I once went
on a job interview at a regional bindery company and the first thing my
interviewer did was take out a ruler. ‘Why don’t you show me an 1/8 and a 1/16
“ he said – I laughed. “You’d be surprised how many people can’t do that,” he
said.
Next scenario, I recently went into
an office – whose name I wont disclose – to take care of some urgent business.
Everything was fine until the neatly dressed well-spoken employee had to figure
out 5% of $380, and he couldn’t find his calculator. Ok quick mental math I
thought: 10% of 380 is 38, 1/2of that is 19, “19 dollars” said I, “how did you
know?” he asked - how did you not know I thought.
This is the underside of technology
where we become so advanced that we forget, or simply don’t know how to do the basics.
Now don’t misunderstand me, for I too am swept up in the technological toys of
today, and I can say I have them all - except the I pad, but when the batteries
die, there’s no signal, the desktop freezes, I still rely on that trusty note
pad and pen that has yet to fail me.
Interestingly enough with all these
technological toys the USA trails a lot of other countries in academics
especially Math and Sciences – a point that president Obama mentioned in his
“State of the Union” speech. Many Educational Institutions are now
restructuring their curriculums in order to better challenge students reasoning
and thinking abilities ... who knows - maybe there’s an app for that.
