THE MORNING RANT: Harvard Launches “Introductory” Math Course for its Students Who Can’t Do 9th Grade Math

Harvard has launched an “Introductory” math course for students who don’t belong at Harvard.

Actually, “students who don’t belong at Harvard” isn’t really fair, because whatever Harvard might have once been, there is nothing “elite” about those who get admitted to Harvard any longer. With a student body heavily composed of privileged nepots whose parents purchased their enrollments, affirmative action admits, and Jew-hating foreigners, Harvard is more odious than elite these days.

So it’s not surprising that Harvard is having to introduce remedial math classes to bring its very special student body up to par with the proficiency level expected of 9th graders in a typical American suburb.

“Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss” [The Harvard Crimson – 9/02/2024]

The Harvard Math Department will pilot a new introductory course aimed at rectifying a lack of foundational algebra skills among students, according to Harvard’s Director of Introductory Math, Brendan A. Kelly.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic led to gaps in students’ math skills and learning abilities, prompting the need for a new introductory course.

Many thousands of students not accepted into “elite” Ivy League schools are heading off to college without the need for remedial math tutoring. I don’t know for a fact that every student admitted to a Kennesaw State or a Western Kentucky is smarter than the typical Harvard enrollee, but I do know that if I hire a Kennesaw State grad, I won’t likely be dealing with a toxic combination of ignorance, arrogance, and entitlement.

These Harvard students - despite their incapacity for college-level work - will likely graduate with straight-A grades, since that is pretty much the only grade that Harvard gives out.

But back to The Crimson’s article about remedial math tutoring at Harvard…

“The last two years, we saw students who were in Math MA and faced a challenge that was unreasonable given the supports we had in the course. So we wanted to think about, ‘How can we create a course that really helps students step up to their aspirations?’” he said.

“…step up to their aspirations”?? How can we protect the rest of us from credentialed mediocrities being awarded Harvard degrees and imposing their “aspirations” on us?

With their Harvard degrees, these “prestigious Ivy League graduates” will likely be going into “public policy” positions, despite their inability to do the math that I was doing in 8th grade, and that used to be expected of most 9th graders. Therefore, it is reasonable to doubt their capacity to handle municipal budgets, or understand tax law, or comprehend the math required for bond issues, etc. There are abundant roles in the workplace for those who cannot handle high-school level math, but elite-level policy positions should be out of their reach. A ‘participation trophy” degree from Harvard doesn’t make them any smarter.

In addition, there are any number of community colleges that can help these students learn high school-level math – if they have the aptitude for it – but the fact that Harvard has such an abundance of unqualified admits that it must provide remedial math courses is a reminder of how meaningless a Harvard degree is.

To be safe, I am just going to assume that every Harvard enrollee is a special admit who is incapable of handling a college level curriculum without special hand-holding.

“Students don’t have the skills that we had intended downstream in the curriculum, and so it creates different trajectories in students’ math abilities,” Kelly added.

“Different trajectories in students’ math abilities…” Well done, Harvard! The word “remedial” has now officially been deemed offensive and forced through the euphemism treadmill, getting replaced by “different trajectory.”

He said the department “investigated a number of different strategies” used by different schools when assessing how to address students’ skill gaps.

Testing a student’s math proficiency – or “skill gap” - is actually quite simple. You give the student a math test at expected grade level. But our best and brightest at Ivy League universities are instead “investigating a number of different strategies used by different schools.” Harvard is beyond parody.

It’s not my intent to mock those whose education suffered during the imposition of Covid sharia. (My intent is to mock Harvard.) The school closures and the refusal of so many teachers across the country to do their jobs during that social panic certainly had a negative impact on many students who did want to learn. There are many avenues for those students to still obtain high school level math skills and move forward with their educations. But if Harvard is doing the work of community colleges, then Harvard deserves to be mocked.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:00 AM (Zz0t1)

2 First?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:00 AM (J2vNu)

3 Job done.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:00 AM (Zz0t1)

4 “Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss” [The Harvard Crimson – 9/02/2024]

"Harvard Admits They Just Want Your Money and Don't Care About Education Too Much."

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:01 AM (Zz0t1)

5 What is 9th grade math?....pre-algebra?

Posted by: BignJames at September 13, 2024 11:01 AM (AwYPR)

6 Job done.
Posted by: Sponge

How much do you get paid for each FIRST!!!!!?

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:01 AM (v6JzV)

7 >how to address students’ skill gaps
-------
Maybe teach instead of groom? Just spitballin' here.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at September 13, 2024 11:02 AM (Q4IgG)

8 Bet they are very proficient in Cultural Marxism

Posted by: Skip at September 13, 2024 11:02 AM (Ubg6B)

9 I was told there would be no math on this blog.

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at September 13, 2024 11:02 AM (LxER7)

10 *David Hogg swoons over his Harvard Degree*

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:02 AM (Zz0t1)

11 Actually, “students who don’t belong at Harvard” isn’t really fair, because whatever Harvard might have once been, there is nothing “elite” about those who get admitted to Harvard any longer.

With a student body heavily composed of privileged nepots whose parents purchased their enrollments,

*Lori Laughlin has entered the chat.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:03 AM (fAazs)

12 Every SEC schools is like "yeah we've been doing this for decades." Also, see our "Learning Your Alphabet" class for student athletes.

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:03 AM (NGHTx)

13 Man...it really feels like an elite college would simply lessen the sizes of its freshmen classes in the face of an education downturn that left high schoolers unable to do basic geometry.

Only the elite, right?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:03 AM (GBKbO)

14 IF YOU CAN'T DO MATH YOU DON'T BELONG IN COLLEGE!

My father didn't allow me to go to college because I didn't get Straight-As in high school.

Others should be held to the same standard that I was.

Posted by: XTC at September 13, 2024 11:04 AM (UnA8+)

15
How much do you get paid for each FIRST!!!!!?
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:01 AM (v6JzV)

The standard deduction from my 401k straight into the AoS health care plan.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:04 AM (Zz0t1)

16 It would be interesting to see the demographic and ethnic background of those requiring remedial 9th grade math. We'll never see the numbers, of course, because that would be invading their privacy or something.

Anything to disguise the level of their quota-led admissions gerrymandering.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:04 AM (xCA6C)

17 “Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss” [The Harvard Crimson – 9/02/2024]
=============
"Harvard Admits They Just Want Your Money and Don't Care About Education Too Much."
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:01 AM (Zz0t1)

I recall watching a video once that talked about that fact that the average Harvard GPA was something like 3.7. The interviewed a bunch of students who said that was just because they're all so super smart.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:04 AM (T7iTv)

18 The "elite" universities haven't been elite for decades. It's only recently have they been exposed for what they are: grubby money launderers pandering to far-left perversions and prostitutions with a study body comprised mostly of DEI retards and dumb rich kids -- both foreign and domestic -- who's Daddy Warbucks bought their admission. Their faculties are mostly the most loathsome scumbags and perverts in the country.

Posted by: Doctor Elric the Blade at September 13, 2024 11:04 AM (iFTx/)

19 So the twerps messed up 9th grade math because of COVID? WTF did they do these last three years, besides hating on the Jews and commie loving?

Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (z+ik4)

20 138 out of 744 ace posters were kind of disappointed to not see boobs on today's rant.

Dear Harvard genius, what percentage of posters were disappointed by the lack of breasts?

Posted by: Stateless at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (jvJvP)

21 Actually, “students who don’t belong at Harvard” isn’t really fair, because whatever Harvard might have once been, there is nothing “elite” about those who get admitted to Harvard any longer.

Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (xCA6C)

22 Sounds like part of its Apprentice Teachers Program.

Anything for a buck and DEI credit.

Posted by: L - If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you, too at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (NFX2v)

23 There is no skills gap. Too many parents simply do not raise their children to value education.

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (7PziG)

24 What is 9th grade math?....pre-algebra?
Posted by: BignJames at September 13, 2024

***
I was exposed (like being exposed to chickenpox) to "pre-algebra" in eighth grade, then was dumped into Algebra I in ninth. I had almost no idea what was going on and how you were supposed to solve that stuff. I got through it somehow, no idea how.

Nawlins public schools were hardly bastions of advanced learning even then.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (J2vNu)

25 Algebra is seventh grade math. For me and my charter schooled kids.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (lTGtQ)

26 but I do know that if I hire a Kennesaw State grad, I won’t likely be dealing with a toxic combination of ignorance, arrogance, and entitlement.

I have a relative who transferred from a state school to Stanford.

The main thing Stanford gave her was a sense of entitlement as big as all outdoors.

This has not served her well in later life.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (uxCna)

27 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (xCA6C)

At least their appeal has become more selective.

Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:06 AM (z+ik4)

28 138 out of 744 ace posters were kind of disappointed to not see boobs on today's rant.

Dear Harvard genius, what percentage of posters were disappointed by the lack of breasts?
Posted by: Stateless

100% of the posters who were disappointed.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:06 AM (fAazs)

29 21. Of course. But it is the criteria used to be “selective ” that has changed radically in the last 20 years.

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 13, 2024 11:06 AM (7PziG)

30 I skipped a year of Calculus in high school (scheduling) and got a 4 on the Calculus AP test. I also got a 5 on the Biology AP test.

Notre Dame still didn't want me.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (GBKbO)

31 When you ask them to "Find X", they give you their pronouns.

Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (z+ik4)

32 Does Harvard offer a credit for hating Jews?

Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (FfSAJ)

33 I was told there would be no math on this blog.
Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at September 13, 2024

***
We're not *doing* math. We're just examining it from a distance, like with a telescopic sight.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (J2vNu)

34 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.

-

Oh, absolutely. I suspect that unless you're related to someone you don't have much of a chance as a straight white male.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (LKNus)

35 32 Does Harvard offer a credit for hating Jews?
Posted by: Northernlurker , wondering where his phone is at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (FfSAJ)

Yes - an assistant professorship

Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (z+ik4)

36 ‘How can we create a course that really helps students step up to their aspirations?’” he said.

I wonder if those dummies have the course catalog online. I'll bet there's some real doozies.

Civil Engineering 146 : Integrated Public Transport with a focus in The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Innocent Souls, I'm starvin' over here at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (pIfcn)

37 When you ask them to "Find X", they give you their pronouns.
Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024

***
They'd probably say, "I search on Google." Or "I have X bookmarked already."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (J2vNu)

38 I skipped a year of Calculus in high school (scheduling) and got a 4 on the Calculus AP test. I also got a 5 on the Biology AP test.

Notre Dame still didn't want me.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:07 AM (GBKbO)

My brother got a 14 in Religion class when we both attended a Catholic school.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (Zz0t1)

39 When I attended Harvard, I took calculus. Actually, I audited it since we were only allowed 2 classes and mine were astrophysics and expository writing. (I was 16 and it was their high school Summer program. Fantastic experience. Summer '84. Harvard Square T stop was under massive reconstruction. Open for business but the plaza was blocked off.)

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (KAi1n)

40 The "elite" universities haven't been elite for decades.
Posted by: Doctor Elric the Blade at September 13, 2024 11:04 AM (iFTx/)

Like so much in the world, they exist on nostalgia.

Harvard is an elite university.
The Democrats care about the working man.
That person at the bar wearing a dress, with boobs, doesn't have a penis.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (T7iTv)

41 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.

Uh, huh. That's why Harvard and the rest of the Ivies now admit a smaller percentage of Jews than they did during the explicit religious quotas of the 1930's.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (uxCna)

42 Sure, blame math deficiency on COVID.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (63Dwl)

43 In the US, it's usually :

9th Grade : Geometry
10th : Algebra II
11th : Trigonometry
12 : Calculus.

Other countries, they're doing Calculus even earlier.

Posted by: XTC at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (UnA8+)

44 29 21. Of course. But it is the criteria used to be “selective ” that has changed radically in the last 20 years

For the non-favored students, it requires an almost perfect GPA and board scores, in addition to all the bs "community service" crap. (yes, they've reinstituted an SAT requirement)

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (xCA6C)

45 Seems Harvard needs a beer summit.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (Zz0t1)

46 IF YOU CAN'T DO MATH YOU DON'T BELONG IN COLLEGE!
Posted by: XTC

Unless you're a STEM or Econ/Business/Accounting major, you really don't need anything beyond basic arithmetic. Maybe a knowledge of basic algebra and basic geometry (Pythagorean theorem, etc.) would also be helpful.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:09 AM (v6JzV)

47 "Auguring in" would be a "different trajectory."

Posted by: Chuch Yeager at September 13, 2024 11:09 AM (PiwSw)

48 44. Yes. It is the “non favored” part that is driving this.

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 13, 2024 11:09 AM (7PziG)

49 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.

"No yellow."

- - - - - Harvard Admissions

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:09 AM (Zz0t1)

50 This remedial course -- probably to be followed by others -- isn't just for idiot students who can't do basic math. It's also for idiot "professors" and their army of assistants and honey-pot TAs looking for a Kamala ride. It's an easy way to give jobs to unemployable morons and suck up more tuition and endowment and government money.

Posted by: Doctor Elric the Blade at September 13, 2024 11:09 AM (iFTx/)

51 38 My brother got a 14 in Religion class when we both attended a Catholic school.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (Zz0t1)

=======

My mother taught Religion at a Catholic High school for a while. She told me she'd get Catholic students who didn't know basic prayers like the Our Father.

When I told her that I was going to handle Junior's religious ed for this year instead of taking him to the classes at church, her eyes lit up and she instantly bought 6 books.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:10 AM (GBKbO)

52 I got a full tuition academic scholarship and was placed in an honors program at my college.

Knowing that math waved bye to me once letters started being introduced, they put me in sort of a math history class where we discussed the principles surrounding various mathematics and such.

