So I buy some stuff at a local crafts store. The total came to $12.74. I gave the girl $22.75 (to make the change easy I thought). She kept trying to give me the ones and the quarters back so she could make change from the $20. I said "just give me a ten and we're good". Poor girl almost had a meltdown of confusion - she actually called the manager over to help her figure it out.... I'm convinced that at least half the population is below average.
I considered doing just that, but at that moment the entertainment value was pretty good and I wanted to see how long it would take for the light to go from off to dim.
So here's the thing... I have this disorder called Dyscalculia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia). I constantly rely on a calculator and must write out an equation because it's impossible to complete it in my head. (The finance people love to pick on me.) Thus fractions, percentages, dividing fractions, or even simply adding or subtracting two double digit numbers together in my head is impossible. I would not have completed high school or college if it weren't for some exceptional teachers and professors. If you want to know what it's like, take a box of paperclips and turn it upside down from approximately 5 feet from the floor. After every last piece has fallen, stand back and observe. That scattered and tangled web of precisely cut wire is what numbers look like in my mind.
They're literally trying to teach kids how to think, step by step. It's ridiculous and it drags the smart kids down, but once you see it for what it is and get past it, it's not so bad.
The problem is the people teaching it don't believe in it. Therefore the kids and the parents won't see it either. I'm not saying it's a great system, but like you, I see what the end result is supposed to be.
I understand the end result, it's getting there that is frustrating especially when they don't use any text books so you can't look at a sample problem so you can see for yourself what is being done. The homework sheets that come home have no sample problems, they have 10-20 problems with 1 sentence instructions. I feel it was not rolled out properly and the teachers don't even know how to do it is alot of the problem.
I had something similar at Lowes last week, total was $16.15, handed the guy a $20 and went to pull change out of my pocket since I didn't want .85 in change back. Handed him a quarter and he just looked at me, and tried to hand me $3.85 as I'm giving him a quarter. Then he tells me he already rang it up and he could not change it was it would make his drawer unbalanced. I asked if he knew how to do math? He just looked at me and said it was already rang up and he couldn't change it. I was tempted to call a manager but there were about 8 people in line behind me so I just explained the math to him a couple times and left grumbling, he still didn't get it. People in line were cracking up behind me.
Who the fack uses cash anymore? Just swip the card and be done with it. 5 seconds and you are done. Hell you want to be quicker use your phone and it takes 2 seconds. No watching the cashier struggle and no coins to weigh you down. My card gives me 2% cash back too. Just remember all the prices are calculated for using credit so if I use cash I'm actually paying more.
Speaking of Mad Maff skillz and the moronic Common Core, here is a question my son had problems with on a "test review" homework assignment just last week: "Mr. Maxwell started three separate bank accounts for his three children, Jerry, Hector, and Nina. He put the same amount of money in each child's account. If Tony withdrew half of this money and spent it all on a $15 CD, how much money did Mr. Maxwell deposit in total?" I had to read it a few times and I said to write down "who is Tony?" as the answer. The question makes sense if Tony is supposed to be one of the kids, and he got the obvious answer if you make that assumption. So he put that down as well. When he gave that to the teacher and pointed it out, she said that nobody had yet pointed that out and hadn't caught it herself. Who knows how many schools have spent who knows how much money on textbooks with that question. Idiocy.
You sir, have a legitimate reason for not being good with numbers......and I'm sure it is a tough situation to be in, especially if you have to deal with numbers all day long. But for the others that simply cannot get through a transaction like the one in the original post, that is really a sad state of affairs for them. I worked in a grocery store starting when I was 15 years old and learned really quickly how to "do the math" on examples like the O.P. gave.
I love this and as an engineer I absolutely agree. I have no idea what the problem is trying to teach.
