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I came to the realization today that the average American's math skills are in pretty poor shape. I’ll give you a few examples:
I work with 4 young women who are 18-21 years old. They are all high school graduates and a couple of them are going to college. Their job is to collect the cover charge for the club we work in. They deal with cash and the cover charge is $8. So they are constantly dealing with situations with people paying $8 out of $20 or $24 out of $40.
The sad thing is that they are constantly asking me what the change is. They do not have the basic math skills to do these computations in their heads. How hard is to take $24 out of $40 and give $16 change?
Here’s another one. A couple years back I was at the deli and asked for 2 tenths of a pound of turkey. The young kid working behind the counter gave me a blank stare and eventually responded that pounds don’t come in tenths. WTF?!? The kid so confused that he had to ask for a manager to help...
Yet another. I have a friend who is in a top ranked school in the country earning her Masters degree. But she has to use a calculator for anything having to do with math. If she has to add 30 and 15, out comes the calculator.
And one more. Did you know there are a lot of young people out there that can’t tell the time on a regular clock with the hands on it? They are. They only know how to tell time on a digital clock. Now how hard is it to tell time?
I just don’t get it. Basic math still has a big importance in todays life. Even with all the computers around. How do you know you are not getting ripped off when you buy something on sale at the store. If you can’t do the math on 25% off, then how do you know if you actually got the right price?
If your basic math skills are poor you are more likely to get ripped off with a credit card offer or a loan of any type. People need to understand if they are getting a fair shake or not and to do so they need to have a basic understanding of math.
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