Sunday, August 28, 2005

A sad state of affairs in the Education System

I am using the Microsoft Word Blog tool that I downloaded recently for this post to see how it works.  
I don’t have much to say; though I had something happen today that I think will be fodder for future posts.  I was at an amusement park with the family today.  My wife went to one of the snack shops there, and made a purchase of $4.05.  Not wanting to get a handful of change back, she handed the cashier $5.25.  Now, having been hired as a cashier, one would think that the person behind the counter would know how to at least do math, if not properly count back change.  No.  He didn’t.  After he called over a co-worker, who was just as confused as he was, my wife then told him that the change was $1.20.  That was enough to satisfy the cashier, and my wife was on her way.
Folks, these were two high-school aged people working behind the counter.  How can they not know the math involved with that simple transaction?  Home schooling seems a lot better every day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bill,
As a school teacher who holds a Master's Degree in education, (what's your degree in?) I can tell you that the home schooled children who have arrived in my classroom because their parents can no longer handle the demands of educating their children at home, are severely lacking in social skills. I would rather my child make an honest mistake in making change than be a social outcast. The "home schooled" children I know have problems with drugs, make the bomb threat warnings on our bathroom walls, and have no sense of the social cues around them. I am glad to say that my students have currently ranked above state standards in our standardized tests, not that I give much credit to this method of determining a child's potential. As a police officer, you should also know that a lot more than a school and classroom teacher makes a child's educational experience a success. How well do you expect children from dysfunctional homes to do in school? Sometimes they are doing the best they can and hopefully I can make a little more of a difference. And by the way, I hope you are not considering home schooling your children with the number of spelling errors in your blog.