How many inches in a yard?

geepondy

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My 17 year old niece is applying for a summer job at a fabric store. Looking over the the application, they stated that you may have to do fabric measuring and cutting so how good are your math skills? So I asked her how many inches in a yard and she could not give me the correct answer even after some thought. I then asked her 12 year old brother and he could not give the correct answer although came relatively close at 32. I then repeated the question to my 27 year old niece from another sibling and she could not answer correctly! Is it that I just have really math poor relatives (I consider them all to be at least average in intelligence) or is it a sign of the times? I was taught to memorize the multiplication tables up to 12x12 by the third or fourth grade and I'm sure could have answered that question by the fourth or fifth grade. Go and ask the young um in your family the same question and see what they come up with.
 

Topper

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I asked my son (14) Eric said he was not sure but a yard was 3 feet and a foot was 12 inches so it should be 36 inches but "math is tricky" so he was not sure. Kids, gotta love them.
Scott
 

raggie33

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depends on the size of the yard like in this house my yard is smaller
 

PhotonWrangler

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[ QUOTE ]
raggie33 said:
depends on the size of the yard like in this house my yard is smaller

[/ QUOTE ]

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif
 

rscanady

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Its pretty sad that the recent generations quality of education is very lacking. Basic math is something all should know, but instead they know how to get to the secret level on Xbox, or playstation. I will not allow my child to have a game console in the house unless he purchases it himself. I guess if you asked them how many cups in a gallon, then they really would be lost. It actually disgusts me quite a bit, especially if someone cant even tell you how many inches are in a yard given 12" in a foot. simple math!

Sorry for the rant, kind of grumpy today

Ryan
 

ViReN

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1 [yd->in] 36

Geee... Did i Win any thing /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

for a 3rd grade student, here they now ask for 15x10 tables!
for entry in the first 1st grade, you should know 10x10 Tables
for entry in pre nursary, you should know how to count to atleast up to 100,
those who do 50... cant get admisisons in a good pre nursary school.. here. One is also required to know A-Z AND A-For-Apple to Z-For-Zebra AND should be able to Identify Animals, Colors etc... Dont'cha think its way too much for the lil toddler????

We always complain that our education system is difficult and not having the right balance between the "Education" and "other" things. it should be more lineant... on a contrast note...till some time ago there is no sex-education below grade 12!!!.. what ever was taught at grade 12 was not even basics!. grade 12 is just before you enter your Graduation / degree courses ... Oh.. I Ain't complaining. Fortunately, People have different & better means of learning 'that' here.

but on the Math front... I am sure they should be a little more lineant... i was week in maths in my early years /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif ...

[ QUOTE ]
raggie33 said:
depends on the size of the yard like in this house my yard is smaller

[/ QUOTE ]

hehehe.. I would have answered like that in my younger days you see... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 

NewBie

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[ QUOTE ]
Marty Weiner said:
It's a poor commentary about our education system, isn't it?

In California, a huge number of students are graduated because of their age and not because of their scholarly ability.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yeah, we certainly do graduate alot of rocks.
 

J_Oei

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Well, I just asked my 9-year old daughter (woke her up, in fact! I always told her she should be able to answer questions even if asked in the middle of the night, so I decided to check...)

So, after the usual grumblings of "I am trying to sleep!", she came back with "36. Don't you know that?"

I wish the public school system could take credit for that, but she is home-schooled....
 

Kiessling

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If you'd all use the metric system the missing capabilities of the young people woudlN#t be that apparent /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
We are doing that for years now with great success ... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
bernie
 

whiskypapa3

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Geep

Really freak them out, go back and ask how may inches in a meter... to 4 decimal places..

Or yards in a furlong...(my uncle was a South Philadelphia bookie)...


WP3
 

savumaki

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Wouldn't do any good to ask around here; kids don't know what an inch is, but ask them about mm, cm, and meters and they might be able to /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
My 18 year old grandson can't tell you how many feet there are in a mile but he knows how many meters there are in a kilometer.
In all fairness though the metric system is MUCH easier compared to pounds, pecks, bushels, and leagues /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
I've had to use both systems since the metric was adopted here and mentally convert so it made sense to me, ie; miles to kilometers.
You very quickly learn that metric IS easier but old habits like learned matter don't die easy /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/twakfl.gif
 

PhotonWrangler

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I agree that we graduate (gadjumate?) a lot of rocks. Look at the proliferation of "remedial" college freshman classes for the proof.

Part of the problem, particularly in the inner city, is uncontrolled drugs & violence in the schools. There are school classrooms that are almost as dangerous as Baghdad with kids beating up and threatening the teachers. I can't imagine how any serious learning is going on in those classrooms.

This is drifting pretty far off-topic, but the schools have to have a calm, safe environment for learning. Kick out the thugs and provide adequate protection for the students.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 

Geologist

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[ QUOTE ]
raggie33 said:
depends on the size of the yard like in this house my yard is smaller

[/ QUOTE ]
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif That is the best one I've heard today! You crack me up!
 

gadget_lover

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My step daughter is a teacher. I love her, but she's not really qualified, by my standards.

She lacks speaking skill's, but she's pretty deaf so I can give her a break there.

It's her lack of understanding that I can't condone. Her vocabulary (written as well as spoken) is very poor. She does not understand ethics. She writes poorly, with unacceptable sentence structure. She is a math teacher and yet was not able to make the leap from "The school budget was X and now it's smaller" to "The school budget is 98% of X, but the general cuts in her county are 90%." Shes' a junior high (middle school) math teacher who does not apply math to her everyday experiences.

40 years ago teachers in my area of California all taught to the same lesson plans. You learned certain things in each grade. It's a building block method that worked quite well. If you did not learn the 4th grade lessons you were held back a year so you could take the lessons again.

My daughter complains about how she has to make up her own lesson plan, and how she has to teach the kids only what they need to learn for the tests. That seems like a no brainer. USE THE SAME ONE AS ALL THE OTHER MATH TEACHERS!

I took some algebra night classes at the local college a few years ago. I overheard a student talking with the teacher. He barely passed the chapter test. He got almost none of the answers correct. He passed because he got partial credit for the parts of each problem that he did right. I really don't want to ever work with that guy.

I can hear it now... "Don't I get partial credit for 2+2=5? I did add instead of multiply, so that should be worth at least half credit!"



Sigh

Daniel
(BTW, I should have flunked the 4th grade. I never learned my multiplication tables nor the common measures. I got by because I was able to use the times tables up to 6 and add, subtract or double to get there. That's plagued me all of my life.)
 

Sigman

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I have to agree with raggie! There's approximately 864,000 square inches in my yard, though if you subtract the area my driveway, deck, and house occupy, there's considerbly less! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

geepondy

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I agree we graduate a lot of rocks but I also recall in my day (high school class of '81), a lot of kids were pushed thru the system. I recall a particular case where a kid went straight from the fifth to eighth grade so he would have a chance of graduating high school before he was 25.
 

greenLED

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You want avordupois ounces with your bushel, sire? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crackup.gif

Time to move onto SI... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I think raggie nailed it, though.
 
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