I barely passed.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:10 AM (KbCG3)

53 Been going on for eons with "student/athletes". My wife's roommate/best friend in college tutored the basketball players at a NYS school in the early/mid 70s. They were dumb as stumps. Face it, some people go to school stupid and come out the same way. BTW, she was a Miss NY State and competed in The Miss America Pageant.

Posted by: Basketball Jones at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (CV8a5)

54 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.

Uh, huh. That's why Harvard and the rest of the Ivies now admit a smaller percentage of Jews than they did during the explicit religious quotas of the 1930's.

In fact, it's much MORE difficult for Joos to get in now than it used to be. Thanks for making my point.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (xCA6C)

55 Anyone going to point out that Harvard wages a war on Asians and shortly thereafter needs to introduce remedial math?

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (KbCG3)

56 Have you figured out why there are "studies" type degrees yet?

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (LKNus)

57 >>My mother taught Religion at a Catholic High school for a while. She told me she'd get Catholic students who didn't know basic prayers like the Our Father.

Maybe if they attended Mass occasionally, it'd sink in.

Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (z+ik4)

58 I took calculus I and II in college.

Got a C and a D.

The professors never wanted to see me again, I think.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (Zz0t1)

59
Buncha Tracy Flicks.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (8LYwR)

60 In the US, it's usually :

9th Grade : Geometry
10th : Algebra II
11th : Trigonometry
12 : Calculus.

Other countries, they're doing Calculus even earlier.
Posted by: XTC at September 13, 2024

***
For Lousy-ana in the Sixties, move of all of that up a year, with Algebra I in ninth, trig inserted into Geometry, and "advanced math" (prob. some calculus) optional in twelfth.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (J2vNu)

61 Unless you're a STEM or Econ/Business/Accounting major, you really don't need anything beyond basic arithmetic. Maybe a knowledge of basic algebra and basic geometry (Pythagorean theorem, etc.) would also be helpful.

if you don't go at least a semester beyond multivariable calculus you might as well shovel shit the rest of your life or just jump off a bridge

Posted by: STEM Lord at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (NGHTx)

62 I thought math was immaterially easy for me to grasp...until I took a Mathematical Statistics class in grad school.

That shit fucked my brain up.

That's why God coded Minitab, dammit. So I don't have to do the actual math.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (GBKbO)

63 My step-sister went to Harvard, all on her own without money or influence. She was not of the elite when she went in, but she sure acted elite when she came out. That's not really fair, she's a very sweet person. But you can tell she went to Harvard.

Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (SfhV1)

64 58 I took calculus I and II in college.

Got a C and a D.

The professors never wanted to see me again, I think.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (Zz0t1)

Thanks for taking one for the team, and saving A and B for the rest of us.

Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (z+ik4)

65 Anyone going to point out that Harvard wages a war on Asians and shortly thereafter needs to introduce remedial math?
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (KbCG3)

Comment 55.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (T7iTv)

66 31 When you ask them to "Find X", they give you their pronouns.

Posted by: Roy

Circling "X", drawing an arrow, and writing "here it is" was not the solution the teacher wanted from 8th grade Bif.

Posted by: BifBewalski at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (MsrgL)

67 Back when National Lampoon was funny, they published a "Bar Exam for People Who Passed the Bar." Basically, when the student opened the test booklet, it told them, "Don't worry. You're in the club. You don't have to take the test these other chumps are taking. Here's some games and puzzles so you can look busy while those idiots are sweating their balls off. Congratulations on passing the bar."

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (VdhcA)

68 65 Anyone going to point out that Harvard wages a war on Asians and shortly thereafter needs to introduce remedial math?
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:11 AM (KbCG3)

Comment 55.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (T7iTv)

Did you just use my comment as a reference to my comment?

That was so meta!

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (KbCG3)

69
Thanks for taking one for the team, and saving A and B for the rest of us.
Posted by: Roy at September 13, 2024 11:12 AM (z+ik4)

I help where I can.

I leave birdies all over golf courses as well.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (Zz0t1)

70 Oh, absolutely. I suspect that unless you're related to someone you don't have much of a chance as a straight white male.

Somebody wrote an article a while back on how desperately parents in a rich Connecticut suburb were enrolling their kids in advanced sports programs - being an athlete is still a way for a white person to get accepted to an Ivy.

The other way, of course, is to be a granddaughter of Joe Biden, and have Joe make a few calls to the president of UPenn to get you in.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (uxCna)

71 IF YOU CAN'T DO MATH YOU DON'T BELONG IN COLLEGE!
Posted by: XTC

Unless you're a STEM or Econ/Business/Accounting major, you really don't need anything beyond basic arithmetic. Maybe a knowledge of basic algebra and basic geometry (Pythagorean theorem, etc.) would also be helpful.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus

Because algebraic equations have served me so well in customer service.

/s

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (fAazs)

72 "I was told there would be no math on this blog.
Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher "

Who told you that? I've heard rumors, but I would like to add some substantiation. Plus, minus further evidence, it could divide us.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (vFG9F)

73 Did you just use my comment as a reference to my comment?

That was so meta!
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (KbCG3)

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (T7iTv)

74 When you ask them to "Find X", they give you their pronouns.

Posted by: Roy
*
Circling "X", drawing an arrow, and writing "here it is" was not the solution the teacher wanted from 8th grade Bif.
Posted by: BifBewalski at September 13, 2024

***
I wish I'd had the courage to do that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (J2vNu)

75 Now test the Harvard faculty's math proficiency.

Posted by: davidt at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (i0F8b)

76 Unless you're a STEM or Econ/Business/Accounting major, you really don't need anything beyond basic arithmetic. Maybe a knowledge of basic algebra and basic geometry (Pythagorean theorem, etc.) would also be helpful.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:09 AM (v6JzV)

————

I generally agree, though a general statistical course would probably be most valuable for all students.

Posted by: MAGA_Ken at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (aIU4O)

77 Before all you mouth-breathing troglodytes go hog-wild on Harvard bashing, may I remind you that I am an alumnus?

Posted by: David Hogg at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (TTO0Z)

78 Did you just use my comment as a reference to my comment?

That was so meta!

*touches index and thumbs*
Oooooooooooommmmmmmm

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:15 AM (xCA6C)

79 My friends that got engineering jobs at Boeing and other places were not in the high school advanced math program I was in.

But they obviously worked harder and had nice careers, while I wandered off into "Bible land" for a decade. I assume at some point they must have taken some calculus and other math.

Posted by: illiniwek at September 13, 2024 11:15 AM (Cus5s)

80 Before all you mouth-breathing troglodytes go hog-wild on Harvard bashing, may I remind you that I am an alumnus?
Posted by: David Hogg at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (TTO0Z)

That reminds me. I'll need to remind the groomer to evacuate the dog's anal gland.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:15 AM (Zz0t1)

81 So it’s not surprising that Harvard is having to introduce remedial math classes to bring its very special student body up to par with the proficiency level expected of 9th graders in a typical American suburb.
++++
And what is that level of proficiency? It's significantly lower than it was 10 years ago. And 10 years ago, it was significantly lower than it was 10 years before that. And so on, going back to at least the 1960s.

Most 4.0 students who got a diploma from an American high school in May wouldn't have made it out of the sixth grade two generations ago.

There are reasons beyond simply money that "elite" universities are so desperate for foreign students. Americans aren't stupid, but Americans have been maleducated for generations and the rate is accelerating. A couple of decades ago, your average junior high student was more literate and numerate, and had a better grasp of history and government process than your average college student today.

So Harvard has remedial math for the incompetents they're letting in for social and political points? Okay.

But the "real" courses are remedial, too, as compared to recent history.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:15 AM (HnUIn)

82
I admit I'm no math whiz, but I did start calculus in HS and had three semesters in college. Could not have passed P Chem and Quantum Chem otherwise.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at September 13, 2024 11:16 AM (8LYwR)

83 I don't need to know math. My phone does it for me.

Posted by: Harvard Student at September 13, 2024 11:16 AM (i0F8b)

84 The "elite" universities haven't been elite for decades.
Posted by: Doctor Elric

My firm had to finally get rid of a couple of 'stars' from Harvard after every department leader, including me, refused to have them on staff. There is only so much over proud ignorance that can be allowed in a for profit company.

If I have to spend nearly an hour, without success, trying to explain how a valve works in principle, I don't need you in my group.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:16 AM (lTGtQ)

85 Math hates me.

The feeling is mutual.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:16 AM (Zz0t1)

86 Oh, absolutely. I suspect that unless you're related to someone you don't have much of a chance as a straight white male.

Somebody wrote an article a while back on how desperately parents in a rich Connecticut suburb were enrolling their kids in advanced sports programs - being an athlete is still a way for a white person to get accepted to an Ivy.

The other way, of course, is to be a granddaughter of Joe Biden, and have Joe make a few calls to the president of UPenn to get you in.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:13 AM (uxCna)
______

All true, but it's self-defeating because ALL of them are doing this. All the kids have fake bullshit activities and crap on their application that the consultants told them to include.

It's sort of like the old racer's saying: "You're cheating. I know you're cheating because I'm cheating and you're faster than me."

Posted by: Doctor Elric the Blade at September 13, 2024 11:16 AM (iFTx/)

87 To be safe, I am just going to assume that every Harvard enrollee is a special admit who is incapable of handling a college level curriculum without special hand-holding.
++++
Or is highly-connected courtesy of his parents.
Or had his position purchased for him.
Or was groomed for the elite position to come by the occupant of the elite position today.

Do you want any of them?

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:16 AM (HnUIn)

88 Why would kids know how to do math anymore? AI can do it for them. We have gen-z's in my office who use AI to generate emails, reports, etc for them. The stopped that when I told them, well what do I need you for then?

Posted by: IC - #FJB at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (YiKO5)

89 Anyone going to point out that Harvard wages a war on Asians and shortly thereafter needs to introduce remedial math?

Actually, the amusing thing is that Harvard doubled the percentage of Asians that it accepted once the lawsuits started.

Harvard wasn't going to reduce the number of slots reserved for privileged minorities, of course, so the percentage of white students admitted plummeted in response.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (uxCna)

90 I have managed to survive, somehow, with arithmetic and very basic algebra. However geometry figures into those two, add that. I found algebra to be boring and generally tedious… not graced with the magic of mathematics I suppose.

Posted by: tubal at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (rWZJT)

91 I will admit that stats came in handy for me once at work in the '90s. My boss needed a standard deviation on certain numbers reported by the school departments. Now Excel has two such functions, the population SD and the sample SD. And since we were dealing with *all" the departments, the entire population, I knew which one to use.

To be sure, I whipped out my calculator and checked it using the formulas we'd learned in Stats class. They checked.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (J2vNu)

92 But they obviously worked harder and had nice careers, while I wandered off into "Bible land" for a decade.

Posted by: illiniwek at September 13, 2024 11:15 AM (Cus5s)

That's where the money is.

Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (SfhV1)

93
Biden and Kamala are expected to launch WW3 this weekend and authorize attacks deep in Russian territory.

Sec of State Blinken will announce tomorrow that the US has given Ukraine the greenlight to strike deep inside Russia using Western made missiles.

Putin responds in this video:

https://is.gd/DBMHtn

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (RKVpM)

94 My new college will only offer degrees in division.

Posted by: Barky State University at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (592Pr)

95 17
‘ Harvard GPA was something like 3.7. The interviewed a bunch of students who said that was just because they're all so super smart.’

They’re magma cum laude graduates of the Dunning Kruger school of intellectual accomplishment.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at September 13, 2024 11:17 AM (jbnUc)

96 Posted by: David Hogg at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (TTO0Z)

Whatever, chinless.

Posted by: David Purdy supporting the team at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (Y1sOo)

97 If we could get back to not every single job requiring a four year degree (and any old one will do most of the time) we could change a lot of this stuff. Instead we insist on a second round of high school for anyone who wishes to go.

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (7PziG)

98 Who told you that? I've heard rumors, but I would like to add some substantiation. Plus, minus further evidence, it could divide us.
Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM

This will multiply and get out of control. It will multiply, and we'll be lucky to integrate through it.

Posted by: RADM Josh Painter, USN at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (TTO0Z)

99 Thx Buck. The old line was "you can tell a Harvard man, you just can't tell him much". Sounds like anything you tell him wouldn't be understood. see David Hogg

Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (hgmb+)

100 I don't need to know math. My phone does it for me.
Posted by: Harvard Student

--

We were discussing this a few days ago. We're at the beginning of a massive terrible experiment on our kids.

https://quickmath.com/

Go ahead. Give it try.

We're almost certainly seeing the start of the Great Filter.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (LKNus)

101 Puddy, shit

Posted by: David Puddy supporting the team at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (Y1sOo)

102 Geometry was the only school math class, prior to the '90s I mean, that I truly enjoyed. Except for the six week segment on trigonometry, which required arithmetic, Geometry was logic -- and I loved that, figuring out how to attack the proof we were supposed to create, etc.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (J2vNu)

103 Every SEC schools is like "yeah we've been doing this for decades." Also, see our "Learning Your Alphabet" class for student athletes.
Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:03 AM (NGHTx)

basket weaving as a major.

and for the super advanced athletes - underwater basket weaving.

Posted by: SturmToddler at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (v6XNT)

104 All the AI art I've been seeing has a look that feels... soulless. Maybe it's the eyes of the humans, or the airbrushed/smoothed look.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO, AI Expert at September 13, 2024 11:19 AM (2xB3Z)

105 Hey, if any Asian (or white STEM Lords) Horde Members want to teach me math, I'm willing to learn.

I just don't have any money to pay you.

