I dont do fractions

[GChief]

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

That happens enough with the old heads at work when trying to train new people...

Them, "well that is how I have always done it"...

Me and others, "so you have been doing it wrong all these years?"

 

[rrlund]

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

So it was my fault that my son took 10th grade English five times? Dang, I guess he can stop blaming himself for just not giving a darn.

 

[GChief]

So it was my fault that my son took 10th grade English five times? Dang, I guess he can stop blaming himself for just not giving a darn.

Not what I said. To my point, it is more his and yours than any teachers

Not saying that some teachers do not suck, but a parent should be figuring that out in the moment and do something about it!

 

[drsportster]

My response may be " You are a moron kid "

 

[rrlund]

Not what I said. To my point, it is more his and yours than any teachers

Not saying that some teachers do not suck, but a parent should being figuring that out in the moment and do something about it!

I know what the problem was. He didn't care. He'll tell you that to this day, and he's 44 years old now. After he failed it the third time, the wife and I just gave up and told him it's your life. We were both burned out with the threats. The more we pushed, the more he pushed back. When he was told he wouldn't graduate until he passed, he got motivated. Funny thing is, he got an A in Spanish. I didn't even know he was taking Spanish.

 

[GChief]

I know what the problem was. He didn't care. He'll tell you that to this day, and he's 44 years old now. After he failed it the third time, the wife and I just gave up and told him it's your life. We were both burned out with the threats. The more we pushed, the more he pushed back. When he was told he wouldn't graduate until he passed, he got motivated. Funny thing is, he got an A in Spanish. I didn't even know he was taking Spanish.

Glad you did not take that as a personal attack, which it was not.

Taking it personal seems common here.

 

[rrlund]

Glad you did not take that as a personal attack, which it was not.

Taking it personal seems common here.

Point is, is't a matter of motivation. You can't force knowledge on somebody. All he cared about in high school was fast cars and girls. He excelled at his vocational classes at the career center, but the academic classes, he didn't see any use for any of them. We were just talking about it last Sunday at a reunion. He didn't do well in math either, didn't see any use for it in the real world, but now he owns an engine machine shop and that's all he does is use math.

The other one is a near genius. He failed a high school class one time just to see if he could do it. He got bored with college after one semester. He said he already knew everything they were trying to teach him. He tried sales and construction before he settled in to tool and die so he was doing math that challenged him every day. He's at the top of his game now.

My wife quit school in the tenth grade because she was so bored. To her, all they did was sit with a pencil and a piece of paper and take notes. After the kids were born, she got her GED, went to college with it and became a nurse. She had no high school chemistry, biology, physiology or advanced math. She started right out at the college lever in those subjects.

I on the other hand was an honor student. Always near the top of my classes, but my motivation was that I just wanted out. I didn't want to fail a grade and spend an extra year there. Things still come easy for me, but I haven't done a thing in the world with any of my mental gifts. I've spent my whole life with manure and grease on my skin and clothes. At the very least, I think I was motivation for my kids and grand kids to be better than that. I was a good example by being a bad example I suppose.

 

[GChief]

Point is, is't a matter of motivation. You can't force knowledge on somebody. All he cared about in high school was fast cars and girls. He excelled at his vocational classes at the career center, but the academic classes, he didn't see any use for any of them. We were just talking about it last Sunday at a reunion. He didn't do well in math either, didn't see any use for it in the real world, but now he owns an engine machine shop and that's all he does is use math.

The other one is a near genius. He failed a high school class one time just to see if he could do it. He got bored with college after one semester. He said he already knew everything they were trying to teach him. He tried sales and construction before he settled in to tool and die so he was doing math that challenged him every day. He's at the top of his game now.

My wife quit school in the tenth grade because she was so bored. To her, all they did was sit with a pencil and a piece of paper and take notes. After the kids were born, she got her GED, went to college with it and became a nurse. She had no high school chemistry, biology, physiology or advanced math. She started right out at the college lever in those subjects.

I on the other hand was an honor student. Always near the top of my classes, but my motivation was that I just wanted out. I didn't want to fail a grade and spend an extra year there. Things still come easy for me, but I haven't done a thing in the world with any of my mental gifts. I've spent my whole life with manure and grease on my skin and clothes. At the very least, I think I was motivation for my kids and grand kids to be better than that. I was a good example by being a bad example I suppose.

I get it. I was bored my whole "school career".
In HS I did mostly AP classes and pretty much did zero homework but aced just about every test. I did need to take freshman english in summer school for a failing grade becasue of no homework. After that my pops did a lot of advocating for me... "if he is getting 100% on every test doesn't that mean he knows the material without the honework?" It moslty worked out for me. I went to thw VoTech for grades 11 and 12, did HVAC. Tried a year at The Ohio State University, had a great GPA but I was again bored and partied what to much. Then came 23 yrs in the Navy.

I was a solid C/D student because of not having a homework grade.

