rat

Flamingdog, I apologize if my little rant came across as me attacking non-mathematics-adept people as unintelligent. What I meant to get across is that the younger we start people upon machine-dependence (be it mathematics and calculators or writing papers and microsoft word grammar-check), the more likely we are to create a human being unable of utilizing their most valuable tool adequately--their mind. The importance lies in the mental-mapping (henceforth, schemas) that we teach children to develop through forcing them to learn things for themselves, from beginning to finish. The problems lie in the education system we have--both in the schools and in the homes. We begin children along the path to shortcuts in life early, without teaching them the long way of anything, be it cooking on a stove or oven, or writing complete words out online. Honestly, I take many a shortcut in my typing when it comes to instant messages, but I abhor the use of jargon/abbreviations on message boards such as these. Posts on forums are theoretically supposed to be thought-out, not slapdash (unless, of course, we're in Tilted Nonsense). The more reliant we are upon technology to correct our foibles, the more handicapped we become as human beings. When our major form of communication negates 95% of all human interaction (non-verbal methods of emphasis and communication), we hamstring our ability to function in a real intrapersonal social environment that doesn't consist of keyboards, monitors and electrons.

This is not to say that I don't believe technology plays a key role in the development of our contemporary society, quite the opposite in fact. However, if we teach young people methods of technology dependence rather than technology enhancement in learning, then we've defeated ourselves. Junior- and senior-level college students, people who have striven for a higher degree of learning and understanding voluntarily, should have the basic skills to do simple math with a pencil and paper (multiplication in excess of one digit by one digit, long division, fractions, etc.) without having to resort to a calculator. There are people in my accounting classes that couldn't wrap their minds around the fact that 2 divided by 12 is exactly the same as 1 divided by 6 or 3 divided by 18. Simple fractions thwarting upper-level businesspeople. Simply because they were raised to utilize those things around them that reduced their own need for knowledge. This isn't multi-variable calculus we're discussing, this is fundamental four-function mathematics, the ability to string two sentences together aloud without saying "ummmmm," the ability to coherently deliver a thought in a paragraph without the need for spell-check.

The sad fact is that beginning with my generation (I'm 21), we were raised in most cases to work as little as possible to achieve the maximum result, be it at work or in the classroom. And it's an insult to those people who use their minds as the tools they are, sharpening them daily and sharing their knowledge in a learnable fashion with others. Rather than relying on technology to do our work for us, we should use it to improve upon the effort we put forth, forming something superior to the singular work of one or the other.

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