Posted by: XTC at September 13, 2024 11:19 AM (UnA8+)

106 And what is that level of proficiency? It's significantly lower than it was 10 years ago. And 10 years ago, it was significantly lower than it was 10 years before that. And so on, going back to at least the 1960s.

Most 4.0 students who got a diploma from an American high school in May wouldn't have made it out of the sixth grade two generations ago.

Posted by: Joe Mannix

It goes way back. I may have related it here before, but after grad school, I ran across a test in the WSJ. I took the test, and scored what would be a B.

After taking the test, the paper let you know that it was a Chicago public high school admissions test from 1900.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:20 AM (lTGtQ)

107 What kind of returns has Harvard's endowment gotten over the last, say, ten years?

Posted by: Bilwis Devourer of Innocent Souls, I'm starvin' over here at September 13, 2024 11:20 AM (pIfcn)

108 How is this possible after Preezy Shiit Midas revamped K-12 learning?

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at September 13, 2024 11:20 AM (17s+e)

109 >>Been going on for eons with "student/athletes".

It ain't just the maths. I was assigned 3 scholarship hockey players as partners for a project that was about half the grade for a particular class. After our first meeting I handed out assignments.

I would do all the research and write the paper, the 3 of them would get it typed. Seemed a foolproof plan at the time.

They sold the paper to others in the class who then proceeded to copy it verbatim. Guess what happened next?

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:20 AM (LkLld)

110
***
I wish I'd had the courage to do that.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Even then, there were indications that I would be a total a-hole jerk face.

Posted by: BifBewalski at September 13, 2024 11:20 AM (MsrgL)

111 He said the department “investigated a number of different strategies” used by different schools when assessing how to address students’ skill gaps.
++++
This is a second-order problem.

In order to address a "skill gap," one must first identify the "skill gap." How does one identify this? More important, how does one identify this without simultaneously engaging in patriarchy or white supremacy or the various "phobias" and "ist" behavior that they simultaneously decry? After all, assessment - that is standards, tests, etc. - is evil.

Without assessment, no problem or deficiency can be identified and without identification, no problem or deficiency can be solved. By their own rules, assessment is forbidden and the concept of a "deficiency" is unjust and phobic.

The real underlying problem with this entire story is that if Harvard has remedial courses for deficient students, that is irrefutable evidence that Harvard is failing to live up to its "values."

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:20 AM (HnUIn)

112 Never mind mathematics, they don't even know basic arithmetic.

Posted by: davidt at September 13, 2024 11:21 AM (i0F8b)

113 Brain science and Rocket surgery…

Posted by: tubal at September 13, 2024 11:21 AM (rWZJT)

114 Follow me for tips on how to get your dumb spawn into prestigious schools!

Posted by: Aunt Becky at September 13, 2024 11:21 AM (CV8a5)

115 @109 JackStraw , success?

Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:21 AM (hgmb+)

116 I generally agree, though a general statistical course would probably be most valuable for all students.
Posted by: MAGA_Ken

89.54% of all statistics are pulled out of someone's ass.

There. That's all you need to know about stats.

Just kidding, I agree with you. So that the students learn how to tell reliable statistical data from that pulled out of someone's ass.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:21 AM (v6JzV)

117 Harvard has launched an “Introductory” math course for students who don’t belong at Harvard.

==

Next - Introductory Reading and Writing class...

Posted by: runner at September 13, 2024 11:21 AM (V13WU)

118 I love that people truly think their non-SEC schools aren't helping their football players figure out how to become sociology majors.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:22 AM (LKNus)

119 He said the Covid-19 pandemic led to gaps in students’ math skills and learning abilities, prompting the need for a new introductory course.

A temporary disruption to schooling 3-4 years ago has prevented kids today from knowing FUNDEMENTALS? Maybe if Harvard didn't have a weird anomaly of Asisn student applicants scoring low on "leadership" to artificially reduce how many were admitted, and instead accepted people based on merit, this wouldn't be an issue?

Nah, that sounds racist.

Posted by: Moron Analyst at September 13, 2024 11:22 AM (JCZqz)

120
Did you just use my comment as a reference to my comment?

That was so meta!
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer

Infinite computer loop.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 13, 2024 11:22 AM (63Dwl)

121 All the AI art I've been seeing has a look that feels... soulless. Maybe it's the eyes of the humans, or the airbrushed/smoothed look.

mechanical, slick, techno-fascist
that's what AI "art" looks like

disclaimer: since I work in marketing, I do use it from time to time, but never when I need a human figure in the image

Posted by: kallisto at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (dCxaZ)

122 In my grad school I had one semester of Functional Statistics followed by a semester of Forecasting.

Better titled "Lying with Statistics"

Posted by: San Franpsycho at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (RIvkX)

123 103 Every SEC schools is like "yeah we've been doing this for decades." Also, see our "Learning Your Alphabet" class for student athletes.
Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:03 AM (NGHTx)

basket weaving as a major.

and for the super advanced athletes - underwater basket weaving.

Posted by: SturmToddler at September 13, 2024 11:18 AM (v6XNT)

One of my nieces tutored jocks at Clemson. She likes to tease us about all the stories she could tell but won't.

Posted by: Zombie Robbo the Llama Butcher at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (LxER7)

124 Wait....

IS THIS A MATH THREAD 😳😳😁😁

Posted by: Dave in Fla at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (9rWNA)

125 >>@109 JackStraw , success?

Not so much.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (LkLld)

126 BTW… is it “ math” or “ maths” ? Is this a salad mustard vs Grey Poupon sort of thing??

Posted by: tubal at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (rWZJT)

127 In the US, it's usually :

9th Grade : Geometry
10th : Algebra II
11th : Trigonometry
12 : Calculus.

Weird thing is, when i was attending high school in Fairfax Co., Va in the early 80's, when that school system was one of the best in the nation, more students than not took algebra in 9th grade, as did I. I took geometry in summer school so that I could take algebra II/trig in 10th grade, analytical geometry/functions in 11th, and calculus BC in 12th. Looking back, I can't fathom why the hell I put so much effort into something that has absolutely never had any utility to me. I'd much rather have taken applied math and history of math/science if such courses had existed.

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (KAi1n)

128 Geometry was the only school math class, prior to the '90s I mean, that I truly enjoyed. Except for the six week segment on trigonometry, which required arithmetic, Geometry was logic -- and I loved that, figuring out how to attack the proof we were supposed to create, etc.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

Yes, I loved geometry, too, for the same reason. Loved doing proofs. Geometry and Spanish were my favorite classes in high school.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (v6JzV)

129 #2 son was a math major and got a job as a financial adviser. He says that the thing he learned in college that he uses the most is statistics.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (vFG9F)

130 Alg/Trig was the most I could handle. I totally flamed out in Calc and I was happy to accept my D and move along. My brain is just not THAT big

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (1FWWQ)

131 I thought I was going to care about their problems but it was just hunger pains.

I had an omelet. I feel better now.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (BpO1e)

132 The single best way that I have discovered to get better at everyday math is to use cash money in real life.

It ain't math, but it is arithmetic and you *will* get good at it. Learning how to keep a running total of what's in your cart, how to estimate the sales tax that's going to be added, calculate a tip and split a check is not hard, and anyone who doesn't know how to do these things will learn it quickly if they force themselves to do so.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (HnUIn)

133 Biden and Kamala are expected to launch WW3 this weekend and authorize attacks deep in Russian territory.

Sec of State Blinken will announce tomorrow that the US has given Ukraine the greenlight to strike deep inside Russia using Western made missiles.

So Ukraine is going to use missiles built by the US, maintained by the US, using targeting information provided by the US, and using damage assessment provided by the US to strike deep into Russia.

The only Ukrainian in the loop is the guy pressing the button (if that).

This will work out well.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (uxCna)

134 IS THIS A MATH THREAD 😳😳😁😁
Posted by: Dave in Fla at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (9rWNA)

Talking about math is not DOING math.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (Zz0t1)

135 the reason they don't know math is that the public schools introduced that "new Math" program that is designed to smash your left brain capabilities, therefore your logic and critical thinking skills

Posted by: kallisto at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (dCxaZ)

136 My parents had 3 years of Latin or Greek available to them in high school. I had (and took) Latin. Neither are available in high school today.

And don't get me started on shop or vocational training.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (TTO0Z)

137 basket weaving as a major.
and for the super advanced athletes - underwater basket weaving.

Basket weaving is going to come in very handy when civilization collapses and underwater basket weaving requires scuba certification, so this is a lame joke.

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (KAi1n)

138 When you ask them to "Find X", they give you their pronouns.

Posted by: Roy
*
Circling "X", drawing an arrow, and writing "here it is" was not the solution the teacher wanted from 8th grade Bif.
Posted by: BifBewalski at September 13, 2024

***
I wish I'd had the courage to do that.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:14 AM (J2vNu)

and tell her to stop asking y....

Posted by: SturmToddler at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (v6XNT)

139 basket weaving as a major.

and for the super advanced athletes - underwater basket weaving.

At least with those classes you learn how to produce something people will pay for unlike a degree that ends in the word Studies.

Posted by: NR Pax at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (BpO1e)

140
So Ukraine is going to use missiles built by the US, maintained by the US, using targeting information provided by the US, and using damage assessment provided by the US to strike deep into Russia.

The only Ukrainian in the loop is the guy pressing the button (if that).

This will work out well.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (uxCna)

That's exactly what Putin said.

"They launch long range missiles that they have know capability to launch, shit's on."

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (Zz0t1)

141 What is 9th grade math?....pre-algebra?
Posted by: BignJames at September 13, 2024 11:01 AM (AwYPR)

Mom used to teach Math 098 at the community college when she retired. It is everything short of Algebra. In Oregon system the Algebra is a 100 level course, it may be the Ivies are lumping it together but that is not the classic was of doing it, and may be too fast for students that lack math ability.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (D7oie)

142 *no.

Damn brain.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (Zz0t1)

143 I love that people truly think their non-SEC schools aren't helping their football players figure out how to become sociology majors.

I went to a (at the time) Big 12 school for undergrad. Football players were in a few classes. They came in the first day, got a syllabus, and you never saw them again. It's every school with a (especially) football and basketball team.

I just said SEC school bc the sports world acts like that's the only conference that matters now.

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (NGHTx)

144 Most colleges have remedial classes for English, Math, etc. I assumed Harvard had always had such. Perhaps not.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (xcxpd)

145 I admit I'm no math whiz, but I did start calculus in HS and had three semesters in college. Could not have passed P Chem and Quantum Chem otherwise.

I think you're forgetting the P. Chem. and Quantum Mechanics courses for poets.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (xCA6C)

146 I love that people truly think their non-SEC schools aren't helping their football players figure out how to become sociology majors.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie

And if their star running back is going to call himself a zoology major, at least teach him how to pronounce it.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (lTGtQ)

147 Harvard has launched an “Introductory” math course for students who don’t belong at Harvard.

What. The. Fuck.

There is no way the Math Portion of their SAT/ACT or whatever could be much higher than zero.

It seems like someone who was turned down for entrance because of their SAT/ACT score,

would have great grounds for a big ole lawsuit.

BONUS! If you didn't work with your kids so that they would remain, at least, at grade level in their education during Covid...well, that's on you.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (eDfFs)

148 Like I always say: the Ivies are no longer universities. They are social clubs where the human botflies of ruling class send their maggots to pupate, chugging White Claw and cock until the day when they shed their chrysalides, and swarm forth to feast on the body politic.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (0FoWg)

149 Talking about math is not DOING math.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM (Zz0t1)

Yes it is!!

Posted by: STEAM Major, who wrote a nice poem about Quadratic Equations and got an A. at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (PiwSw)

150 Harvard was always for the elites. Or elitist. Whichever you prefer. Nothing changed in that department. The only difference is that they got spooked by their own White Privilege and swallowed DEI, as protection you see.

Posted by: runner at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (V13WU)

151 You should see how much they get for some of those little baskets they sell to tourists in Savannah.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (vFG9F)

152 James Earl Jones.
Now Chad McQueen (son of Steve McQueen) Karate Kid d-September 11, 2024.

Who'll be the third?

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (fAazs)

153 Weird thing is, when i was attending high school in Fairfax Co., Va in the early 80's, when that school system was one of the best in the nation, more students than not took algebra in 9th grade, as did I. ...
Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (KAi1n)
++++
In my high school, Algebra II was 9th grade, geometry was 10th.

Geometry is the one class where I did poorly simply because I couldn't do well. I got plenty of bad grades, but that's just because I was a bum. All except geometry. I barely passed geometry, and it was because I just couldn't do better. I don't understand it. Maybe a better teacher would have resulted in a better outcome, but I doubt it. I just don't grok it.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (HnUIn)

154 LOL, The Ivies were always social clubs !

Posted by: runner at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (V13WU)

155 Talking about math is not DOING math.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM

But it is math-adjacent, Mr. Can't-can't-clear-the-bar because of packaging.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (TTO0Z)

156 >>This will work out well.

Putin has already announced if this policy goes into affect he will consider it an attack my NATO.

Anyone who still believes this war had anything to do with defending Ukraine's precious yet non-existent democracy is smoking some very bad weed.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (LkLld)

157 If they are insisting on a hereditary aristocracy form of social rule, they should also have to compete for positions by swordfights to the death. Seems fair

Posted by: azjaeger at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (bvEp2)

158 Infinite computer loop.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 13, 2024 11:22 AM (63Dwl)

Hey, I didn't tell him to execute from comment 55, I just said that comment 55 referenced the issue he asked about in comment 55.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (T7iTv)

159 My parents had 3 years of Latin or Greek available to them in high school. I had (and took) Latin. Neither are available in high school today.

