kids who don’t know how to tell time from an analog clock or read cursive.  What happened to big hand/little hand? What happened to teaching upper and lowercase using hills, valleys and looping roller coasters? Did all these kids miss the same class? WTF happened to our educational system?

Truth be told, I am very concerned about the educational curriculum these days in many schools. While my daughter is taught to write in cursive, have daily reading period, spelling and math lessons (including performing long division the old fashion way) in her current school, it is not standard practice in other places. To me, what I believe to be standard curriculum (home eco like cooking & sewing; practical shops like woodwork and metal work) are dropped and the standard syllabus hasn’t kept up with the times for more relevant subjects (accounting and basic money matters). Instead, I find it gravely concerning that new math is taught. Isn’t math just math? When did it become new? And ironically, I have also discovered keyboarding skills are no longer offered at high school. Isn’t that a basic must-have for all tech jobs?!? So seriously, WTF happened to basic education?

 

I am very concerned about the educational curriculum these days in many schools. What I believe to be standard curriculum are dropped and the standard syllabus hasn’t kept up with the times for more relevant subjects. And ironically, I have also discovered keyboarding skills are no longer offered at high school. Isn’t that a basic must-have for all tech jobs?!? What happened to basic education?

 

I am not an educator and am not plugged into the politics of education. But whatever homework she brings back, I as a parent still very much grounded in the analog world, sit with her when she needs help. But math doesn’t take place just at the kitchen table. When we go to a burger joint, I’d ask her to look at the menu and figure out if it costs more money to buy a burger, drink and fries separately versus as a combo set. I’d even ask her to calculate in her head how much change she would likely get back from a $20 bill so she isn’t swindled because someone punched the wrong buttons or have poor math skills. Mistakes can happen and sometimes, being short changed is a genuine blunder but practice increases the likelihood to catch mistakes in areas less tolerant of errors: converting imperial measurements to metric for recipes, calculating discount percentages or even just buying candy with loose change.

It’s true that through automation, many menial math functions are eliminated. And it’s also too bad that many essential life skills wind up falling into that category with deference to a voice search on our mobile phones. We should be mindful of how we teach our children: automation benefits us only when it replaces truly repetitive and routine tasks. When it seeks to eliminate even the most basic of skills, that’s when automation (and indirectly technology) can become our Achilles’ heel.

So at home, we don’t use calculators—not at her grade level. She also has a dictionary which she is taught to use. My daughter complaints and would rather I spell out words for her as looking things up is boring, time consuming and not instantaneous. But any skills worth having are worth spending time to develop. This includes note taking, research skills at the library, time management and definitely financial literacy. Basic skills will never get old and technology will never make them obsolete. So, “Yes, memorize this times table. It’ll come in handy later.”