Re: Harvard Crimson: Requiem for Environmentalism and Earth Day

At 05:42 PM 4/21/2006, Michael Roberts wrote:

>You have heard of the Republican War on Science, this represents the
>latest Republican policy - The Republican War on Mathematics or some
>call it Math! - Michael

@ You appear to be out of touch - poor thing. You might want to get
up to speed on who is waging war on math standards in America. It
started down hill in the 70's when the radical left influence began
to gain control of our once-great institutions.

Math Quizzes throughout the Modern Era:

In 1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of
production is four fifths the price. What is his profit?

In 1970 (traditional math): A logger sells a truckload of lumber for
$100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price; in other words $80.
What is his profit?

In 1970 (new math): A logger exchanges set L of lumber for set M of
money. The cardinality of set M is 100 and each element is worth $1.
Make 100 dots representing the elements of set M. The set C of costs
contains 20 fewer points than set M. Represent set C as a subset of
set M, and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of
the set P of profits?

In 1980. A logger sells a truckload of wood for $100. His cost of
production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline
the number 20.

In 1990 (Outcome-Based Education): By cutting down beautiful forest
trees, a logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a
living? Topic for class discussion: How did the forest birds and
squirrels feel?

Got it?

~ Janice
Received on Fri Apr 21 17:59:20 2006