And don't get me started on shop or vocational training.

Posted by: Duncanthrax

Charter schools.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (lTGtQ)

160 Posted by: STEAM Major, who wrote a nice poem about Quadratic Equations and got an A. at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (PiwSw)

I'm a STEAM major.

Posted by: Gwyneth Paltrow at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (Zz0t1)

161 The single best way that I have discovered to get better at everyday math is to use cash money in real life.

Sports statistics helps too, especially baseball. Batting average, on-base %, slugging %, WHIP, lotsa number-crunching there. Even football. When it's 3rd & 7, you need to get a number = or > 7 (well, technically, you have 4th down to make up the shortfall, but you understand).

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (KAi1n)

162 151 You should see how much they get for some of those little baskets they sell to tourists in Savannah.
Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (vFG9F)

Does basket construction involve calculus??

Posted by: tubal at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (rWZJT)

163 Math hates me.
The feeling is mutual.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck

Same here.

If I'd have had to take more math I would've jumped off a bridge.

Posted by: Lady Who Always Has a Burning Question at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (JCLJi)

164 No ape?

Posted by: Eeyore at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (1bNHn)

165 We have a ruling class made up of fucking idiots, and they’re rigging the game to make sure that only fucking idiots rise in their system.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 13, 2024 11:28 AM (GlxLj)

166 I like when they have the student athletes announce their majors.

American Studies
African American Studies
Physical Education
Turf Management
Undeclared

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:28 AM (NGHTx)

167 I just said SEC school bc the sports world acts like that's the only conference that matters now.
Posted by: brak

-

Well, when you win something like 7 or 8 of the last 10 National Championships and then add Texas...

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:28 AM (LKNus)

168 Govt researchers want to deprogram conspiracy theorists with AI.

Posted by: Camps are coming at September 13, 2024 11:28 AM (3lOsN)

169 Johnny has 17 pronouns. If Suzy has 15 pronouns? How many total pronouns do they have together?

Posted by: News Update at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (nu6DU)

170 Having met Harvard grads through the years,

here's what the smart ones say when give them congrats on the Harvard education:

"Well...it is good for getting your first job as people want to hire you.

But, that's about it because you've got to produce. You've got a year, maybe two to prove you're worth the premium. If not, you're out. Same as anyone else."

Posted by: naturalfake at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (eDfFs)

171 My, literal, next meeting is discussing how to implement calculation of vectors from circular notation into a earth orientation using a covariance matrix of values in six dimensions.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (9rWNA)

172 Not Savannah, Charleston. Some of those baskets they are hawking cost more than a tank of gas. ITS JUST STRAW, PEOPLE!

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (vFG9F)

173 Anyone who still believes this war had anything to do with defending Ukraine's precious yet non-existent democracy is smoking some very bad weed.
Posted by: JackStraw

No one pushing this is smoking any weed, because if they were smoking weed, whether bammer or dank, would be par-a-noid about nuclear war.

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (KAi1n)

174 So Ukraine is going to use missiles built by the US, maintained by the US, using targeting information provided by the US, and using damage assessment provided by the US to strike deep into Russia.

Wonder if Russia still has that sub with the hypersonic missiles off the east coast. Oh well, I assume that - should all this occur - we'll be treated to numerous comments about how this is all Putin's fault.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (T7iTv)

175 Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 13, 2024 11:25 AM (0FoWg)

***

Pure poetry

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (1FWWQ)

176 Worst. Elites. Ever!

Posted by: rechill at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (K1zyu)

177 So Ukraine is going to use missiles built by the US, maintained by the US, using targeting information provided by the US, and using damage assessment provided by the US to strike deep into Russia.

We are using the exact same logic that led to the Challenger disaster - we keep doing something dangerous, and we keep getting away with it, and this leads us to conclude that what we keep doing isn't really dangerous.

The latest line promulgated by Zelensky, other Ukrainian officials, and American pro-war neo-cons, is that since Russia didn't use nukes in response to Ukraine's minor incursion into Russia's Kursk Province (which has captured one town of 10,000 people), that shows that Russia will not use nukes under any circumstances.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (uxCna)

178 LOL, The Ivies were always social clubs !
Posted by: runner at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (V13WU)

Sure. But they used to have universities attached to them. Now they're just daycare centers with mobile abortion clinics and monkeypox salve dispensers in the bathrooms.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (0FoWg)

179 I dated a chemist for a while in college. The mention of P. Chem. looked like it sent shivers up her spine.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (v6JzV)

180 I just said SEC school bc the sports world acts like that's the only conference that matters now.
Posted by: brak

Rumors have the Big 10 and the SEC merging and telling the NCAA to f*ck off.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (Zz0t1)

181 >>>Who'll be the third?

With any luck, Rob Reiner.

Posted by: one hour sober at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (Y1sOo)

182 181 >>>Who'll be the third?

With any luck, Rob Reiner.

Posted by: one hour sober at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (Y1sOo)

ohplease...ohplease...ohplease...

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, Vote but also buy ammo at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (xcxpd)

183 I wonder how many Chinese and Indian nationals need to remedial courses?

Posted by: Nick in Tallahassee at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (7PziG)

184 I like when they have the student athletes announce their majors.

American Studies
African American Studies
Physical Education
Turf Management
Undeclared
Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:28 AM (NGHTx)

Communications.

Which is hilarious since these “students”
Can't string together a coherent sentence when interviewed on tv.

Posted by: News Update at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (nu6DU)

185
Putin responds in this video:

https://is.gd/DBMHtn

he certainly answered that question

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (NGHTx)

186 Johnny has 17 pronouns. If Suzy has 15 pronouns? How many total pronouns do they have together?
Posted by: News Update at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (nu6DU)
++++
Without additional data, this cannot be precisely answered. The total number of pronouns is between 17 and 32, but the final answer cannot be determined without the missing information about which pronouns apply to both.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (HnUIn)

187 Education, intelligence, and functioning as a responsible, reasonable person are not one & the same.
--
Politics:

"Last week, in his first executive order, Pennsylvania’s new governor announced that 92 percent of state government jobs will no longer require a four-year college degree. Governor Josh Shapiro’s heartening move means that 65,000 state jobs no longer require a college degree, but that candidates will be free to compete for these positions based on skills, relevant experience, and merit."

Maryland, too. (Larry Hogan)

Yet, U. S. Bureau of Labor: TED: The Economics Daily
"State and local government jobs more likely than private sector to require postsecondary education, January 03, 2022"

Posted by: L - If they'll do it with you, they'll do it to you, too at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (NFX2v)

188 My, literal, next meeting is discussing how to implement calculation of vectors from circular notation into a earth orientation using a covariance matrix of values in six dimensions.
Posted by: Dave in Fla at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (9rWNA)

*channels YT*

Gesundheit!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:30 AM (Zz0t1)

189 James Earl Jones.
Now Chad McQueen (son of Steve McQueen) Karate Kid d-September 11, 2024.

Who'll be the third?
Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:26 AM (fAazs)

***

Should I be worried?

Posted by: Jimmuh Carteh at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (1FWWQ)

190 @133

>>This will work out well.

It depends on what we choose to hit deep inside Russia, we hit Moscow proper, and ZMan will be pushing up daisies in short order and then Putin will be figuring out his own variation of just muscular enough as to not start WWIII repsonse.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (XV/Pl)

191 >>“Different trajectories in students’ math abilities…” Well done, Harvard! The word “remedial” has now officially been deemed offensive and forced through the euphemism treadmill, getting replaced by “different trajectory.”

Would that different trajectory be dropping out and haunted by monstrous debt for an unfinished education?

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (Pijte)

192 161 The single best way that I have discovered to get better at everyday math is to use cash money in real life.

Sports statistics helps too, especially baseball. Batting average, on-base %, slugging %, WHIP, lotsa number-crunching there. Even football. When it's 3rd & 7, you need to get a number = or > 7 (well, technically, you have 4th down to make up the shortfall, but you understand).

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:27 AM (KAi1n)

Gambling.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (KbCG3)

193 9th Grade : Geometry
10th : Algebra II
11th : Trigonometry
12 : Calculus.

Really? In my High School (Des Moines, Iowa), the standard, as I recall, was:

9th Grade : Algebra I
10th : Geometry
11th : Algebra II
12 : Trigonometry

Calc was entirely optional, and mostly for advanced/honors students

Posted by: Moron Analyst at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (JCZqz)

194 disclaimer: since I work in marketing, I do use it from time to time, but never when I need a human figure in the image
Posted by: kallisto at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (dCxaZ)
------------
Works better with Ewoks.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (VdhcA)

195 This year just gets more and more interesting.

Former top Clinton adviser calls on ABC to launch internal probe into whether debate was rigged

https://tinyurl.com/4c9xtx4m

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (xCA6C)

196 Daughter Winger went to UW-Madison at the same time as Ron Dane. I'm assuming he came in on an athletic scholarship. He was in her Swedish class. I don't know how much his ability to speak Swedish helped him in the NFL. Don't know how he did in maths.

Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (SfhV1)

197 Really? In my High School (Des Moines, Iowa), the standard, as I recall, was:

9th Grade : Algebra I
10th : Geometry
11th : Algebra II
12 : Trigonometry

Calc was entirely optional, and mostly for advanced/honors students
Posted by: Moron Analyst at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (JCZqz)

This was my experience in public school Texas.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (Zz0t1)

198 Wonder if Russia still has that sub with the hypersonic missiles off the east coast. Oh well, I assume that - should all this occur - we'll be treated to numerous comments about how this is all Putin's fault.

We may all die, but it's OK, since it will all be Putin's fault.

A more appropriate response would be for Russia to give Cuba missiles, have Cuba start firing missiles into the United States, and then have Russia respond: "Oh, that's not us. That's the Cubans doing that."

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (uxCna)

199 This busty bikini blonde with nice teeth has never found her innumeracy to be an impediment, so doesn't know what the big deal is:
http://tiny.cc/trulzz

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (HnUIn)

200 Former top Clinton adviser calls on ABC to launch internal probe into whether debate was rigged

https://tinyurl.com/4c9xtx4m
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (xCA6C)

Watch the debate. It was rigged. Bigly.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:33 AM (Zz0t1)

201 My parents had 3 years of Latin or Greek available to them in high school. I had (and took) Latin. Neither are available in high school today.

And don't get me started on shop or vocational training.

Posted by: Duncanthrax

Home Ec.
People always post on facebook about how the wished schools taught how to balance a checkbook, make a budget, plan meals.

I always tell them, THEY USED TO. It was called Home Economics class.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:33 AM (fAazs)

202 @171

>>My, literal, next meeting is discussing how to implement calculation of vectors from circular notation into a earth orientation using a covariance matrix of values in six dimensions.

Bullshit this would indicate the earth is round and it most definitely is not.

--
Flat Earther on his 10th Bong Rip This Hour.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:33 AM (XV/Pl)

203 Math Deficiency has served me well. When there's too much month left at the end of the money, it doesn't faze me at all.

Posted by: Poor Boy From A Poor Family at September 13, 2024 11:33 AM (CV8a5)

204 30 years from now when all the comets t people are retired and/or dead, our society will be fucked. Like down to the basics fucked. Electric grid not operating fucked. Planes falling out of the sky fucked. We’re getting a preview of that already.

Posted by: News Update at September 13, 2024 11:33 AM (nu6DU)

205 Hey, remember when Harvard Alumni and others were mocking Christopher Rufo's Harvard degree because he got it via their Harvard Extension School?

Degree snobs. F'em all.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:33 AM (Pijte)

206 This year just gets more and more interesting.

Former top Clinton adviser calls on ABC to launch internal probe into whether debate was rigged

https://tinyurl.com/4c9xtx4m

Posted by: Archimedes

If the whistle blower story is accurate, this could really blow up.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (lTGtQ)

207 I like when they have the student athletes announce their majors.

American Studies
African American Studies
Physical Education
Turf Management
Undeclared

Nancy Pelosi has done pretty well for herself with turf management.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (xCA6C)

208 I never took calculus, but I bet I can flummox the cashier at the drive thru who spent six year in colleges studying southern Zimbabwe transvestite basket weavers.

Posted by: fd at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (vFG9F)

209 Sure. But they used to have universities attached to them. Now they're just daycare centers with mobile abortion clinics and monkeypox salve dispensers in the bathrooms.
Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice

What about tampons? WHAT ABOUT THE TAMPONS!?!?!?!?

Posted by: Tampon Timmy Walz at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (JCZqz)

210 The single best way that I have discovered to get better at everyday math is to use cash money in real life.
-

Sports statistics helps too, especially baseball.
-

Gambling.

-

Woodworking / carpentry / handyman stuff.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (LKNus)

211 It depends on what we choose to hit deep inside Russia, we hit Moscow proper, and ZMan will be pushing up daisies in short order and then Putin will be figuring out his own variation of just muscular enough as to not start WWIII repsonse.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:31 AM (XV/Pl)

Putin's response very clearly said that doing this would be the start of WW3. He could, I suppose, choose to not respond but I don't see that.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (T7iTv)

212 Yes, I loved geometry, too, for the same reason. Loved doing proofs. Geometry and Spanish were my favorite classes in high school.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:23 AM (v6JzV)

i hated geometry for the same reason, proofs. it was always such a pain in the ass. the only up side to it was that when i got stuck, i could work backwards as well and see if i met in the middle.

ad for those cases where it didn't work -- Sturms' Law was written in to connect the divergent proofs...

