Primary School Math?...I say not....
Have you ever wondered what is being tested in Primary school math? I had a look at my nephew's math exam paper and boy, was I shocked!! I did not know that such mind boggling questions can be asked using simple mathematical concepts. Considering that a primary 6 kid will have to solve such questions (50 questions of various types) in 2 hours....I would have flunked math in primary school.
Let's face it, algebraic structures and group theory are nothing compared to this....it really got me stumped trying to solve such seemingly innocent questions. I had to enlist the help of bro...both of us did some reverse engineering aka algebra and try to engineer an answer using the model method to no avail...btw, bro if you are reading this, you still owe me the math homework :-)
If you still don't believe me, have a go at the following questions. Remember, you are not suppose to use any calculus nor simultaneous questions...
1. John and Rick were competing in a race. John completed the race in 4 hours. Rick covered only 4/5 of the route in that time. If Rick's average speed was 2 km/h less than John's, find the length of the route.
[My answer: do I really care how long the route is?? As far as I am concern, Rick lost the race!]
2. Farmer Lim has some animals on his farm. The ratio of the number of chickens to the number of cows was 3:2. The ratio of the number of horses to that of chickens was 1:2.
(a) What fraction of the animals were horses? [My answer: do I really want to know?]
(b) When some of the chickens died of bird flu, Farmer Lim bought 20 more horses and had 2 times as many cows as chickens left. If he had a total of 50 animals, how many chickens died? [My answer: You got to be joking!! Frankly, if you ask me, I think Farmer Lim had better start looking at doing something else besides farming...]
3. Mr Chen bought 4 times as many wallets as bags. He spent $2100 altogether. A bag cost $10 more than a wallet. The total cost of wallets was $780 more than the total cost of bags. Find the cost of a bag. [My answer: Ask Mr Chen. He should know. He bought the wallets and bags!]
So you see what I mean. Is it realistic that our primary school kids are made to solve such math questions??
Let's face it, algebraic structures and group theory are nothing compared to this....it really got me stumped trying to solve such seemingly innocent questions. I had to enlist the help of bro...both of us did some reverse engineering aka algebra and try to engineer an answer using the model method to no avail...btw, bro if you are reading this, you still owe me the math homework :-)
If you still don't believe me, have a go at the following questions. Remember, you are not suppose to use any calculus nor simultaneous questions...
1. John and Rick were competing in a race. John completed the race in 4 hours. Rick covered only 4/5 of the route in that time. If Rick's average speed was 2 km/h less than John's, find the length of the route.
[My answer: do I really care how long the route is?? As far as I am concern, Rick lost the race!]
2. Farmer Lim has some animals on his farm. The ratio of the number of chickens to the number of cows was 3:2. The ratio of the number of horses to that of chickens was 1:2.
(a) What fraction of the animals were horses? [My answer: do I really want to know?]
(b) When some of the chickens died of bird flu, Farmer Lim bought 20 more horses and had 2 times as many cows as chickens left. If he had a total of 50 animals, how many chickens died? [My answer: You got to be joking!! Frankly, if you ask me, I think Farmer Lim had better start looking at doing something else besides farming...]
3. Mr Chen bought 4 times as many wallets as bags. He spent $2100 altogether. A bag cost $10 more than a wallet. The total cost of wallets was $780 more than the total cost of bags. Find the cost of a bag. [My answer: Ask Mr Chen. He should know. He bought the wallets and bags!]
So you see what I mean. Is it realistic that our primary school kids are made to solve such math questions??
rambled by Wobbler at 8:53 PM
2 Comments:
At the rate our education system is going, you should really consider priesthood... real fatherhood has officially become very tricky...
don't lah...not the priesthood... tidak! tidak! (malay for NO! NO!) ha ha..
Post a Comment
<< Home