Fractions should be scrapped!

Read this article on USA Today (also copied below)... This is one guy who gets it. One of my sayings: "School is too academic." Let's rethink how we teach kids instead of relying on very old and outdated methods. Or at least challenge it. Why learn things for the sake of learning them? Can I learn how to live my life if I've never learned long division before? Let me ask you... what do you do if you need to do long division? I'll give you an example:

When I was finalizing my car purchase, I was wondering if they had the right tax rate (since I was buying the car in Indiana). They were charging me $1597.80 on a $26,630 car. Did I pull out my paper and pencil? No. I used Excel. What other way would I have done it? Well, 5% would be about 1332, add another 1% of 266, and that's about 1600. How come they don't teach us those tricks in school? How come they don't spend more time on estimating, which is much more useful than calculating stuff to the hundreths digit by hand?

The "President-elect of the American Mathematical Society" (wow what a prestigious honor) who is also mentioned in this story is someone who does NOT get it. The best is the last quote of the article: ""Math is hard. The idea that somehow we're going to make math just fun is just a dream." This guy obviously is high on himself because he can do long division. He's the poster child of what's wrong with education.

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Fractions should be scrapped!

Enlarge By Emily Varisco, The (Wilmington) News Journal University of Pennsylvania math professor dennis DeTurck says fractions are 'as obsolete as roman numerals.'

By Maureen Milford, USA TODAY

PHILADELPHIA — A few years ago, Dennis DeTurck, an award-winning professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, stood at an outdoor podium on campus and proclaimed, "Down with fractions!"

"Fractions have had their day, being useful for by-hand calculation," DeTurck said as part of a 60-second lecture series. "But in this digital age, they're as obsolete as Roman numerals are."

The speech started a firestorm, particularly after the university posted it online.

"There were blogs and rants, and there were some critical e-mails," said DeTurck, who is now dean of the college of arts and sciences at Penn. "They'd always boil down to: 'What would we do in cooking and carpentry?' "

DeTurck is stirring the pot again, this time in a book scheduled to be published this year. Not only does he favor the teaching of decimals over fractions to elementary school students, he's also taking on long division, the calculation of square roots and by-hand multiplication of long numbers.

"Mathematicians are always questioning the axioms. Everybody knows that questioning those often results in the most substantial gains in terms of progress," he says.

Questioning the wisdom of teaching fractions to young students doesn't compute with people such as George Andrews, a professor of mathematics at Pennsylvania State University and president-elect of the American Mathematical Society. "All of this is absurd," Andrews said. "No wonder mathematical achievements in the country are so abysmal.

"Arithmetic is the basic skill. If children do not know arithmetic, they can't go on to algebra, which leads to calculus. From there you go on to other things," Andrews said. "It's fine to talk about it, but this is not a good pedagogy."

Others see value in both fractions and decimals. To Janine Remillard, associate professor of education at Penn, the decimal system is "incredibly powerful." And fractions can be a powerful steppingstone to understanding decimals, she says.

"Fractions, if taught well — and that's a huge caveat — can actually help kids understand the value of the size of the pieces," Remillard says.

DeTurck does not want to abolish the teaching of fractions and long division altogether. He believes fractions are important for high-level mathematics and scientific research. But it could be that the study of fractions should be delayed until it can be understood, perhaps after a student learns calculus, he said. Long division has its uses, too, but maybe it doesn't need to be taught as intensely.

Penn State mathematician Andrews says he believes DeTurck's ideas will "unfortunately" gain traction because of the misguided belief that math education can somehow be made easy:

"Math is hard. The idea that somehow we're going to make math just fun is just a dream."

The car

It was quite a day, as I basically bought a car today! It's a Royal Blue Pearl Acura TSX with 6 spd manual transmission. Now I've been told that manual transmissions are only 5% of all the TSX's made, but it's come from so many different sources I wonder if it's one of those myths. Anyways, finding one in manual and not-black I figured would be tough, but this dealer in Indy had it and offered me invoice for it. Good enough for me!

I blogged earlier about the bad sales service I was getting from the dealers... Well this guy seemed to be on the right track. At first he said it didn't show up on inventory, so I'd either hafta order it or go with a different color. This was the first time a salesman actually tried to offer me up that option... i.e. trying to solve my problem instead of dismissing it. He also went and found this car, which was not actually ordered by the dealer but Acura had sent them anyway (how that works I'll never get it).

Since he's in Indianapolis, I wanted to make sure they weren't gonna pull a bait and switch on me. So I asked for something in writing that basically said that my deposit was going towards a car with those exact things. He faxed that to me and got his sales manager to sign it. The wording wasn't quite what I expected (it still said my depost was non-refundable) so I asked him to change it. He happily complied, and said he understood why. I talked to him on the phone, and the guy seemed like a normal guy trying to help me out instead of the slick and slimy car salesman (there were a couple that I dealt with like that) or the older sophisticated guy who didn't want to budge on the price and didn't really want to spend the time with me. I think Karen would approve of this guy's sales tactics more than all the other guys.