Posted by: SturmToddler at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (v6XNT)

213 My, literal, next meeting is discussing how to implement calculation of vectors from circular notation into a earth orientation using a covariance matrix of values in six dimensions.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (9rWNA)

I'm going to unload the dishwasher.

Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (SfhV1)

214 You may not like Ayn Rand's books, but, man, did she predict this in "Atlas Shrugged."

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (Pijte)

215 I dated a chemist for a while in college. The mention of P. Chem. looked like it sent shivers up her spine.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM

Dude. Your next line should have been suggesting some covalent bonding.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (TTO0Z)

216 And so it goes. Now Harvard will need to hire professors and bureaucrats to populate and administer this new program. God forbid one of the current faculty should step up to help. So the bloat continues.

Posted by: rocdoctom at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (CjPxH)

217 Well, when you win something like 7 or 8 of the last 10 National Championships and then add Texas...

then just make it a premier league like european soccer does and drop the pretense that other conferences matter.

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (NGHTx)

218 College can be a poor choice overall. Chuck Cunningham went off to college and was never seen again.

Posted by: Happy Days, Indeed! at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (CV8a5)

219 We may all die, but it's OK, since it will all be Putin's fault.

-

Wait, is it still Putins fault when we started it?

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (LKNus)

220 Years ago as a freshman at State U. I had a professor that was degreed (M.A., Ph.D) from Harvard. We asked him how much harder the course (Honors Composition I) would be at Harvard.

His response? "It's exactly the same class, you'd just be paying a lot more."

Posted by: Bert G at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (VARTN)

221 Cultural Marxist Seminary Colleges are making a mint from students, the more they pull in the more cash pours into the College. They couldn't care about grades.

Posted by: Skip at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (Ubg6B)

222 Harvard Man should now be used as a slur.

"That fellow can't tell his butt from a hole in the ground. Must be a Harvard Man "

Posted by: Ribbed at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (wQzll)

223 4 Body Positive Lazbians of Color + 8 Fridays margaritas =

A. A glass menagerie.
B. No tip.
C. 4 NTOs
D. Flying hairy spiders.
E. Structural racism.
F. All of the above.

Posted by: Professor Shabazz at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (Ybyk2)

224
I think there are some historic Russian Orthodox churches in Kiev so Putin won't nuke the city, but I'm certain there will be a response that ups the ante by a large factor.

Brb: Gonna fill up some water bottles.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (RKVpM)

225 If the whistle blower story is accurate, this could really blow up.

I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or died ~~trying to escape~~ in a one-car traffic accident.

Posted by: Captain Renault at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (yOPBE)

226 You have no idea how much easier the math would be if the earth was flat.

Would make orbital dynamics a bitch though.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (9rWNA)

227 1 My parents had 3 years of Latin or Greek available to them in high school. I had (and took) Latin. Neither are available in high school today.

—

Can’t speak to Greek, but my kids are in schools as I type this, where Latin is offered. They have annd/or will take Latin ans electives. I’m assuming the schools in question are in the minority. But it’s not categorically gone from schools.

Posted by: News Update at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (nu6DU)

228 College can be a poor choice overall. Chuck Cunningham went off to college and was never seen again.

Posted by: Happy Days

I told my younger brother that he dropped out of school and joined the Manson family.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (lTGtQ)

229 It depends on what we choose to hit deep inside Russia, we hit Moscow proper, and ZMan will be pushing up daisies in short order and then Putin will be figuring out his own variation of just muscular enough as to not start WWIII repsonse.

The likely initial response is that Putin has already ordered the Russian military to prepare for the resumption of nuclear testing.

I'd expect a Russian nuclear test soon in response to deep strikes into Russia by NATO missiles.

That would also respond to the neo-cons claim that: "We don't need to worry about Russian nukes, since Russian nukes don't work anyway".

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (uxCna)

230 If the whistle blower story is accurate, this could really blow up.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

Yeah, remember how big a deal it was when Donna Brazile leaked the questions to Hillary? Heads rolled and Hillary was so humiliated, she had to drop out...wait, what? Oh yeah. Nothing happened.

Posted by: Moron Analyst at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (JCZqz)

231 I dated a chemist for a while in college. The mention of P. Chem. looked like it sent shivers up her spine.

It does for most of us.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (xCA6C)

232 >>It depends on what we choose to hit deep inside Russia, we hit Moscow proper, and ZMan will be pushing up daisies in short order and then Putin will be figuring out his own variation of just muscular enough as to not start WWIII repsonse.

Not really.

>"Flight assignments for these missile systems can, in fact, only be entered by military personnel from NATO countries. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. And therefore, it is not a question of allowing the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons or not. It is a question of making a decision whether NATO countries directly participate in the military conflict or not," Putin said in response to a question on Thursday.

https://tinyurl.com/7erphjvh

Anyone wanna bet he's bluffing?

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (LkLld)

233 >>Former top Clinton adviser calls on ABC to launch internal probe into whether debate was rigged

Interesting. They see this as something that needs a PR fix -- too many people noticed the rigging.

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (Pijte)

234 The thing that stood out to me about Donna Brazile's book wasn't the part where she admitted that the DNC rigged the primaries, or that CNN rigged the debates.

It was on the first page, where she dedicated the book to Seth Rich. She also stated publicly that she was afraid for her life.

What a country. What a Party.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (0FoWg)

235 @211

>>Putin's response very clearly said that doing this would be the start of WW3. He could, I suppose, choose to not respond but I don't see that.

There is saying you're going to kickoff WWIII and there is having the stones to turn that key.

The Lunatics currently running the show seem to have gotten the kinks out of WOPR and believe they can survive a thermonuclear war.

It doesn't seem like MAD is in vouge anymore.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (XV/Pl)

236 Not new. Chesterton's take:

https://tinyurl.com/yy8za5bm

Posted by: Eeyore at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (1bNHn)

237 Woodworking / carpentry / handyman stuff.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:34 AM (LKNus)

You're not lying. I picked up woodworking as a hobby later in life. My father was a carpenter his whole life. He'd laugh at my trying to figure out these fractions.

Then he got super pissed when he saw a guy on YouTube using a tape measure that had all the fractions on it. He very seriously told me I was never to use a cheater tape.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:38 AM (KbCG3)

238 Talking about math is not DOING math.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:24 AM

Talking about math =/= DOING math.

Fixed to comply with the thread theme.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 13, 2024 11:38 AM (kgE5c)

239 College can be a poor choice overall. Chuck Cunningham went off to college and was never seen again.

Posted by: Happy Days

Chuck became the crazy uncle in the attic.

He went up the stairs and never came down.

Posted by: rickb223 Gold & Silver Spot Prices at September 13, 2024 11:38 AM (fAazs)

240 This busty bikini blonde with nice teeth has never found her innumeracy to be an impediment, so doesn't know what the big deal is:
http://tiny.cc/trulzz
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM

At least the innumerants believe you when you say that 3.5 inches is 3 Standard Deviations to the right.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at September 13, 2024 11:38 AM (TTO0Z)

241 222 Harvard Man should now be used as a slur.
Posted by: Ribbed

I thought it had been for the last 15 years at least?

Posted by: Moron Analyst at September 13, 2024 11:38 AM (JCZqz)

242 Watch the debate. It was rigged. Bigly.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden

No doubt.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (xCA6C)

243 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (xCA6C)

So I'm guessing you have a Harvard degree.

Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (g8Ew8)

244 232

Anyone wanna bet he's bluffing?
Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (LkLld)

Uh, nope. He takes his country very seriously.

Posted by: tubal at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (rWZJT)

245 Can’t speak to Greek, but my kids are in schools as I type this, where Latin is offered. They have annd/or will take Latin ans electives. I’m assuming the schools in question are in the minority. But it’s not categorically gone from schools.

Posted by: News Update

Same here, mine are in Latin.

Charter schools - schools that offer an education like America used to offer.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (lTGtQ)

246 Looks like “start WW3 so we can cancel the election” is back on our bingo cards.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (GlxLj)

247 "I thought it had been for the last 15 years at least?"

Perhaps. I don't believe it has reached widespread use as it should.

Posted by: Ribbed at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (wQzll)

248 Gambling.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer

LOL - in 6th grade we studied probability by learning to shoot craps and gamble with M&Ms! I have loved craps ever since I was 11. That teacher was fantastic. Mrs. Ziff, RIP.

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (KAi1n)

249 >>Yeah, remember how big a deal it was when Donna Brazile leaked the questions to Hillary? Heads rolled and Hillary was so humiliated, she had to drop out...wait, what? Oh yeah. Nothing happened.

I also recall Brazille being called in to head the DNC during the last few months of the 2016 Hillary campaign (or maybe right after), and Brazille did an in-house investigation of DNC shenanigans (the kind that Bernie's supporters complained about it). She admitted there was wrongdoing and then. . . nothing happened?

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:40 AM (Pijte)

250 It doesn't seem like MAD is in vouge anymore.

well when the US president is a senile imbecile on a 6 month vacation vacation who probably thinks the "nuclear football" is a big game this weekend I can understand that

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:40 AM (NGHTx)

251 EVs suck.

Posted by: Boron Cobbie - Men say they prefer this, women say no you are wrong at September 13, 2024 11:40 AM (LKNus)

252 You don't send your kids to Haaavaaahd because they give your kids a better education.

You send them there because you are either A. Part of the elite class, or 2. Want to become part of the elite class.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 13, 2024 11:40 AM (dGCAG)

253 I think there are some historic Russian Orthodox churches in Kiev so Putin won't nuke the city, but I'm certain there will be a response that ups the ante by a large factor.

One thing that Russia has that we don't have are very low-yield nukes.

The likely initial Russia nuke attack would be a very low-yield nuke on a military target in Ukraine, as a signal.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:40 AM (uxCna)

254 248 Gambling.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer

LOL - in 6th grade we studied probability by learning to shoot craps and gamble with M&Ms! I have loved craps ever since I was 11. That teacher was fantastic. Mrs. Ziff, RIP.

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (KAi1n)

Yup. Listening to an educated gambler speak on odds, probabilities, payouts, etc. and you'll pick up a few things you didn't know your brain could comprehend.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:40 AM (KbCG3)

255 I remember Hillary lost. That seems like a pretty big deal. It sure as hell was to them.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (LkLld)

256 246 Looks like “start WW3 so we can cancel the election” is back on our bingo cards.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (GlxLj)

Biden's ultimate revenge.

Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (KbCG3)

257 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (xCA6C)

So I'm guessing you have a Harvard degree.

I do not. There can be other reasons for questioning the CW.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (xCA6C)

258
No ape?
Posted by: Eeyore

It's Friday the 13th

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (63Dwl)

259 Yes, I loved geometry, too, for the same reason. Loved doing proofs. Geometry and Spanish were my favorite classes in high school.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024

***
Spanish I disliked at first, as I hadn't elected it but had been thrown into it in ninth grade. It got easier in Spanish II and easier in III, and I wound up studying it more in college until I was reading short stories in Spanish. I found that, just as in English, some writers are clearer and easier to understand than others.

Translating it was like decoding a set of secret messages.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (J2vNu)

260 What the Clinton advisor does indicate is something I've been seeing. Somebody is trying very hard to make sure Harris doesn't get elected.

Posted by: Ribbed at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (wQzll)

261 >>It was on the first page, where she dedicated the book to Seth Rich. She also stated publicly that she was afraid for her life.

What a country. What a Party.
- - -

Oh, my, YD -- totally forgot about that!

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (Pijte)

262 Mom actually got her teaching certificate at the beginning of the roll-out of the New Math, and at the same time my Grandfather was a math prof at the local teachers' college
; I got a lot of this info when I was in grade school and I never appreciated it until later.
New Math was originally conceived to teach a deeper understanding of mathematics than was being provided by a system that taught by rote and repetition, since this caused pupils to focus on the rules, and not the concepts. Elements like working in non base-10 numeration were to show the rules existed apart from the numbers. (mom thought binary was the only useful one, though I had fascination for counting in dozens)
However what has happened since is that the new teaching focuses on rote and memorization of specific techniques and methods that give little insight into the meaning, and are hard to back check, so that kids never know if what they did was right until they get the test back.

Psychologists consider that a system like that creates a belief in luck and magic since it is so hard to determine cause and effect.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (D7oie)

263 @250

>>well when the US president is a senile imbecile on a 6 month vacation vacation who probably thinks the "nuclear football" is a big game this weekend I can understand that

Yeah, but I thought not doing stupid sh*t to start nuclear war was, I don't know, the US Foreign Policy Prime Directive.

Apparently that is no longer the case and we are just YOLING sh*t these days.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:42 AM (XV/Pl)

264 Harvard Man should now be used as a slur.

"That fellow can't tell his butt from a hole in the ground. Must be a Harvard Man "
Posted by: Ribbed at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM

You can always tell a Harvard Man...but you can't tell him much.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at September 13, 2024 11:43 AM (kgE5c)

265 Final episode of The Grand Tour "drops" today, as the retards say. Guess I'll be firing up Prime Video for the first time since the last Clarkson's Farm series.

Posted by: spindrift at September 13, 2024 11:43 AM (OguvZ)

266 So I'm guessing you have a Harvard degree.

The worst boss I ever had had two Harvard degrees.

She divided the world up into two groups:

1) Harvard graduates.

2) People put on this Earth to serve Harvard graduates.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:43 AM (uxCna)

267 Elite education ehh?
My neighbor is now on strike with the Boeing Machinists. He is a welder for aluminum and titanium and works the 787 line. He lives in a $700k house, drives a $70k truck, pulls a $110k boat and also has a $150k Class C RV. His wife drives a new jeep. She is a PT dental hygienist.
I never knew hygienists made so much.

