I'm reading John Allen Paulos' Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences. In Chapter 4, "Whence Innumeracy", he gives an anecdote about his own public school mathematical education.
When he was 10, he calculated a pitcher's ERA as 135. He told his teacher about it, was asked to explain it to the class, did so shyly with quavering voice, and was told by the teacher he was wrong and should sit down. The teacher said an ERA could never be greater than 27.
At the end of the season, the local newspaper published all the major league ERAs. Since this particular pitcher never played again, his ERA was 135. Paulos showed the article to the teacher who gave him a dirty look and told him to sit down.
"His idea of good education apparently was to make sure everyone remained seated."
Paulos received his B.S. in Mathematics in 1967, and so this incident occurred about 1955. I wonder if 1955 is in Mallard Fillmore's "now" for "bad education".
Just as bad as Paulos' incident, when I was in fourth grade and nine (1947), a substitute teacher took a vote on the distance to the Moon. I wonder how long ago Mallard Fillmore's "then" was. I don't think Bruce Tinsley even knows when "then" was; he was born in 1958.
See more in Chapter 4 of Innumeracy about shortcomings of math education. The book was published in 1988 when Tinsley was 30.
See also my recent article "If numbers make you number, you'll lose dollars before you holler".
Showing posts with label Mallard Fillmore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mallard Fillmore. Show all posts
Monday, September 03, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
The truth ducks when Mallard Fillmore quacks
Bruce Tinsley's "Mallard Fillmore" can make a zinger of an observation on public figures or current fashionable ideas, but more often than not he follows a "conservative" "party line" without regard to the facts.
His August 17, 2007 cartoon on basic subjects and sex education was a "more often than not". He has a teacher "then" telling how she teaches basics and leaves sex education to the parents. He has a teacher "now" telling how she teaches sex and leaves the other stuff to the "street".
His footnote says, "Guess which era had fewer S.T.D.s and unwanted pregnancies and better educated kids?"
First, "then" didn't have AIDS, but it did have syphilis and gonorrhea. I have two great uncles who contracted syphilis, "then" being WWI era. These two diseases were mentioned in mandatory health classes where I went to school.
Unwanted pregnancies are as old as the human race, many the result of rape by otherwise "civilized" men. Given my parents were married in September and I was born in March, I'd say the pregnancy may not have been unwanted but is was probably unexpected. This was 1937-8. One of the girls in my Methodist Youth Fellowship became pregnant in the late 50's.
As to "better-educated kids", when I went to high school and took trigonometry there were some colleges that were offering that subject. Now, many high schools offer calculus and statistics, courses I didn't receive until college. Oh yes, many students from my city high school went on to college and many dropped out.
The Duluth News Tribune has put "Doonesbury" on the editorial page because it is "political". Maybe the Star Tribune should do the same for "Mallard Fillmore". Not!
See also the Wikipedia entry on "Mallard Fillmore".
His August 17, 2007 cartoon on basic subjects and sex education was a "more often than not". He has a teacher "then" telling how she teaches basics and leaves sex education to the parents. He has a teacher "now" telling how she teaches sex and leaves the other stuff to the "street".
His footnote says, "Guess which era had fewer S.T.D.s and unwanted pregnancies and better educated kids?"
First, "then" didn't have AIDS, but it did have syphilis and gonorrhea. I have two great uncles who contracted syphilis, "then" being WWI era. These two diseases were mentioned in mandatory health classes where I went to school.
Unwanted pregnancies are as old as the human race, many the result of rape by otherwise "civilized" men. Given my parents were married in September and I was born in March, I'd say the pregnancy may not have been unwanted but is was probably unexpected. This was 1937-8. One of the girls in my Methodist Youth Fellowship became pregnant in the late 50's.
"Between 1945 and the early 1970s, an estimated 1.5 million unwed American girls and young women, most between ages 16 and 23, surrendered their babies for non-family adoptions." - "Unwed mothers forced to give up babies share their stories", Star Tribune, August 19, 2007Really great teaching by the parents of "then"!
As to "better-educated kids", when I went to high school and took trigonometry there were some colleges that were offering that subject. Now, many high schools offer calculus and statistics, courses I didn't receive until college. Oh yes, many students from my city high school went on to college and many dropped out.
The Duluth News Tribune has put "Doonesbury" on the editorial page because it is "political". Maybe the Star Tribune should do the same for "Mallard Fillmore". Not!
See also the Wikipedia entry on "Mallard Fillmore".
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Mallard Fillmore
I mentioned the "Mallard Fillmore" comic strip in my latest column, "General Ization battles truth" for the Reader Weekly. I posted it today to my website; and when I do so, I add as many links as possible, one of them being to the Mallard Fillmore strip. When I find a URL I often visit the site.
I found out that the creator, Bruce Tinsley, was fired by the paper where he created the strip. The website said it was because he "wouldn't tone down its conservative bias." I agree that it has a conservative bias and is often off the wall. But firing him just plays into the hands of those who say the media is "liberal".
I think a better solution would have been to have a "truth squad" cartoon that debunked some of Tinsley's outrageous statements. For example, when Mallard bashes the post office for damaging packages, the "truth squad" could ask, and maybe answer, how many packages UPS or FedEx damage.
I found out that the creator, Bruce Tinsley, was fired by the paper where he created the strip. The website said it was because he "wouldn't tone down its conservative bias." I agree that it has a conservative bias and is often off the wall. But firing him just plays into the hands of those who say the media is "liberal".
I think a better solution would have been to have a "truth squad" cartoon that debunked some of Tinsley's outrageous statements. For example, when Mallard bashes the post office for damaging packages, the "truth squad" could ask, and maybe answer, how many packages UPS or FedEx damage.
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