I'll wait until I actually pick up the car, due in late February (it's probably on ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean) before I give him the official reco for you guys. But I'm excited and can't wait for it to get here!

Noodlesblog part 2

So it's Sunday afternoon and I find myself at Noodles again (this time in Mason). Place is about 80% full, which is great because I want this place to prosper so I can keep eating here! This time the people ahead of me in line even asked me if I came here a lot and needed help with recommendations. I was more than happy to provide it!

Last time I was here a little boy came by to see what I was doing on my computer. I think it disappointed him that I wasn't playing any games, I was actually looking at a boring spreadsheet.

I'm typing this blog off line with a new feature in Word 2007 (one of the few new features of the Office 2007 suite that I actually like). But I'm wondering how much it'd cost for me to get one of those doo-hickeys that let me get on the internet wherever I am. I'm sure Karen would know…

 

Noodlesblog

Don't remember if I've blogged before about Noodles and Company, the new casual dining place in town. There are two locations, one in Mason and one in Hyde Park, where I am now (killing some time before an 8:00 outing). Don't get them confused with Nothing But Noodles, which was horrible. There was a Noodles and Company in Madison back when I went to school there, and it was a favorite of mine back then. Casual dining is a great way to go, because it allows me to come in and dine in and meanwhile do some blogging without feeling weird. All they need now is some wifi! I've also made them part of my strategy to eat better, since sautéed noodles aren't breaded and fried. I also like their food a lot, so it's a win win for me.

Today I'm enjoying their "Trio" combo, which is a small portion of noodles, a meat, and a side salad. They advertise it as "balance" for your meal. Perfect, as I'm trying to find a sustainable way for me to eat better. It really beats doing what other places are doing, that is making larger portions and charging more for them. They're probably a bit pricey, as my noodle/salad combo came out to ~$7 without a drink, but I'm willing to pay a little more for good food that won't kill me. Wish there were more places with that model!

My favorites so far: Pasta Fresca with chicken and the Japanese Pan Noodles with beef. Tried the Indonesian peanut, it was really good but slightly spicy for my tastes.

 

 

Fess up, whoever's reading this in Florida...

Ah, fun with Google Analytics. I figured out that I can track traffic on my blog with Google Analytics. Here's some of the stuff I've come up with, based on traffic data from the last week:

They don't call Karen's blog the blog hub for no reason. In the last week, there have been 53 clicks to my blog from her site. Dave's blog is #2 with 35. Then Martha and Jenny's blogs, then bloglines (I suppose that's Winston). Tom's blog is a distant 6th, with 4, just in front of Greg the loved one (remind me how he got that nickname?) blog with 2.

No one made it to my blog via search engine. Which is good, because I set it that way and didn't want random people finding it.

No on clicks on my ads. Which isn't a big deal, I just have them up there as a test and for entertainment value (Packer ring tones?). Don't go about clicking them now, technically I'm not supposed to talk about them.

There were 71 visits from Ohio (a whopping 36 from Fairfield, 15 from Cincinnati, and 7 from Mason... I assume that's Tom, bc I have it filtering out my clicks). Random visits from Cardington and Ashley, Ohio. I don't even know where that is... according to the map it's around Columbus.

22 visits from Massachusetts (is this the Sturgis brothers at home?) and 15 from Oregon (hi Martha!). 6 visits from Niles, Illinois (guess it's near Chicago). Kentucky has 6 from Georgetown/Lexington. It took me a while to figure out who that was, but if I remember right Katherine is from Kentucky. Minnesota has 3 (my friend Erin had been reading up a bit, wonder if that's her). And then randomly 2 from Florida, New Jersey, and Michigan. If someone there is reading this, I'm curious who you are!.

Another interesting note... a big fat goose egg from Wisconsin. Apparently no one loves me there. At least loves me enough to read my blog. Guess it could be worse, my parents could be reading this and commenting. :) Also zero from California, where Winston hails. Winston, maybe you can try getting to this blog by typing it once and then I can see if California pops up.

The Morning After

Some things to help me cope...

The agony of defeat x 2

2008 isn't starting so hot sports wise. 2007 showed my two teams, the Cowboys and the Packers, being the #1 and #2 seeds in the playoffs. The odds were REALLY good that I'd have a team in the Superbowl. Alas, not meant to be. The Packers lost to the Giants today. The Giants are now my most hated team in the NFL, ruining both of my team's chances at the Superbowl.

I spent some time today trying to figure out where exactly I was when the Packers won their last Superbowl in '97. It was kinda fun, I ended up going through some email archives of way back then... I noticed that we used email instead of IM back then. In the course of one day, I think I had conversations with 3-4 different people, of at least 3-4 emails long of conversation. And it was detailed enough that I found out where I watched that Superbowl... I said in my email that I was going to the "tailgate party" in my hall and then heading out to Liz Waters (where only women were allowed to live... guys were allowed to visit of course). I apparently watched with a bunch of friends there.

