Fuzzy Math

Our schools are wonderful, enriching places where our children go to learn all about the world. Even students who don't have a high academic acumen at least try when at school:



As Ralph points out, some subjects in school are harder to comprehend then others. Like English. Or Math.

Which leads me to today's review of Zachary's daily sheet we get from his preschool. The sheet provides many useful pieces of information, like what the students had planned to learn or do, whether the child took a nap, and a summary of how much lunch your child ate (since the preschool now provide all lunches).

Here's a quick photo of today's lunch section of Zachary's sheet:

First off, I'm very impressed with how they determined that he ate 120% of his lunch. What an exact measurement! Is that 1/2 an extra nugget or 3.2 more milligrams of oranges? But then the list highlights the fact that Zachary had no green beans. I'm no rocket scientist, but if you don't fully complete a task, how in the world is it possible to achieve 120% of the task? By omitting his green beans, he should not have come in at 100%, let alone 120%.

Part of me hopes Zachary isn't paying too much attention to the math portion of his daily curriculum if this is how percentages are going to be taught. I'm sure it was an honest oversight (full disclosure - the teacher who wrote this is a very good instructor, is great with all the kids, and a die hard UGA fan, so I'll allow some slack).

However, if more teachers teach how you can get to 120% by omitting a step, perhaps Zachary will be well suited for a job in Congress some day!