Yes, I've encountered that type before: People who just can't admit when they're wrong. To me, that's the real difference between a person who can learn and person who can't. It's the difference between science vs. dogma. Science is built on learning from mistakes, and adapting to correct them. Dogma is built on covering up mistakes under piles of more dogma. Tom Eugene Salamin via math-fun writes:
I had a math teacher in Junior High in NYC who would not admit making a mistake. We were discussing a problem in the textbook, and she asserted that the answer in the back of the book was correct. But as we all demonstrated, the answer was wrong. She wouldn't back down. Next class session, she claimed that she had discussed the problem with a Dr. So and So in the Math Dept, and that they agreed that the answer was correct; it was the question that was wrong.
The Junior High was named after some famous American. I think it was Benedict Arnold.
-- Gene
From: Tom Karzes <karzes@sonic.net> To: math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2016 1:38 PM Subject: [math-fun] Distributive law without +? (6th Grade)
Warren D Smith writes:
I had an elementary school teacher try to teach us that a/b + c/d = (a+c)/(b+d). Some parent, perhaps mine, later stepped in to try to correct her.
Wow, that's just sad. I think we learned how to add fractions in 2nd or 3rd grade. It's hard to imagine how someone with such a weak understanding of basic arithmetic could be paid to teach it. You'd think the teachers would have to pass some basic competency test.
Perhaps you could have used this to your advantage. Convince the teacher that a half dollar plus a quarter was in fact equal to (1+1)/(2+4) = 2/6 = 1/3 of a dollar, or 33 + 1/3 cents. Then offer to pay the teacher more than that, say 35 cents, in exchange for a half dollar plus a quarter. It would be a win-win: The teacher would think he/she was earning 1 + 2/3 cents, and you'd earn 40 cents. Rinse and repeat.
I've always felt it was a student's responsibility to make unrepentant teachers pay for their ignorance.
Tom
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