Luckily both of my daughters were easy and they had had an easy time with school.

 

[tomturkey]

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?

Tony, ask your friend, What did you expect him to know???? You could be a mentor and train him up so he would be a valuable asset to you when you needed help. But oh no lets trash talk the kid cause he does not know a 9/16 wrench from a 3/4 inch wrench. It could have been a very positive experience for both. jmho gobble

 

[Ozlander]

He didn't know what a bushel was.
When's the last time you saw a bushel basket?

 

[Russ from MN]

Our oldest son took a bicycle repair class in school when he was pretty young, and I remember him looking at my tools afterwards, he said, we used a 9/16 wrench a lot! Then he worked part time in a hardware store during high school, worked in paper mills every summer during his 6 years of college, now he's director of corporate engineering for a paper company.

 

[rrlund]

I get it. I was bored my whole "school career".
In HS I did mostly AP classes and pretty much did zero homework but aced just about every test. I did need to take freshman english in summer school for a failing grade becasue of no homework. After that my pops did a lot of advocating for me... "if he is getting 100% on every test doesn't that mean he knows the material without the honework?" It moslty worked out for me. I went to thw VoTech for grades 11 and 12, did HVAC. Tried a year at The Ohio State University, had a great GPA but I was again bored and partied what to much. Then came 23 yrs in the Navy.

I was a solid C/D student because of not having a homework grade.

Luckily both of my daughters were easy and they had had an easy time with school.

I'm not going to say my dad was ever hard on me or anything like that, but he knew me. He was school bus mechanic, transportation supervisor and head of grounds maintenance, so he was always around. One day when I walked out of the building, every guy in my class jumped me and kicked the crap out of me. I could see out of the pile that the principal was standing there leaning up against a tree watching with a smile on his face. When they got off of me, I asked him why he didn't do something? He said "Your dad told me anything you get, you had it coming". Learning by doing.

 

[Caryc]

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

Well, you could have told him to divide the smaller top number by the bigger bottom number but his head would probably have exploded.

 

[Caryc]

Tony, ask your friend, What did you expect him to know???? You could be a mentor and train him up so he would be a valuable asset to you when you needed help. But oh no lets trash talk the kid cause he does not know a 9/16 wrench from a 3/4 inch wrench. It could have been a very positive experience for both. jmho gobble

Hey, he was paying the kid. When you hire someone, you expect them to know enough to do the job.

 

[GChief]

Hey, he was paying the kid. When you hire someone, you expect them to know enough to do the job.

Hey, the onus is on the person hiring the kid. Its their "fault" they didn't do their due diligence before hiring someone

This is the perspective of someone that has hired a lot of mechanics, electricians, welders and general laborers.

 

[Destroked 450]

Shouldn't be to hard on the kid.
How often do you actually see fractions being used in today's world? On old vehicles, construction and drill bits. Nearly everything has went to decibels or metric measurements.

Kids aren't taught to work on antique cars and trucks in shop classes these days. And when was the last time an automobile was sold in the US that used fractional fasteners?

Us that still have a use for a 9/16th wrench are becoming antiques like the equipment we work on.

I’m not a metric fan but can work with it, this topic got me to wondering about metric tools
Even those most all new vehicles and machines to use metric fasteners all my socket sets no matter if fractional or metric comes in 1/4”, 1/2” and 3/4” drive. What drive dozen are true metric tools
I’ve never heard metrics used in carpentry so what would be the metic equivalent of a 2x4 stud cut 7 ft 10 1/2 inches long

 

[GChief]

I’ve never heard metrics used in carpentry

Thats only in Merica'

 

[timcasbolt]

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?

We used to get that at work all the time where the HR guy doing the interview doesn't even ask the candidates if they know anything about the job. Hard to blame the candidate for wanting a job, but doesn't HR have a responsibility to do their job well?

 

[Brown David]

Hey, he was paying the kid. When you hire someone, you expect them to know enough to do the job.

If that's the case, shouldn't you ask a few questions in order to ascertain the potential employee indeed has the ability to perform the job?

If not, whose fault is it that the kid failed at the job?

Not the employer's fault that the kid didn't know fractions, but it is his fault that he didn't find out that the kid didn't know fractions, or anything else pertinent to the job, before hiring him.

EDIT: Timcasbolt said pretty much the same thing before I did. I Should have read the whole thread before posting.

 

[Ultradog MN]

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?

Interesting thread.
I would have had to be there to decide.
Did the kid say it as an act of defiance or as an admission of his or his school's failure.
And do we know if the words he used were "I don’t do fractions." or "I don't know how to do fractions."
We are getting this through three tellings you know.
Either way, I woulda told him, "Well, its your lucky day."
And I would have taken him over to the tool box and gave him a ten cent lesson on where to look on wrenches and sockets for their size and finding the right one.
Its that or get up off the ground each time you need a tool and get it yourself.
And that aint gonna happen very often if he's there.