Accuracy Counts

Last night I watched The Weather Man. It is a rather depressing movie and uses the F-word a lot, so I don't strongly recommend it, but I was thinking about it today. On the front cover of the DVD, it says "In life, accuracy counts." The main character in this film had a great job, but he wasn't qualified for it. Despite his job in which he was chastised for his inaccuracy, his life was a complete failure. He is divorced, his 12-year-old girl is obese and smokes, his son is recovering from drug use, etc. He can't even have a decent conversation with his ex-wife. How many screw-ups did it take for him to get to this place? Likely it was a series of inaccurate choices. In life, accuracy does count. We must consider every word we speak, every action we choose to make. One action or word could make or break your life.

A few weeks ago, a 15-year-old girl from my school drove a car and killed an 11-year-old boy. She is being charged as an adult for 2nd-degree murder. One bad action; one moment of inaccuracy and a lifetime of consequences.

In life, accuracy counts. Consider it in each action you take.

Basics of Mathematics

Why is it that so many people make so many dumb mathematical mistakes and then blame algebra for being hard? I have kids doing most of their algebra perfectly, but they can't do their basic math. This is not MY fault.

For instance, a negative number divided by another negative number equals a positive number. This is a mathematical truth. Personally, I can't explain why this is, but I just do it. I've never seen God and yet I know He is.

Also, the fraction 5/10 reduces to 1/2. The fraction 5/10 does NOT reduce to 2 or to 1/5. OY!

Is it too much to ask that high schoolers should know this? No, it is not, but at the same time it is really hard for me to do my job well when only about half (that is 1/2 or 50%) of my students know their basic math. Can you believe there are kids who don't have a clue about any of their multiplication facts?!? Seriously, whose fault is this?