Just goes to show, the Packers would make one more Superbowl after that (lost to Denver the next year... I think I watched it in the same residence hall) and a few playoff appearances. A win today would've put them in again. So the moral of the story is... when your team is good, enjoy the heck out of it, because you can't take anything for granted! So Tom and Dave, live it up...

Monday Night Badinage

I was gently reminded by Meghan this weekend that I haven't blogged in a while… So here it is! I haven't had any good juicy topics, or maybe I just haven't been in the right blogging mood. But she's right, it's about time!

I'm sitting here in a fast food Americanized Chinese place here waiting on my dinner before I head to orchestra rehearsal. I long for the day in the future when you can pick up wireless internet like you can radio and TV stations.

I'm listen to my latest book in audio (from Audible.com, where for $14 a month you can get an audiobook, put it on your Ipod, and then your commutes to work aren't nearly as bad!), called "You Call the Shots." It's written by a 21 year old about his entrepreneurial exploits with internet businesses. He also works at his family's Ford dealership, and does really well there. And of course his parents keep wanting him to stop doing this kind of stuff (and making $100,000's) and go to college (so he can get an everyday job? What a joke!). Anyways he talks about what makes a good salesman… the person's job is to remove barriers to the sale.

Well this got me thinking to my recent car buying experiences. And I realized just how bad the sales people I've dealt with were. Not bad in terms of how they're treating me, etc., but bad in terms of selling. I usually went in there and was pretty open about what I was looking for, talked about some of the things that were getting me to buy the car, etc. But I don't think any one of them listened. Not that I need a car salesman to listen to me to make me happy, but it would behoove them to. And they weren't really interested in keeping a long term relationship. There were many times I wrote them and said "keep me in the loop for this and that" or even "when are you working over the holidays?" so I could come in and do some negotiating. No responses. One person from the Mazda dealership is pretty good about calling me up… actually to tell me that they had great financing deals and were closing out their 2007 inventory. That was great technique… except I wanted an Acura. Makes me wonder if I'd be a good car salesman…

 

 

2007 Year in Review

2007 was one of those years of good karma and everything going your way. Maybe it has something to do with lucky number 7's. But it's one of those years you just wanna bottle up and use again in the future. I really hope a lot of this good karma is sustainable... I feel like this is the year I've really figured myself out, where my strengths and weaknesses are, and also figured out how to really use them. My sister said it best... I've started becoming comfortable in my own skin.

So with that, here's a rundown of the top happenings of 2007 for me:

MBA Graduation from Xavier University - It took me 7 years (by design), but I finished my MBA in May. It was a good learning experience, but the best part of it is how proud my parents are of me being the first Masters degree of my generation

Promotion and new assignment at work - A blog around this time a year ago, I wondered out loud what 2007 had in store for me, specifically in my job at P&G. The best part of this was I was promoted into a job that I was a lot better at... so a reverse Peter Principle.

My grandpa passing away after 86 years of life - This was the first time I've experienced a close family member passing away. It was of course very difficult, but he had been getting weaker the last few years. I was able to learn a lot about my grandpa, and also the extended family all came together and we all become closer and started seeing the big picture in life.

Winning the batting title on Jim's softball team - I love playing softball, but I didn't start until I got out of college. I started figuring out defense, but the hitting was something I never caught on to. I really wanted to contribute to the team since Jim believed in me and stuck with me. That's why it felt so good to have my best hitting season ever this year, and even leading the team in on base percentage.

2007 dates # 3, 4, and 5 being all with the same person (and counting) - Self explanatory... might blog about this as more time passes. :)

The Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers ended #1 and #2 in the NFC this year - I have two football teams. I must be in heaven when they both are awesome the same year (or maybe it's a curse, because they will at some point knock each other out)

The Brewers started strong and challenged for the division title - The Brewers were in the World Series in 1982... I was 4. The concept of my baseball team playing in the playoffs is completely foreign to me. Here's to them making it next year!

My sister Linda getting engaged - Another first for my generation. Looking forward to her wedding in August of 2008! Not only am I in the wedding of course, but my sister insists I stand on her side to show what I mean to her. I'd of course be honored (I just refuse to wear a dress).

My friend Winston getting engaged and subsequently me being asked to be his best man - What an honor for me! I've been a best man once before, and was told by many I had the best speech they ever heard. I hope to pull out all the stops for Winston too, as he deserves it!

Being appointed to the board of the Cincinnati Community Orchestra - Another first for me! I have no idea how working on a board for a volunteer organization like this is like. I'm happy to do it, as I would love to do anything I can to keep this kind of music alive and popular for non-professionals.

My good friends Linda and Jason's twin daughters being born on my birthday - I was Jason's best man at Jason's wedding, and now I get to share a birthday with their twins!

Dave and Dean getting married - I had the pleasure of playing the violin for Dave, who even had requests for songs after hearing them on the Bose speakers demo CD. Thanks for introducing me to Turandot! And I also had the honor of being a groomsman for my childhood friend Dean.

Whew! What a year! Plenty to look forward to next year too, but that's another blog...