Beware: today is a day for ranting.
I am going to share a true story with you. One that might blow your mind away – or perhaps not.
Last week, I went to pick up a pair of shoes for Erin, my 14 year old daughter, at a well-known shoe store in the mall. The cute little girl behind the register rang up the shoes and let us know that the total came to $6.34. I handed her a ten dollar bill, she handed Erin back five dollars and some change.
Erin, with a perplexed look on her face, gave back the money and said, “Uh… I think you gave me back too much change. It was $6.34 and we gave you a ten.”
The girl looked even more perplexed and a blank look came over her face. She stammered an apology, and said, “I’m sorry… the register didn’t show me how much change to give back. Let me re-enter the transaction.”
She proceeded to void out the transaction and enter the sale for the shoes all over again. Still no help from the register. She gave us that “deer caught in headlights” expression. Frozen. Not knowing where to turn. She looked at the other assistant who had joined us by then, and in a panicked voice said, “I don’t know what to do!”
This other salesperson looked at us and then at her colleague and exclaimed, “I don’t either!” She proceeded to pull a calculator out of her back pocket.
Erin saved the day when she said, “The change is $3.66.”
The cute little assistant, who was now thoroughly embarrassed, apologized profusely as she gave us the change and a $5.00 gift certificate for the next time.
I felt very bad for her and assured her that she was very helpful with our selection of shoes.
I know, without doubt, that we truly do have a Math Problem in the United States!
It was confirmed to me later on when Jared told me he was helping a college student out with his Math. He asked the Math student what 9 x 4 was. He got the same response that we got from our shoe-sales assistant. The student didn’t know!
What has happened??
6th Grade Expectations
I remember helping Erin’s 6th grade teacher out when Erin was in public school. I was in charge of correcting the Spelling Packets that were sent home at the beginning of each week. The spelling words missed on the pretest had to be written on the first page of this packet. A sentence was to be formed using the missed word on the second page. There were further activities listed on pages three and four.
As I was correcting the sentences, I saw that many of them were not capitalized, basic punctuation was missing, and some very common, easy words were misspelled.
I had my red pen out and was busy correcting them when I decided to ask the teacher if it was what she expected.
She answered, “Oh no! Don’t bother marking those wrong. That’s not important.”
This is the same teacher who helps her students by thoroughly going over a Science test before handing them out for the kids to do. A few days later, they argue with her because she told them the answer was “such and such;” therefore, because of her they got it wrong!
These children are in 6th grade; correct sentence structure is not a required subject.
What???
Another teacher told me that there are so many required filler subjects that need to be taught that she cannot really delve into History with the kids. There’s just not enough time.
These filler activities include 20 minutes at the beginning of each day doing speed reading and comprehension. There is also talk about Sun Safety as a requirement, and sex-education. Add to that all the assemblies, and yes – our teachers are out of time. And who suffers? Our children, as you can plainly see.
We have college students who cannot multiply numbers in their heads. We have Communication Majors who cannot construct a simple business letter, as was the case with my Administrative Assistant when I managed a Mortgage Office. We have people working cash registers who are lost without their calculators. And yet it’s all so simple.
What is the Answer?
Our kids excel at technology, but it comes at the expense of losing the basics of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.
Let me ask you a few thought-provoking questions.
- What would happen if we experienced a disaster and did not have access to our computers and calculators?
- Will our businesses survive?
- Can you imagine the backlog of problems that would occur as people tried to write a letter by hand?
- Make change after a sale?
Do you think it isn’t feasible? I remember an earthquake in California that wiped out a lot of electronics. Some people couldn’t even leave their homes because their garage door openers relied solely on electricity!
What about the stores then? How were they to perform their transactions without the needed electricity to power their registers that tell them how much $1.39 plus $2.49 is including tax, and what the change should be?
The key lies in the home. The parents can open the locked door to these powerful basics, but it requires work. What can you as a parent do?
Invest time. Not much… but a little time each day will make all the difference in the world.
