Re: Huh? RPN is a muscle car? Message #14 Posted by Chris Woodhouse on 1 July 2004, 12:06 a.m., in response to message #13 by Randy Sloyer
Quote:
how may primary teachers, or better yet, college professors have signed your "Bring back the 15C" petition?
Well I don't have any real way of knowing that for sure but I can make a guess. About 60% of the people who have signed the petition have left and email address, about 29% of the email addresses end in .edu. I don't know, but my guess is that many more of those are professors/instructors than are students. I have also noticed several comments from those that state they are a college professor, many of whom say they would recommend the 15C to their students. I don't know of a way of guessing on the grade school teachers except to say I have read a few comments from signers who say they are teachers. However, as I have stated before, I don't think students is the prime market for the 15C.
Quote: Huh? RPN is a muscle car?
Don't be so literal. I was only trying to point out that being different than everyone else isn't necessarily a bad thing. Having a fairly obvious physical handicap, I think I know a thing or two about being different. Any connection I may have intended was only around the speed difference between the two cars mentioned.
Quote: Most kids don't want to be different.
Maybe they do maybe they don't. My suggestion was to show the kid the advantages or each option and let her make her own decision.
Quote: dad could only help with yesterday's lesson, not tomorrow's
Here is where I have a quite different perspective. I didn't need help from dad on my math and I didn't need any help learning how to use my 11C I received for Christmas when I was in the 9th grade.
Quote: The kid would have to know the calc and the material better than the teacher.
The calculator, yes. The material, no. I guess with the sparse documentation that comes with calculators today that could be difficult, but I never had any problem learning how to use my calculators when I was in school. I guess starting with an 11C and then moving up to a 48GX through a 15C, 42S and 48SX made it a bit easier too.
Quote: Would have I learned any more or less with a calculator? IMO, less, since time is wasted on how to operate the calculator
I agree that a calculator isn't really a good tool to help learn math. What I mostly used a calculator for when I was in school was to check my answers. I tend to make little mistakes like dropping a term in an equation or a negative sign, my calculators came in handy to catch those errors. However I don't agree that time learning the calculator is time wasted, nor do I find it takes much time, especially compared to the time required to learn new concepts in math.
Quote: In my opinion, you're blinded by RPN.
I am not blinded by RPN, I have a bias sure but that doesn't mean I am close minded.
Quote: Hang around here long enough and your maybe eyes will be opened.
I am still waiting for that, so far the only attempt has been to give a vague reference to a single example by someone who expects that to be enough for me to change my long held views when they require precise details before they will form an opinion.
As I have said before, I am willing to discuss this and look forward to reading good arguments but so far I haven't seen any.
Chris W
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