I dont do fractions

[Brown David]

 

[greenmech]

Fractions were easy but I don't remember "studying" them in school. I had no math in school after 8th grade. I took off to shear sheep full time after Christmas of 8th grade. When I came back in April, I was totally lost in math class for the rest of the year. They had moved on to Algebra and A+BxC did not = anything. I never did get Algebra. When I went to get certificates in Water treatment, the tests had a lot of math. All questions were multiple choice. Somehow in my head, I could figure out the closest answer in my head and passed the tests. At the plant, we had formula's all worked out for making changes in chemical dosages. I passed my Water Treatment IV Certificate, in just 4 years, 1 time each as quickly as they were available....James

P.S, I still do not have any metric wrenches. There are a few 1/4" drive metric sockets in a very cheap set I keep in the car, never used one.

I left home at 12. Dad said I would never amount to anything. I was a sickly kid and learned to garden and cook with Grandma. Dad did teach me to work, not by telling me, but showing me. My brothers and I had jobs, but as a family, we all worked together. I started working for the neighbor dairy, mucking barns for crossbred heifer calves and a quart of milk morning and night, from his heifers when I was 8. Holstein and Hereford cross. I had 20 cows when I left home, and 60 ewes from 8 ewe lambs my parents bought me after I had polio, to strengthen my legs chasing them all over the hills on the farm....James

I couldn't get by without metric wrenches now. Just replaced a battery in an Equinox, had metric cable bolts. Ron MN

 

[MM-TX]

Well you can rag about the kid for what he doesn’t know but I know a bunch of old far..s that are downright challenged when it comes to computers.

 

[GChief]

Don't forget about phones.

 

[rustred]

Local restaurant has had trouble finding competent waitresses (college age girls). One of the questions asked was " If a customer orders a half dozen shrimp, how many do you bring them? " A startling number did not know. The parents of one of the girls rejected confronted the restaurnt owners and did not believe them until they asked their daughter and she told them she didn't know the answer.

Guess she did not buy donuts at Tim Hortons either , lol !

 

[rustred]

A friend of mine hired a high school aged farm kid, to help him work on planter meters. He told the kid to go get him two 9/16 wrenches. The kid responded by saying."I don't do fractions." Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Ya it sure does, maybe he couldn’t read the fractions on the wrench either .

 

[used red MN]

P.S, I still do not have any metric wrenches. There are a few 1/4" drive metric sockets in a very cheap set I keep in the car, never used one.

You must have some incredibly antiquated vehicles or take them somewhere to be repaired. If there was something I could fix on my vehicle by replacing it like an alternator I couldn’t imagine not having the tools to do it.

 

[Caryc]

Should have been a teaching moment how else can you pass all of the knowledge you have in your head to someone else.

They have people who are supposed to do just that. They're called teachers.

 

[moresmoke]

Mom used to teach adult ed quilting. Generally a group of 40+ year old women. First class was always how to read a ruler.

 

[Mule Meat]

They have people who are supposed to do just that. They're called teachers.

In case you missed it. They have teachers. But the no longer teach subjects that are irrelevant in today's world. Why would they teach typing when you can't even buy a new typewriter? Why would they teach using fractional tools in a shop class when every automobile sold in the US uses metric fasteners?

 

[MarkB_MI]

So... what did your friend say in response?

 

[Fred Werring]

I was never taught the first thing in school about bushels, pecks and such.

Thanks to Bill Watterson, cartoonist

 

[GChief]

They have people who are supposed to do just that. They're called teachers.

And another problem we have today. No parental responsibility... "that the teachers job" ... its sad that many think that way.

 

[Texasmark]

Agree, stop being hard on the young people because they have no experience twisting wrenches?
How many old people can convert Millimeters to inches?
Many people are mathematically challenged.

I retired in Jan. 2005 but I think I still remember that 25.4 mm = 1 inch.

 

[Texasmark]

I was never taught the first thing in school about bushels, pecks and such.

I was. Went to a Catholic school.

 

[rrlund]

A friend of mine hired a high school aged farm kid, to help him work on planter meters. He told the kid to go get him two 9/16 wrenches. The kid responded by saying."I don't do fractions." Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

It's your fault for not converting it to decimals for him.

 

[John in Ct]

In case you missed it. They have teachers. But the no longer teach subjects that are irrelevant in today's world. Why would they teach typing when you can't even buy a new typewriter? Why would they teach using fractional tools in a shop class when every automobile sold in the US uses metric fasteners?

My mother was a typing teacher for 40 years. A computer keyboard is the same as a typewriter. The difference is in finger pressure/ touch. Fractions are not only used in measuring things. In complex subjects such as chemistry, physics, calculus, equations are sometimes/often in fractional form. A lot of the good stuff in engineering is from somebody integrating something so we have the equation to use...calculus.

 

[MarkB_MI]

I'd say your friend's story says more about him than about his young assistant. "I don't do fractions" sounds more like a dumb joke than a refusal.

What did the kid do next? Did he just stand there, or did he go off in search of the cryptically-named tools?

I'm sure there was a time when I was blissfully unaware of the existence of metric fasteners. I've since l learned about them, and about many other things. A day doesn't go by that I don't learn something new.

 

[scootergmc]

Another question: How many of us take 13 donuts when buying a dozen at the grocery store?

 

[DoubleO7]

Should have been a teaching moment how else can you pass all of the knowledge you have in your head to someone else.

Yes, Sir!
That is also when you able to add whatever amount of ignorance you have in your head to their ignorance.