I. Reading
1. Read with your children. Not only does it take the kids away from the numbing effects of television, it provides great bonding time. Check out a Bonding Moment for more on this.
2. Require that your children read one book a week. Mix it up! Just like doing a type of exercise that a muscle gets used to becomes ineffective, so it is with what we read.
3. Alternate between fiction and non-fiction. Throw in biographies, historical novels, craft books, some fun science experiments, art and music appreciation, etc. You would be surprised at the resources your library has in all of these areas.
4. You want to impact them even more? Make use of the classics! Not only will it challenge their reading skills by keeping them away from chewing-gum books, it will challenge their character. For more on this, check out the articles about Classics.
II. Writing
When my kids moan about having to learn proper grammar, sentence structure, nice handwriting, and correct spelling, I lay out a scenario for them.
“Suppose in five years the country has lost all of its leadership. You are in a position to make an impact and you want to make sure that your presentation is powerful, impacting and effective. How will it look if you have spelling errors all over the place, your sentences are poorly constructed, and your handwriting is so poor that it is illegible? Where is your impact then?
“Or… how about this? You are interviewing for a fantastic job in management, and you present poor written and verbal communication skills. Do you think you’ll get the job? Absolutely not! What you write, how you write it and the way it comes across will make all the difference in the world.”
The kids listen, and they learn, praise God!
Erin learned grammar for the first time in 8th grade. Why? Because that is when I started home-schooling her. She reads books, a lot of them. She comes to me exultant when she finds a spelling mistake or a grammatical error. Preston, who is 11, does the same thing. They love to find errors adults make. Go figure…
What can you do to help if your children are in public school?
1. Start early. Kids (the younger the better) are great for memorizing. Have them memorize the parts of speech:
* Verbs
* Adverbs
* Nouns
* Pronouns
* Adjectives
* Prepositions
* Conjunctions
2. And Poems… have them memorize one poem every two or three weeks and perform it in front of the family.
3. Once a week, have them copy a great passage in a classic book. It teaches them to notice correct sentence structure, and how great authors can really mold a potent image with words.
4. Once a week, dictate a few of sentences to them. Get them in the habit of listening to you repeat the sentences three times to them, repeat it back to you and then write it. Start with one sentence and work up to three.
5. Scrabble
6. If you are weak in Grammar yourself, do what I did. I do not remember learning Grammar in school at all. Part of the problem was that I switched between an American School and Spanish School right when Grammar was being taught. I missed out in both languages!
I picked up a book and worked it with my kids. It takes about 15 minutes a day. Do it together and you both learn. First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 4
III. Arithmetic
1. First and foremost, DO NOT let your kids use a calculator anymore! Have them use their brains. I do not let my children use calculators until they get into the upper Algebra level when dividing something like 3,459,222.45 by 6.29201 will truly eat up their time.
2. Play math games with them like Monopoly
3. Play Krypto: Family Arithmetic Game
4. Do a contest with them. When you go shopping together, try to beat each other in figuring out the change before the cashier gives it back. The winner gets a quarter for their piggy bank, or whatever reward you chose.
5. Practice adding and subtracting large numbers in your head. Encourage your children to do the same. This, too, can be turned into a game.
6. Have them memorize their times tables up to 20. They CAN do it! Their brains are still growing and these new neuron-pathways being carved into their brains are VERY beneficial.
7. Teach them other games that include numbers such as Sudoku, which are a great way for them to use their free time instead of spending it in front of the television.
8. Other games that are great for math are Blokus , puzzles, and card games such as Cribbage
See? I’ve managed to fill your evenings in with great fun instead of sitting in front of the television. It was all part of my evil plan. 
But seriously, do not let those wonderful, developing brains lose out on these important communication aspects of life. We (including our kids) cannot truly impact a community if we are lacking in these basics skills of Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. A few minutes a day will make all the difference!
And it will save them from being embarrassed in the future. Blessings!