Posted by: Diogenes at September 13, 2024 11:43 AM (W/lyH)

268 Speaking of Ron Dayne (not Dane), this is a cool read:
https://www.profootballhistory.com/ron-dayne/

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:43 AM (KAi1n)

269 Apparently that is no longer the case and we are just YOLING sh*t these days.

YOLO! YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE!

Posted by: General Ben! at September 13, 2024 11:44 AM (uxCna)

270 The Lunatics currently running the show seem to have gotten the kinks out of WOPR and believe they can survive a thermonuclear war.

It doesn't seem like MAD is in vouge anymore.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:37 AM (XV/Pl)

Or this is the escalation from 2020, when they just had that little virus to rely on killing off the people. It didn't do that very well.

But if you start firing nooks, you can hope to cull a few billion people from the planet at least. And if you think you're going to be one of those who survive, you might be right.

But the reavers will get to most of those who survive the initial cataclysm.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 13, 2024 11:44 AM (dGCAG)

271 Can’t speak to Greek, but my kids are in schools as I type this, where Latin is offered. They have annd/or will take Latin ans electives. I’m assuming the schools in question are in the minority. But it’s not categorically gone from schools.

Posted by: News Update

***
A couple of my fellow ninth-graders in Spanish I had come over from Catholic schools, and they'd had Latin. They found decoding the Spanish a lot easier than the rest of us did. (And even at that age I knew some Latin words, and knew a lot of English forms that were Latinate.)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:44 AM (J2vNu)

272 Do they get a high school diploma from Harvard?

Posted by: t-bird at September 13, 2024 11:44 AM (uDISK)

273 171
‘ implement calculation of vectors from circular notation into a earth orientation using a covariance matrix of values in six dimensions’

So, missile trajectories for the missiles FJB is giving to Ukraine.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (jbnUc)

274 Former top Clinton adviser calls on ABC to launch internal probe into whether debate was rigged

https://tinyurl.com/4c9xtx4m
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (xCA6C)
__________

Spoiler alert: It. Was. Rigged.

But Kumswala is such a terrible candidate with such odious policies that not even a rigged debate could give her a bounce.

Posted by: Doctor Elric the Blade at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (iFTx/)

275 No ape?
Posted by: Eeyore

It's Friday the 13th
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (63Dwl)
-----------
Apes have Friday the 13th off?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (VdhcA)

276 Posted by: Happy Days, Indeed! at September 13, 2024 11:35 AM (CV8a5)

Every time I refer to that guy Pixy rejects my comment.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Telling War Stories at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (xPJvm)

277 There is saying you're going to kickoff WWIII and there is having the stones to turn that key.

Except, again, this would indicate a de-facto declaration of war by NATO against Russia. Not a defensive action. Not supplying weapons. A first strike against Russia.

The key would have been turned. Putin's choice is to respond or not. If he chose to not respond, the west would be emboldened so he would have, essentially, no choice but the start strikes against, at least eastern Europe. This would be used by our propagandists as an excuse to ramp things up even more.

750M total worldwide human population. This gets us there faster.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (T7iTv)

278 If you're looking for something to up your pucker factor, this is it.

I Have Seen the Future of Drone Warfare and It Is Frighteningly Beautiful

https://tinyurl.com/3evakk2u

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (xCA6C)

279 "The likely initial Russia nuke attack would be a very low-yield nuke on a military target in Ukraine, as a signal."

What a total failure if we get to this point. It will also have to be before November because this will enrage Trump.

Posted by: Ribbed at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (wQzll)

280 Things that are increasingly stupid (but always were stupid):

1) telling 18 year olds to decide what career they want for the rest of their lives
2) telling 18 year olds their job should be one they love, not one they're good at
3) giving 18 year olds $100s of thousands to go to college for a degree to get a career they think they will love

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (EItv/)

281 If the current crop of idiots had been running the United States during the Cuban Missile Crisis, we all would have died then.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:46 AM (uxCna)

282
Our Betters Plan for World Domination:

Plan A: Release a plagues to stop the re-election of Trump, break economies,l and make Americans poorer.

Plan B: Start a Nuclear WWIII to stop the re-election of Trump, finish breaking economies, and make Americans poorer and dead.

Plan C: Mass graves for Everyone not in a secure bunker in New Zealand or a snazzy yacht in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Plan D: ?????

Plan E: Profit!

You are now at Plan B.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 13, 2024 11:46 AM (eDfFs)

283 -----------
Apes have Friday the 13th off?

It's in the contract.

Posted by: Amalgamated Primates local #403 at September 13, 2024 11:46 AM (DobEs)

284 Odds of boxcars in craps (6s) is 36-1 but the payout is generally 35-1. Hmmm.... I have a friend who, at a college debate tournament in Reno, was down to his last $20, put it on boxcars, and HIT! $700. He bought dinner.

Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:46 AM (KAi1n)

285 So they could have picked up harlotry and addiction locally for less money. Who knew?

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at September 13, 2024 11:46 AM (QSrLX)

286 He is a welder for aluminum and titanium and works the 787 line.

The same 787 with the gap issues and welding defects that has an ongoing FAA investigation? Bang up job there

Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM (NGHTx)

287 They are on a trajectory to become our overlords.

A long time ago, I began engineering school, in an advanced freshman math class I scored into because I had a perfect SAT math number. The others in the class were mostly jew smart guys from places like Bronx Science, and whatever those Boston, Philly, and Chicago ones is that you score into. Like Lane, in Chicago.

The prof was a jew named Louie Green. He'd be scribbling on the chalkboard and the guys would be yelling comments and even corrections. I dropped the class after two days and went into the "normal" track.

In my freshman class of 625, there were three women, and 162 who had been valedictorians in their high schools. We were told half would be gone after year one, and the survivors would be cut down by a third after year two.

Our grandkids are in middle school and high school in a well regarded school system, Mt Lebanon, in Pittsburgh. I ask to see their math assignments each week, and am happy to see it's all challenging material. Lebo sends a lotta grads to select schools.

Posted by: Mr Gaga at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM (nWmNS)

288 Looks like “start WW3 so we can cancel the election” is back on our bingo cards.
Posted by: Tom Servo at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (GlxLj)

Biden's ultimate revenge.
Posted by: The Central Scrutinizer at September 13, 2024 11:41 AM (KbCG3)

Biden's not calling the shots.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM (T7iTv)

289 LOL - in 6th grade we studied probability by learning to shoot craps and gamble with M&Ms! I have loved craps ever since I was 11. That teacher was fantastic. Mrs. Ziff, RIP.
Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (KAi1n)
***

I had Algebra and Geometry from Mrs Fischer. She looked exactly like the frumpy old woman with the horned glasses in a Gary Larson cartoon. Earned A's in all her classes. She made it fun.
RIP Mrs F.

Posted by: Diogenes at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM (W/lyH)

290 I was exposed (like being exposed to chickenpox) to "pre-algebra" in eighth grade, then was dumped into Algebra I in ninth. I had almost no idea what was going on and how you were supposed to solve that stuff. I got through it somehow, no idea how.

Nawlins public schools were hardly bastions of advanced learning even then.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (J2vNu)

Let me see if I can remember (with my 29 year old memory)...

Pre-Algebra- 8th grade
Algebra- 9th
Geometry- 10th
Algebra II- 11th
Trigonomety-12th
Calculus- 12th

They did Trig and Calc each as a semester.

That was what my small town Illinois school did for the advanced class.

Didn't count for college credit, so I had to take Calc Freshman year.

Literally slept through the class and got an A, so my teachers were at least competent in high school.

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM (JMAcK)

291 >>The Lunatics currently running the show seem to have gotten the kinks out of WOPR and believe they can survive a thermonuclear war.

Super-yachts + Hawaiian compounds + bugout bunkers in New Zealand

Posted by: Lizzy at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM (Pijte)

292 What the Clinton advisor does indicate is something I've been seeing. Somebody is trying very hard to make sure Harris doesn't get elected.

I would not be at all surprised that this is a Clinton op to get back at Obama. I would also not be surprised if the Clintons have already concluded that the '24 election is lost, so why not put a torpedo in Obama.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:48 AM (xCA6C)

293 243 Let's not go overboard. Harvard is still very selective for most students.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:05 AM (xCA6C)

So I'm guessing you have a Harvard degree.
Posted by: Dr Pork Chops & Bacons at September 13, 2024 11:39 AM (g8Ew

Well, yes, you don't get into Harvard if you're white, unless you have a Hollywood/political/celebrity leftwing parent.

So, in that way, they are still selective.

Posted by: Nova Local at September 13, 2024 11:48 AM (exHjb)

294 Harvard Man should now be used as a slur.
Posted by: Ribbed

When I was a kid, I never understood what Thurston Howell III meant when he would call somebody a "Yale man," other than it was an insult.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:48 AM (v6JzV)

295 The weird thing about Chuck Cunningham besides his disappearance was that in two seasons he was played by two different actors.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:48 AM (hgmb+)

296 I loved math and enjoyed Algebra I but during one day in Algebra II, everything just went to hell. It was like my mind got wiped. I struggled and barely pulled out a C.

Fast forward 12 years and I'm learning Trigonometry on the fly as a surveyor.

Posted by: Beartooth at September 13, 2024 11:49 AM (WuJwx)

297
A low yield nuke directed at the launch site in Ukraine would be the best response we could hope for. Let the world see that mushroom cloud go up and maybe some sanity would return.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 13, 2024 11:49 AM (RKVpM)

298 Buncha Tracy Flicks.

--

Actually, she was a definite over achiever and probably would've studied her hiney off to make the actual grade.

Posted by: Lady in Black at September 13, 2024 11:49 AM (N2zvp)

299 Yeah, but I thought not doing stupid sh*t to start nuclear war was, I don't know, the US Foreign Policy Prime Directive.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at September 13, 2024 11:42 AM (XV/Pl)

US Foreign Policy Prime Directive is, and has been for a very long time, to bring the glories of homosexual atheist western democracy to every person on Earth we haven't been able to kill.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 11:49 AM (T7iTv)

300 Do they get a high school diploma from Harvard?
Posted by: t-bird at September 13, 2024 11:44 AM (uDISK)

That's just it, damn near every other college in the country requires new students to have advanced through their high school maths, so if Haaaavaaaahd is needing to teach remedial math to its new students, then that "select" admission process of theirs has nothing to do with, you know, actual educational merit.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 13, 2024 11:49 AM (dGCAG)

301 He is a welder for aluminum and titanium and works the 787 line.

The same 787 with the gap issues and welding defects that has an ongoing FAA investigation? Bang up job there
Posted by: brak at September 13, 2024 11:47 AM

Did I mention we seldom talk. In fact I hardly know the guy.

Posted by: Diogenes at September 13, 2024 11:50 AM (W/lyH)

302 Commie civil wars are fun.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at September 13, 2024 11:50 AM (W/1m5)

303 Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at September 13, 2024 11:45 AM (EItv/)

I dislike the term gap year, but I like what it is. My gap year spanned 5 years and included working in Alaska, Arizona, then joining int the Army.

Only after that did I know what I wanted to do for a living. And I am still doing it 30 years later. Do I love it? Almost never. But it's productive work and I like the folks I work with. Can't ask for much more.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Telling War Stories at September 13, 2024 11:50 AM (xPJvm)

304 I can't even imagine how bad the education levels are for students entering community colleges if Harvard has to do this.

Posted by: Just Lily at September 13, 2024 11:50 AM (hpAZA)

305 What if there's no peak stupid just pauses on the way dumber.

Posted by: DaveA at September 13, 2024 11:50 AM (FhXTo)

306 Pre-Algebra- 8th grade
Algebra- 9th
Geometry- 10th
Algebra II- 11th
Trigonomety-12th
Calculus- 12th

They did Trig and Calc each as a semester.

That was what my small town Illinois school did for the advanced class. . . .

Posted by: Formerly Virginian at September 13, 2024

***
Same here, except Trig was part of Geometry (or maybe they had more of it in the "advanced math" class in 12th. I dodged taking that class as a senior).

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:51 AM (J2vNu)

307 Trump has proposed a Korean-style armistice in Ukraine, with an agreement that Ukraine stays out of NATO, but Ukraine is given enough arms to deter Russia from attacking again.

This would disrupt the endless Ukraine War gravy train, so of course they are going to escalate.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:51 AM (uxCna)

308 The weird thing about Chuck Cunningham besides his disappearance was that in two seasons he was played by two different actors.
Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:48 AM (hgmb+)

***

That's just weird

Posted by: Darren Stevens at September 13, 2024 11:51 AM (1FWWQ)

309 I always seem to come into the tail end of particularly juicy threads related to my own job...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at September 13, 2024 11:51 AM (7fElN)

310 I thought it was near impossible to get into Harvard unless you were a brainiac

Oh, only white people

Posted by: Gonzotx at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (YjECI)

311 Where I went to high school(1970s) they stated that you could not enroll in a college or university if you did not achieve "matriculation" level grades in the basics and in the high school course precursors.

Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (pSotA)

312 271 Can’t speak to Greek, but my kids are in schools as I type this, where Latin is offered. They have annd/or will take Latin ans electives. I’m assuming the schools in question are in the minority. But it’s not categorically gone from schools.

Posted by: News Update

***
A couple of my fellow ninth-graders in Spanish I had come over from Catholic schools, and they'd had Latin. They found decoding the Spanish a lot easier than the rest of us did. (And even at that age I knew some Latin words, and knew a lot of English forms that were Latinate.)
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:44 AM (J2vNu)
_______
The Latin helps. I've never taken Spanish, but did take Latin. In Morison's Admiral of the Ocean Sea, there is the original of the words they used to call the men to dinner. I actually could follow it. Of course, being a ship buff helped too.

