Jessica Swanson
Holly Pappas
English 101
April 24, 2012
Argument Essay
Are you someone who has always struggled
developing basic math skills? Well you are not the only one, suffering from
this because this has been stated that it has been a worldwide issue for many
years. Many people are not taught right
in basic math and this is when technology affects the teaching of obtaining
basic math skills. A lot of people now a days use calculators to figure out the
sales price and tax on clothing and other items. Elementary school students should not be able
to use calculators in school until they have thoroughly mastered arithmetic
skills.
I am one that has always
struggled in basic math because I was given a calculator at a young age before
I even knew how to solve basic math problems like multiplication, division,
addition, and subtraction. Since
elementary school they would give me a calculator to solve these basic math
problems and continued throughout high school.
This problem affected me so much because when it came to taking state
tests I couldn’t use a calculator on most of the problems and didn’t know how
to divide or multiply on my own which caused me to obtain a low grade. Then
when I got to college I had to take a basic math class and heard that I
couldn’t use a calculator for most of the chapters. When I heard I couldn’t use a calculator I
got so scared that I wouldn’t be able to pass without the help of a calculator.
I was so frustrated that I had to learn arithmetic’s in college when I could
have learned it when I was younger.
Knowing that this has been an issue for a long time helps me know that I
am not the only one.
Some may argue that calculators are
okay to use before students in elementary school have thoroughly mastered
arithmetic skills. Some may say that
students can get more practice on solving problems with the use of calculator
using whatever operation that is presented in the problem. Yes students can get more practice with math
problems but they don’t learn the steps of solving the operation in the
problem. Also some may believe that
students gain confidence in their mathematical skills by using a calculator.
(“Erin McCauliff”) I agree that students
gain confidence in math by using a calculator because I felt the same way in
school. However I relied on it too much,
therefore when it came to solving math problems without a calculator my
confidence in math went down a lot.
Therefore students should not be able to use a calculator until they have
thoroughly mastered their arithmetic skills.
There are many concerns that teachers and
parents have when a calculator is introduced to a child before having basic
math skills. Teachers and parents panic
that students will lack simple math problems and effect them from solving
everyday math problems without a calculator if they introduce calculators into
the program. Parents and teachers state
the concern and question of the use of calculators: “We don’t see how that is
going to strengthen students’ ability to do any mathematical operations. Indeed, why should the student bother to
learn any mathematics at all, so as long as he can get a machine to think for
him?” (“Calculators”). I have always had that question in my head as
I went through my math classes in elementary through high school. Therefore I believe in everyone’s concern in
the use of calculators. Also students
can lose confidence in solving math problems on their own when they are given a
calculator even when they are just checking answers. I believe in this 100% because this happened
to me when I was given a calculator and I got lazy and too attached to the
calculator that I relied on it too much. Then when I had to take a math class
in college without a calculator I didn’t have confidence in myself.
Also using calculators in school
before learning arithmetic can affect your future. It can affect students when they move on into
college. In most classes for basic math
students are not allowed to use calculators.
That was the position I was in and don’t want to see other kids go
through that because it was very frustrating. There are schools that made a prerequisite for
students to know basic math before enrolling in the school. For example, in 1745 Yale College was the
first American school that made a prerequisite for students to be able to add,
multiply, divide, and subtract before applying for any classes. Not only does it affect your education but it
can also affect you when dealing with money and paying bills. “The 1972-73
National Assessment of Mathematics, part of a nationwide educational testing
program conducted every five years, found that 92 percent of 17 year-olds and
86 percent of adults could correctly add a series of dollar-and-cents figures. At the same time, a three-digit decimal
subtraction problem was computed correctly by 78 percent of teenagers and 74
percent of the adults. Yet only one percent of the 17 year-olds and 16 percent
of the adults could solve a moderately complicated checkbook balancing
problem.” (“Calculators”) This shows that not learning properly can
affect teenagers and adults later on in their life. Also in the article that was written in 2011
it says that, “Almost 17 million adults have the math skills of a nine year
old.” Also, “at least two million have the math and literacy skills of a five
year old. According to the Skills for
Life survey, which questioned 7,000 adults, the problem is getting worse.”
(“Calculator ban on young pupils”) It
seems as though the usage of calculators has been going on for a long time and
the problem is still not solved.
I interviewed my aunt who teaches algorithms
along with many other strategies that foster the students overall number sense
in a fifth grade classroom. These strategies focus on multiply ways to solve a
problem and allowing the students to pick strategies that work for
him/her. In her class the students are
rarely allowed to use calculators and are only allowed to use calculators in
the graphing unit because they have more complex problems. In these problems they have to take a
fraction and turn it into a whole number and then turn it into a percent and
then a decimal. 30% of her class struggle with multiplying, dividing, addition,
and subtraction. The students that struggle with this mostly make a silly
mistake with one of the basic facts or forget the process of the operation they
are using. I also asked her opinion of the use of calculators. She believes that students should not use
calculators for simple equations because they are not gaining any awareness of
overall number sense or place value.
Also that calculators cannot become an aid for elementary school
students. (“Yost”)
Now that I have
taken a basic math class in college this experience has helped me be more
confident in math without using a calculator.
I learned that even though I am in college it is not too late to learn
how to divide and multiply using paper and pencil. I would always blame the teachers for not
teaching me math the right way but when I was learning how to multiply and
divide without using a calculator I said to myself, “I wasted all that time
blaming the teachers when I can work on learning how to solve basic math
problems on my own.” This is one
important fact that I will remember when learning math, “Calculators may
achieve the same status, they say. Just
as spelling is still taught, they observe, students will continue to learn
basic mathematical skills. But pupils
will not be able to perform all types of computation, just as few people can
spell all the words they need.” (“Calculators”).
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