Unfettered Letters

Check your fast-food orders

I’m all for hiring the younger generation for fast-food businesses, but the employers need to take a closer look at the kids they are hiring.

Recently, at a local fast-food restaurant, I gave a young girl a $20 bill and was given back the change for $10. I held out my hand to the window with the change given, expecting the remainder. She looked at me and said, “You did give me a ten, didn’t you?” Supposedly, after a till count of less than two minutes, I was told the bank was not off.

This is the first time I have been shorted money, but I’ve also been shorted on food in the past. Who wants to spend the gas to return for an order that should have been right the first time?

I’d be willing to bet I am not the only victim of drive-through omissions.

Linda Wiese
Grandview

Simplify the language of math

I couldn’t agree more with the MU math professor when it comes to appropriate standards for K-12 education (7/31, Opinion, "Needed: a strong math program"). Real math is necessary in real life.

By the way, please campaign hard to have language we can all understand in public life. Really, who of us knows what is meant by “describe multiplicative relationships in context” and “represent different contexts using integers?” How many teachers or graduates of Missouri schools can readily those explain those in common language?

Jim Naylor
Lee’s Summit

Everyday Mathematics

I read with interest Andy Isaacs’ response  (12/15, Letters, on behalf of the University of Chicago Mathematics authors) to Michelle Malkin’s “Everyday Math program doesn’t add up.”

Ms. Malkin’s comment that this program represents a “dumbing down” of mathematics could not be further from the truth.

The program is as rich as you will find. It incorporates solid teaching techniques, hands-on experiences and links to real life, and it fosters alternative methods of computation.

Practice through interesting game formats offers an alternative to drill and practice sheets and encourages parental participation.

Ever wonder why most children have so much trouble mastering subtraction? It is simple: In America we teach subraction using the old cross-out, borrow, carryover algorithm as the only method.

Try this: Give your child the problem (300-1). Does he resort to this standard algorithm and perhaps reach an incorrect answer, or does he (as a child taught with the EM program) first think about the problem and see that it is a simple mental calculation?

Before writing a disparaging article, you really should do your homework, Ms. Malkin.

Donna Townsend
Retired Shawnee Mission teacher
Lenexa

Math and science

I read with great interest Diane Stafford’s column about the lack of interest in math and science education (10/18, Business, “This adds up to a bad gap”).

I think the problem is with a society that values sports above everything else.

Look at The Star. Every week in the Wednesday and Friday sections, there is a list of high school athletes and the details of all the games in the area. On television, there is a featured athlete every week and coverage of the games.

If a student does well in math or science, there is little interest.

Kids know what our society rewards and values and where they should put their effort.

Another example is music in our schools. My children are very involved in music at the high school level. My daughters have made state orchestras, but there is little interest in promoting these activities for band or orchestra. If a student makes state for some athletic event, it is big news. Meanwhile, we are wondering why classical music is dying in our country.

Only parents can make a difference.

Cheryl Ringeisen
Overland Park

Math, science careers

Several articles have reported on the shortage of math and science graduates. If you would check with some college placement offices, you would find that businesses want engineers and schools want K-12 teachers. These “in-demand” jobs require a bachelor’s degree and a couple of years of math and science.

Meanwhile, the future for our current math/science graduate student is bleak. Industry looks at a PhD as a liability, and colleges and universities are trimming costs by shifting to part-time faculty.

Today’s graduate students often hide their PhDs during the recruiting process. Others go back to school to pick up a “marketable” degree. The real tragedy is that the “best and brightest” are used as cheap labor by the very schools that recruited them.

The myth that math/science careers are in abundance only serves to keep a steady flow of talented undergraduates in the graduate teaching assistant pipeline.

If you want to encourage students in math and science careers, take a look at the future we offer to students who are already at the top of the academic ladder. If there is no future for our current graduate students, then why should we encourage more students to pursue high-level careers?

Marsha Cousino
Olathe

The highest yet known

Congratulations are certainly in order to the Central Missouri State University team that verified the largest known Mersenne prime number, as reported in The Star (01/04, Metro).

This is extremely exciting to me, especially coming on the heels of the University of Missouri-Columbia’s Steven Hofmann’s recent proof of Kato’s conjecture last week. Who knew Missouri was such a hotbed of math expertise?

However, to set the record straight, prime numbers are like potato chips, in that there is an infinite number of them. The Mersenne number verified by the CMSU team is neither the largest prime nor the largest Mersenne prime. It is only the largest currently known Mersenne prime number.

Erich Noll
Kansas City