Posted by: Eeyore at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (1bNHn)

313 A low yield nuke directed at the launch site in Ukraine would be the best response we could hope for. Let the world see that mushroom cloud go up and maybe some sanity would return.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 13, 2024 11:49 AM (RKVpM)

Of course, if you wanted to stop the Ukraine war, you could just nook DC. That would be more effective than hitting Kiev.

Just like hitting Qatar would more quickly end the Gaza war, than continuing to slaughter muzzies in the rubble.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (dGCAG)

314 Citrix...within a VDI...

Talk about a solution.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (GBKbO)

315 Translating it was like decoding a set of secret messages.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius

For me, translating has something of a mathematical quality. You "mapping" one language into another. It activates the same part of my brain that geometry did.

Thus, geometry and Spanish were my favorite HS classes.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (v6JzV)

316 My neighbor is now on strike with the Boeing Machinists. He is a welder for aluminum and titanium and works the 787 line. He lives in a $700k house, drives a $70k truck, pulls a $110k boat and also has a $150k Class C RV. His wife drives a new jeep.

He is going to be very surprised when Boeing goes TU because it isn't economically competitive, or at least moves everything to the South. He's going to discover what his skill set is really worth. Granted, it's quite a useful skill set, but I'm also sure that Boeing pays way more than industry scale.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (xCA6C)

317 The weird thing about Chuck Cunningham besides his disappearance was that in two seasons he was played by two different actors.
Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:48 AM (hgmb+)
-----------
Unheard of!

Posted by: Dick Sargent and Dick York at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (VdhcA)

318 A low yield nuke directed at the launch site in Ukraine would be the best response we could hope for.

I expect that would be the response.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (uxCna)

319 Much of the Russia hoax came from Ukraine. The first person taken down in the Russia scam was Paul Manafort and it was done with fake dirt from Ukraine. They impeached Trump for looking into what was going on in Ukraine. Biden started a needless war in Ukraine. We are now on the edge of a nuclear WWIII with Russia over Ukraine.

As the great philosopher Ronnie Van Zant said, there's things going on that you don't know.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (LkLld)

320 @263 Thomas, the biggest problem with Biden foreign policy team is that they are too arrogant and delusional to realize they're doing stupid shit which could lead to a nuke war.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (hgmb+)

321 >>>US Foreign Policy Prime Directive is, and has been for a very long time, to bring the glories of homosexual atheist western democracy to every person on Earth we haven't been able to kill.
Posted by: I used to have a different nic
--------------------------

you forgot subsidizing the Military Industrial Complex with perpetual war.

Posted by: Braenyard at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (hwaFC)

322 Oddly enough, my job (CAD tech in land survey) requires a lot of math, mostly trig and geometry. I suck at math. But I know the specific formulae to work through things, plus Civil3d does a lot of the work for me.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Telling War Stories at September 13, 2024 11:53 AM (xPJvm)

323 Citrix...within a VDI...

Talk about a solution.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, going full throttle with Tony Scott at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (GBKbO)

Citrix was the shizznit. Then Microsoft bought them.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:53 AM (Zz0t1)

324 My older brother went to Harvard and Harvard law and had that kind of life.

My twin brother was a tackle at Washington State. He also earned a silver star, a bronze star with a V, and a presidential commendation. He had a price on his head for several years after he came back to the states.

Posted by: Wenda at September 13, 2024 11:53 AM (G0AjR)

325 Odds of boxcars in craps (6s) is 36-1 but the payout is generally 35-1.

Where do you play Craps? I've never seen Twelve pay other than 30-1

Posted by: Chuck C at September 13, 2024 11:54 AM (yOPBE)

326 What if there's no peak stupid just pauses on the way dumber.
Posted by: DaveA at September 13, 2024 11:50 AM (FhXTo)
++++
Peak Stupid is achievable, but unknowable except in retrospect, where local peaks can be identified. The final peak is logically unknowable in absolute terms.

Stupidity increases until it maximizes, and the maximum is perfectly simultaneous with the extinction of those who achieved it. So local peaks can be seen, but only by successors. The local peak corresponded with the failure (e.g., the failure of a civilization).

The general, final, non-localized peak will occur, but the extinction will not be of a culture or civilization or religion or whatever, but will be of the species and so nobody will be able to define when it happened because we'll all be dead.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:54 AM (HnUIn)

327 It ain't math, but it is arithmetic and you *will* get good at it. Learning how to keep a running total of what's in your cart, how to estimate the sales tax that's going to be added, calculate a tip and split a check is not hard, and anyone who doesn't know how to do these things will learn it quickly if they force themselves to do so.
=====

That is a game my kids and I played for years everywhere.

Vet bill the other day absolutely floored me for healthy animals. One small very old cat and one medium/large young dog was initially $1k. First time in ages that I didn't have that running total within $20.

Posted by: mustbequantum at September 13, 2024 11:54 AM (eRfHZ)

328 Yeah, but I thought not doing stupid sh*t to start nuclear war was, I don't know, the US Foreign Policy Prime Directive.

The great, great, achievement of the postwar world diplomatic system is that a nuclear weapon has not been used in anger in eighty years.

That may be about to change.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:54 AM (uxCna)

329 Trump has proposed a Korean-style armistice in Ukraine, with an agreement that Ukraine stays out of NATO, but Ukraine is given enough arms to deter Russia from attacking again.

This would disrupt the endless Ukraine War gravy train, so of course they are going to escalate.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:51 AM (uxCna)

It might help clarify though, if the powers that be don't go for it, that this is not about "bleeding Russia," it's not about saving democracy in Ukraine (they have none to save), it's about the MIC churning on, at the cost of millions of deaths, and the evil neocon pricks who seem to genuinely get off on perpetual war.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 13, 2024 11:54 AM (dGCAG)

330 Once they have finished with the remedial course who is going to help them deal with the aftermath?

Posted by: Muldoon at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (991eG)

331 my kids had:

Algebra- 8th grade
Algebra 11- 9th
Geometry/Trig combo - 10th
Calculus or Stat (based on preference) - 11th
Choice of AP Calc or AP Stat -12th

my daughter is an applied math major and did basically all offered math classes in HS plus did well on her APs (both stat and calc) so she could start fast in college. that's the way to go if you love math.

one son is not great at math so stuck with Stat then AP Stat. the other is good at math but did only one AP (calc) and loaded up on the science instead - Physics is essentially another math - so he could start stronger as an engineering major.

these kids who are struggling are struggling because of that TOTAL ASS Bill Gates. he paid schools to use Common Core which was atrocious. ergo I had to pay not only for private school (they also used CC) but for afterschool math as well.

it was a travesty. I swear Bill Gates lives to ruin lives.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (s3qiR)

332 Thinking about the most universally-useful math skills, probably everyone should learn algebra and geometry.

Posted by: Emmie at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (e7ATA)

333 I can't even imagine how bad the education levels are for students entering community colleges if Harvard has to do this.

Class, take out a piece of paper and write down the math courses you've had. Math courses. The things with numbers and Greek letters. No? Alright, just take out a piece of paper and write down what you did last summer.

The flat, white thing with lines on it.

Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (xCA6C)

334 Underwater Welders - now THAT's a job !

Posted by: runner at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (V13WU)

335 The Latin helps. I've never taken Spanish, but did take Latin. In Morison's Admiral of the Ocean Sea, there is the original of the words they used to call the men to dinner. I actually could follow it. Of course, being a ship buff helped too.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 13, 2024

***
That's right, Columbus's crew would have been mostly Spanish, huh?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (J2vNu)

336
it was a travesty. I swear Bill Gates lives to ruin lives.
Posted by: BlackOrchid at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (s3qiR)

He should be hanged by the neck until dead for crimes against humanity.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (Zz0t1)

337 330 Once they have finished with the remedial course who is going to help them deal with the aftermath?

depending on the school they may only need one unit of math and one of science. and Enviro Science lol counts as a science, and stat counts as a math. (I'm not anti stat but it's not really math)

Posted by: BlackOrchid at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (s3qiR)

338 320 @263 Thomas, the biggest problem with Biden foreign policy team is that they are too arrogant and delusional to realize they're doing stupid shit which could lead to a nuke war.
Posted by: Smell the Glove at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (hgmb+)

Stupid and evil. Leaning more heavily on the evil.

Posted by: BurtTC at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (dGCAG)

339 That's right, Columbus's crew would have been mostly Spanish, huh?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (J2vNu)
-----------
One of them was Irish!

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea, Radioactive Knight, Concertina Czar at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (VdhcA)

340 He is going to be very surprised when Boeing goes TU because it isn't economically competitive, or at least moves everything to the South. He's going to discover what his skill set is really worth. Granted, it's quite a useful skill set, but I'm also sure that Boeing pays way more than industry scale.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (xCA6C)
***

With all the other government stuff going on here, Hanford, Bremerton, McChord AFB, and the overall boating industry, I think he'd do well. He would miss all the double OT though which a lot of Boeing workers have been doing for years.

Posted by: Diogenes at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (W/lyH)

341 I think most kids should go to community college the first two years. It's the same stuff at a fraction of the cost.

Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (SfhV1)

342 lol I put algebra eleven but meant Algebra II

hopefully that was clear!

Posted by: BlackOrchid at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (s3qiR)

343 Alright, just take out a piece of paper and write down what you did last summer.

The flat, white thing with lines on it.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (xCA6C)

On my first day of summer vacation, I went downtown.....to look for a job. Then, I hung out in front of the drug store.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (Zz0t1)

344 Thinking about the most universally-useful math skills, probably everyone should learn algebra and geometry.
Posted by: Emmie at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (e7ATA)
++++
Both are universally useful. Algebra really is a "you use this every day, even if you don't recognize it" thing. Algebra is the minimum level. "Solve for a variable" is an everyday thing for everyone, even if they don't put it in the form of an equation.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (HnUIn)

345 I can't even imagine how bad the education levels are for students entering community colleges if Harvard has to do this.

Posted by: Just Lil

Based on what I have seen, the ivies are the ones with the need for remedial work the most, which speaks to their 'selectivity'.

Not to say that most high schoolers are competent at math or grammar, they aren't.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (lTGtQ)

346
"Columbus's crew would have been mostly Spanish, huh?"

Columbus was Portuguese.

Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (pSotA)

347 >>Underwater Welders - now THAT's a job !

I considered it.

Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:58 AM (LkLld)

348 Once they have finished with the remedial course who is going to help them deal with the aftermath?
Posted by: Muldoon at September 13, 2024 11:55 AM (991eG)
++++
Very, very well done.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:58 AM (HnUIn)

349 On the second day of summer vacation, I went downtown.....to look for a job. Then, I hung out in front of the drug store.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:58 AM (Zz0t1)

350 For me, translating has something of a mathematical quality. You "mapping" one language into another. It activates the same part of my brain that geometry did.

Thus, geometry and Spanish were my favorite HS classes.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (v6JzV)

that is an interesting take. I looked at Spanish and English as concepts with bolt-ons to show temporality, numbers, and similar concepts, the "meme" approach by LLMs seems to approximate that for me.
Math was more of a logic puzzle, and was different, though Algebra gave me a starting point for analyzing logic statements, verbally and in spreadsheets.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 13, 2024 11:58 AM (D7oie)

351 My sons went to Core Knowledge charter schools. (Not to be confused with Common Core--see how leftists usurp everything?) Core Knowledge is very traditional, phonics, plenty of history and science, and their math was done the right way.

they both excelled and have great careers now.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Telling War Stories at September 13, 2024 11:59 AM (xPJvm)

352 I think most kids should go to community college the first two years. It's the same stuff at a fraction of the cost.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (SfhV1)

High school with ash trays.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at September 13, 2024 11:59 AM (W/1m5)

353 I'd bet my bottom dollar that community college students are altogether smarter than 4-year college students these days. There are no real admissions standards in state schools anymore, so the only difference in barriers to entry is money.

The community colleges are for broke kids who need a slip of paper for some goal they have. Not just a place to get drunk and experiment with gay stuff.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at September 13, 2024 11:59 AM (0FoWg)

354 On the third day of summer vacation, I went downtown.....to look for a job. Then, I got a job. Keeping people from hanging out in front of the drug store.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 11:59 AM (Zz0t1)

355 When I attended Harvard, I took calculus. Actually, I audited it since we were only allowed 2 classes and mine were astrophysics and expository writing. (I was 16 and it was their high school Summer program. Fantastic experience. Summer '84. Harvard Square T stop was under massive reconstruction. Open for business but the plaza was blocked off.)
Posted by: SFGoth at September 13, 2024 11:08 AM (KAi1n)
***

Granddaughter of Diogenes #2 is trying to decide between Astrophysics, or Astrochemistry. She's at Virginia Tech. And she has the chops for either track. Sharp kid! (IIDSSM)

Posted by: Diogenes at September 13, 2024 11:59 AM (W/lyH)

356 I might have liked math when I was younger, if I'd had a calculator to do the arithmetic grunt work. Invariably, during a test, I'd make an arithmetic error and wind up with a wrong answer; and it was rare that a teacher gave you credit for doing the steps right. Anbd it was all about the right answer, not about knowing how to solve the problem.

Once I could use a calculator, Stats was not difficult.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:59 AM (J2vNu)

357 I think they need to bring the dunce cap back.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at September 13, 2024 12:00 PM (Zz0t1)

358 New thread by the boss.

Posted by: Dad of Six at September 13, 2024 12:01 PM (VpZau)

359 "Solve for a variable" is an everyday thing for everyone, even if they don't put it in the form of an equation.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!)

