A new PC classic!

[MadMadge43]

PC is in his 40's. It's not a matter of youth on this one, just a matter of not paying attention.

[hollasa]

Nice quote! Heinlein is my favorite of favorites.

He's a favorite of mine - not the most favorite, but up there!

Also in the same piece, he says:

I mentioned elsewhere the straight-A student on a scholarship who did not know the relations between weeks, months, and years.  This is not uncommon; high school and college students in this country usually can't do simple arithmetic without using a pocket calculator.

I've encountered people like this - I had to explain once, when going over a spreadsheet with someone, why I was using the number 7 to add to the current date to get the next week, and why the number 52 appeared as well. "Oh!"

[Twik]

You think that's bad? I once observed a university student trying to add a series of fractions - let's say, for simplicity, 1/2 and 3/4. Their result - 4/6. Yep, they added the tops, then the bottoms. Didn't even know how to reduce it to a common denominator.

The scary part? This was a second-year pharmacy student. 

I advised them from that point on, just work each fraction into a decimal on their calculators before adding. Not great teaching, but at least they had a chance of getting the right answer.

[Slartibartfast]

I have middle- and high-school students come into my library who can't read a wall clock.  I had to hide the clock display on my computer because they would lean over my desk to read the time off the corner of my screen instead of the big, round, numbers-in-a-circle clock on the wall right next to us.  Now that I have the digital readout hidden, many of them just pull out their cell phones and read the time off of there - apparently digging your cell out of your backpack is easier than trying to figure out what the big and the little hands mean.

[RoseRose]

You think that's bad? I once observed a university student trying to add a series of fractions - let's say, for simplicity, 1/2 and 3/4. Their result - 4/6. Yep, they added the tops, then the bottoms. Didn't even know how to reduce it to a common denominator.

The scary part? This was a second-year pharmacy student. 

I advised them from that point on, just work each fraction into a decimal on their calculators before adding. Not great teaching, but at least they had a chance of getting the right answer.

I have never been very good at simple arithmetic (according to my father) but DANG.  Even if I was too lazy to do the least common denominator, I can convert simple fractions into decimals and back in my head.  That's beyond unforgivable.  I REVIEWED that subject in 5th grade math (before then, I was in Israel when I would have been learning it, so I don't know when I did).  Oy!

I have middle- and high-school students come into my library who can't read a wall clock.  I had to hide the clock display on my computer because they would lean over my desk to read the time off the corner of my screen instead of the big, round, numbers-in-a-circle clock on the wall right next to us.  Now that I have the digital readout hidden, many of them just pull out their cell phones and read the time off of there - apparently digging your cell out of your backpack is easier than trying to figure out what the big and the little hands mean.

That's ridiculous.  At my high school, all the wall clocks were analog.  If you couldn't read them, you didn't know how long was left in class.  I think all clocks in middle and high schools should be analog.  FORCE the kids to learn how to read them.  *is 19 and wearing an analog watch right now*  (I think it's called analog... I could be wrong.  I just know it has a name.  And I can read it.)

[imamess942]

Oh, Suze...you're speaking of those classic documentaries!  Yep, those will definitely help PC. 

[Thipu1]

About that clock.  I've noticed that there are many children who have no idea what clockwise or counter-clockwise means because they've had digital watches all their lives.

We've also had some genuine howlers from library patrons.  My favorite was the gentleman who solemnly assured me that Hannibal took his elephants over the Alps to bring Islam to Spain

[IndianInlaw]

I was telling a friend about a child who was surprised to discover cats have toes on their paws.

My friend didn't know that cats had toes on their paws.

He was 40.

And had a PhD.

[Wordgeek]

A friend - university educated and normally, well, sensible - was firmly convinced that if he left eggs in the fridge past their expiry dates, they would *hatch*.

I don't think it's good manners to laugh at serious concerns, but I totally dropped the ball on that one.  Mea culpa.

[Heavenly]

never heard of Ginsberg or Keroauc.

They were mentioned in passing in HS--I didn't really get any information (or even read them) until college...so you might want to go a little easy on your students.  LOL

[FoxPaws]

A friend - university educated and normally, well, sensible - was firmly convinced that if he left eggs in the fridge past their expiry dates, they would *hatch*.

Into what? Frozen chickens?