I'm always complaining that we—and by "we" I especially mean our schools—do not expect enough of our young people.  This morning, however, while doing a Khan Academy mastery challenge, I ran into the following problem (click to enlarge):

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Did you notice the grade level for this problem (in the black line, at the top)?

Posted by sursumcorda on Thursday, April 24, 2014 at 6:51 am | Edit
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Fifty years makes no difference in the susceptibility to parody of elementary mathematics education in America.

Elementary school mathematics, 1964:

Elementary school mathematics, 2014:

My apologies:  I can't get the embedding to work on this Stephen Colbert video, but you can click on the link above.

Posted by sursumcorda on Friday, April 18, 2014 at 8:49 am | Edit
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My go-to example of what young people can accomplish has always been David Farragut, midshipman in the U.S. Navy at age nine, given charge of a prize ship at 12, later the Navy's first admiral.  But the Occasional CEO has provided some other examples for my list:

In 1792, the trading ship Benjamin departed Salem, Massachusetts, loaded with hops, saddlery, window glass, mahogany boards, tobacco and Madeira wine.  The ship and crew would be gone for 19 months, traveling to the Cape of Good Hope and Il de France.   All the while they bargained hard from port to port, flipping their freight several times “amid embargoes and revolutions,” naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison wrote, “slipping their cables at Capetown after dark in a gale of wind to escape a British frigate; drifting out of Bourbon with ebb tide to elude a French brig-o’-war.”  In 1794, the Benjamin returned to Salem with a cargo that brought 500% profit to its owners.

The ship just happened to be captained by Nathaniel Silsbee, 19 years old when he took command.  His first mate was 20 and his clerk 18.

I know we expect a different sort of education for our young people today, but surely we can do a better job of helping them get it more efficiently.  No wonder today's teens are restive!

Posted by sursumcorda on Monday, April 14, 2014 at 7:00 am | Edit
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Our local Winter Park Honey folks posted this video.  I figure the grandkids, at least, would enjoy watching the bees.  The bee activity is a little slow at first, but be patient; it gets fascinating.

Posted by sursumcorda on Sunday, April 13, 2014 at 8:04 pm | Edit
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Upper management from the engineer's point of view.  (H/T Jon)

Posted by sursumcorda on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at 10:12 pm | Edit
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Congratulations to my sister and her husband, for

25 years

of blessing our family together.

Happy Anniversary!

Posted by sursumcorda on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at 7:37 am | Edit
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