Interesting. Example?

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at September 13, 2024 12:01 PM (v6JzV)

360 I'll probably get willowed but I wanted to say, of the three my daughter is the absolute smartest, she has a photo memory and the math she's doing now is just astounding, I don't understand any of it at all.

BUT .. here's where college apps suck - she struggled with admittance b/c her GPA wasn't as high bc a)she took really hard courses and b) she didn't do well in the "humanities" such as they are. at her school you needed to be very talky and participation grades killed her. she is very quiet.

so not only did my kids in general suffer from Common Core, they all suffered from the extreme weighting that extroversion and chattiness gets in school now. I think it's b/c edu is a matriarchy-type thing. you need to talk.

Posted by: BlackOrchid at September 13, 2024 12:01 PM (s3qiR)

361 Columbus's crew would have been mostly Spanish, huh?"
*
Columbus was Portuguese.
Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024

***
I thought he was Italian? From one of the Italian city-states, anyway. And Queen Isabella of Spain paid for his ships. I'd guess he recruited his crews there in Spain.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 12:01 PM (J2vNu)

362 The latest line promulgated by Zelensky, other Ukrainian officials, and American pro-war neo-cons, is that since Russia didn't use nukes in response to Ukraine's minor incursion into Russia's Kursk Province (which has captured one town of 10,000 people), that shows that Russia will not use nukes under any circumstances.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (uxCna)

Ahem!

Posted by: Blood and Nerve Agents at September 13, 2024 12:03 PM (W/lyH)

363 Oh, Lord, this dork again?

Posted by: Sister Mary Elephant at September 13, 2024 12:03 PM (Y1sOo)

364 335 The Latin helps. I've never taken Spanish, but did take Latin. In Morison's Admiral of the Ocean Sea, there is the original of the words they used to call the men to dinner. I actually could follow it. Of course, being a ship buff helped too.
Posted by: Eeyore at September 13, 2024

***
That's right, Columbus's crew would have been mostly Spanish, huh?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at September 13, 2024 11:56 AM (J2vNu)
_______
The quotation was in Spanish. In those days, it was common for people to serve in foreign ships. The whole modern concept of nationalism was in its infancy.

Posted by: Eeyore at September 13, 2024 12:03 PM (1bNHn)

365
"And Queen Isabella of Spain paid for his ships."

Yes. Monarchs spoke many European languages back then just as they do today.

Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024 12:03 PM (pSotA)

366 Columbus was Portuguese.
Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (pSotA)

Columbus was either Genoese (accepted story) or a bastard from Ibiza who took a Genoese name. though there are other theories, and there was a DNA scan done on his remains, which have not been published.

Posted by: Kindltot at September 13, 2024 12:04 PM (D7oie)

367 For me, translating has something of a mathematical quality. You "mapping" one language into another. It activates the same part of my brain that geometry did.
=====

Music is the same.

Posted by: mustbequantum at September 13, 2024 12:04 PM (eRfHZ)

368 I can't even imagine how bad the education levels are for students entering community colleges if Harvard has to do this.

The one I went to (late in life) had to offer Reading classes to get kids up to speed.

Posted by: t-bird at September 13, 2024 12:05 PM (LTIZV)

369 A new House GOP-led bill is being introduced to block federal dollars from paying for gender reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants.

I guess a bill blocking federal dollars from being sued on illegals AT ALL is just too much to hope for. Oh, well, this'll all be moot when the world ends tomorrow.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 12:06 PM (T7iTv)

370 My neighbor is now on strike with the Boeing Machinists. He is a welder for aluminum and titanium and works the 787 line. He lives in a $700k house, drives a $70k truck, pulls a $110k boat and also has a $150k Class C RV. His wife drives a new jeep.

He is going to be very surprised when Boeing goes TU because it isn't economically competitive, or at least moves everything to the South. He's going to discover what his skill set is really worth. Granted, it's quite a useful skill set, but I'm also sure that Boeing pays way more than industry scale.
Posted by: Archimedes at September 13, 2024 11:52 AM (xCA6C)
________

Especially since he's probably heavily in debt. All that shit is almost certainly financed. You would be very surprised how deeply in debt some outwardly wealthy people are. I know a few guys with very expensive exotic cars who really don't have the net worth to support such extravagant purchases. But 10-year financing, etc.

Posted by: Doctor Elric the Blade at September 13, 2024 12:06 PM (iFTx/)

371 I was grateful for my D in calculus. I never want to take that crap again.

It would be really nice if they required an English class or two.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at September 13, 2024 12:07 PM (MpVUb)

372 I’ve been looking at some military blogs, and the drones being built by Turkey, Egypt and Israel might be even more advanced than our own. Some incredible kit out there. Was just looking at a newly announced stealth mini sub being built by Italy for Qatar for the Gulf.

Posted by: Tom Servo at September 13, 2024 12:07 PM (GlxLj)

373 Some kids just don't have the capacity to 'get' the concept of math. They can get quite sullen and defensive about it. I think they need an aptitude adjustment!

Posted by: Muldoon at September 13, 2024 12:07 PM (991eG)

374 "Blinken go home. We do not want the Polish people paying and dying for your wars."

https://is.gd/UoJTSv
Posted by: Divide by Zero at September 13, 2024 12:05 PM (RKVpM)

He's an MEP. I bet Poland's actual government, fresh off arresting their political opposition, is all-in on nuclear combat, toe-to-toe with the Russkies.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at September 13, 2024 12:08 PM (T7iTv)

375 Just getting in. Beautiful rant Buck. My FIL would be so distressed to see the fall of Harvard. He attended when it meant something to be a Harvard man and was so proud of its reputation and uniqueness. He kept every memento and travelled from Houston to attend many football games and anniversaries well into his 80s.

Posted by: DanMan at September 13, 2024 12:08 PM (8uzBS)

376 Algebra? Jebus!

I could understand integral or differential calculas, but algebra?

Truly, we are a country of lions led by donkeys.

Posted by: The Quare Fella at September 13, 2024 12:08 PM (Hvq7a)

377 NOOD

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at September 13, 2024 12:09 PM (FnneF)

378 To perform lithotripsy calculus is a requirement.

Posted by: Muldoon at September 13, 2024 12:10 PM (991eG)

379 346
"Columbus's crew would have been mostly Spanish, huh?"

Columbus was Portuguese.
Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (pSotA)

Um...

Posted by: Magellan at September 13, 2024 12:10 PM (PiwSw)

380 347 >>Underwater Welders - now THAT's a job !

I considered it.
Posted by: JackStraw at September 13, 2024 11:58 AM (LkLld)

That's funny. I did too when I was working on the rigs.

However-

After talking to some of the underwater welders and studying up on it,

the day-to-day of the job appeared pretty awful and of course, dangerous in a way that was often out of your hands.

And...the money was great but not great enough that you could work for a few years and retire.

Basically, it was like being a low level sports guy in terms of longevity without any of the bennies.

No thanks.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 13, 2024 12:11 PM (eDfFs)

381 This busty bikini blonde with nice teeth has never found her innumeracy to be an impediment, so doesn't know what the big deal is:
http://tiny.cc/trulzz
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at September 13, 2024 11:32 AM (HnUIn)

Might even help, if she can be convinced that four inches equals eight inches.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at September 13, 2024 12:11 PM (3Cz18)

382 To perform lithotripsy calculus is a requirement.
Posted by: Muldoon

Just wanted to hang back to show some appreciation. Now, I'm off to the new thread.

Posted by: t-bird at September 13, 2024 12:12 PM (LTIZV)

383 "That's not really fair, she's a very sweet person. But you can tell she went to Harvard."
You can always tell a Harvard grad, you just can't tell them much.

Posted by: anon2020 at September 13, 2024 12:15 PM (RqMDa)

384 neighbor is now on strike with the Boeing Machinists. He is a welder for aluminum and titanium and works the 787 line. He lives in a $700k house, drives a $70k truck, pulls a $110k boat and also has a $150k Class C RV. His wife drives a new jeep. She is a PT dental hygienist.
I never knew hygienists made so much.
Posted by: Diogenes at September 13, 2024 11:43 AM (W/lyH)

Your neighbor has a lot of debt is what you’re saying.

Posted by: News Update at September 13, 2024 12:24 PM (nu6DU)

385 341 I think most kids should go to community college the first two years. It's the same stuff at a fraction of the cost.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (SfhV1)

This used to be a valid strategy. However, universities will disallow credits from community colleges and require the students to take them over because they don't have the same "rigor ". Or they charge them so much to transfer the credit, they still end up paying through the nose.

Posted by: Just Lily at September 13, 2024 12:27 PM (hpAZA)

386 It's not pandemic learning loss. It is standard failures churned out by government schools for 30+ years.

This an old story, only new to Harvard.

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at September 13, 2024 12:37 PM (LMNvu)

387 Back in the mid 1980s I was a Math Department TA at Colorado School of Mines. One of the courses I was teaching was akin to a remedial math course. The main purpose of the course was to familiarize foreign students to English language terminology.

Still, there were a lot of US students in that course. I remember thinking at the time "how could you intend to apply to an Engineering college, and not have prepared yourself in math?"

Posted by: LCMS Rulz! at September 13, 2024 01:16 PM (TOe+Q)

388 The math I took in college was so low it didn't count toward athletic eligibility.

And I got a "D" -- thereby earning Advanced Placement in the Horde.

Posted by: Remarkably Unremarkable at September 13, 2024 01:54 PM (Jw2qQ)

389 I teach math at University in the Northeast. We employ these concepts and methods to address the awful math skills that some students bring. I agree this is present because colleges are taking students that normally in the past would not have been accepted because they weren't prepared. It's the money, though they have convinced themselves otherwise (but that's another topic). Reality is 40-50% will still fail, 10% will do well and the remaining that pass will be mediocre at it because the material is already watered down on top of it. Half the issue are the students, academics is just one part of the college experience for them and that is evident, you can't pass if you don't show or do work outside of class...But the second half is that many lower level math classes and policies are being pushed by the math education department. The worst thing to come out of University is the Education department, this is where the problems all begin. Most academic departments have willingly taken the downward facing dog position to them, for what reason, I can only suspect they never actually read their research and assumed it was as high quality as theirs; it's not.

Posted by: Jim at September 13, 2024 01:56 PM (KckLH)

390 The article speaks of "Pandemic Learning Loss"....

A candidate for Harvard should have been way ahead of reading ability before the pandemic, and has now had 2 years post pandemic to recover. Whatever the reason for the loss of ability, it was there before the pandemic and after the pandemic.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 13, 2024 03:05 PM (n7h9X)

391 I think most kids should go to community college the first two years. It's the same stuff at a fraction of the cost.
Posted by: grammie winger - cheesehead at September 13, 2024 11:57 AM (SfhV1)

This used to be a valid strategy. However, universities will disallow credits from community colleges and require the students to take them over because they don't have the same "rigor ". Or they charge them so much to transfer the credit, they still end up paying through the nose.
Posted by: Just Lily at September 13, 2024 12:27 PM (hpAZA)

The college I went to had a 3-2 program where a student could go to one of a number of feeder colleges for 3 years and get prepped up for the final 2 years of the engineering degree. Seemed to work pretty well.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 13, 2024 03:07 PM (n7h9X)

392 Some kids just don't have the capacity to 'get' the concept of math. They can get quite sullen and defensive about it. I think they need an aptitude adjustment!
Posted by: Muldoon at September 13, 2024 12:07 PM (991eG)

I used to know kids like that...but usually they could calculate sports statistics in their head and can calculate the optimum values for video game stats after every game update to kill that boss.

So it isn't the math as much as catching the interest.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 13, 2024 03:11 PM (n7h9X)

393 "And Queen Isabella of Spain paid for his ships."

Yes. Monarchs spoke many European languages back then just as they do today.
Posted by: Speller at September 13, 2024 12:03 PM (pSotA)

Latin was also used as a common language in religion and science.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 13, 2024 03:13 PM (n7h9X)

394 The latest line promulgated by Zelensky, other Ukrainian officials, and American pro-war neo-cons, is that since Russia didn't use nukes in response to Ukraine's minor incursion into Russia's Kursk Province (which has captured one town of 10,000 people), that shows that Russia will not use nukes under any circumstances.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:29 AM (uxCna)

Ahem!
Posted by: Blood and Nerve Agents at September 13, 2024 12:03 PM (W/lyH)

I agree that Russia won't go nuclear, but that doesn't mean they won't get even. A person at the Duran says one thing they could do is take the assets of British Petroleum from their Arctic shores, and of course sending modern tech to areas we and the UK have bases is on the table.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 13, 2024 03:23 PM (n7h9X)

395 The likely initial response is that Putin has already ordered the Russian military to prepare for the resumption of nuclear testing.

I'd expect a Russian nuclear test soon in response to deep strikes into Russia by NATO missiles.

That would also respond to the neo-cons claim that: "We don't need to worry about Russian nukes, since Russian nukes don't work anyway".
Posted by: The ARC of History! at September 13, 2024 11:36 AM (uxCna)

Russia has been doing large scale nuclear exercises of attack and defense the last few years. If something didn't work, they have fixed it by now.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 13, 2024 03:32 PM (n7h9X)

396 Johnny cant read but Johnny can leave the School and take part in a Stop Climate Change protest or play dead in a store for annoying little twats like David Hogg

Posted by: Tamaa the Drongo Bird at September 13, 2024 04:34 PM (wGqjj)

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