From Jaime To Rochelle

I've written several recent posts about the decline of math education.  It's usually not mathematics professors who want to dumb down math, it's math education professors who want to.

Remember Jaime Escalante, about whom the movie Stand and Deliver was made?  How far have we sunk?

I’m so old I can remember Jesse Jackson challenging black kids in the 1970s by asking, “What could you accomplish if you spent as much time and worked as hard at math as you do at basketball”? No black “leader” will dare say such a thing today. Instead, they will be told they are victims of white supremacy, because math itself is white supremacy.

To be sure, Escalante is a rare teacher. He was absolutely riveting in person. And while that kind of genius can’t be easily acquired, it can be studied and emulated as an example of human excellence and effective pedagogy. I suspect the number of education schools that teach a case study about Escalante (or Marva Collins, who I also met once) is precisely zero.

Instead of Escalante’s challenge, students at the University of Illinois they will get this....

Can California's Government Do *Anything* Right?

California's government can't boil water without burning it:

California’s cannabis industry has faced huge economic hurdles in its first four years of legal sales. The state’s complicated cannabis regulations and high taxes add costs to legal operators, while widespread illegal farms and retailers undercuts legitimate companies. Limited access to banking means these companies pay exorbitant fees for simple banking services and have almost no access to loans. Federal law blocks pot companies from deducting most business taxes from their federal taxes, making pot businesses pay an effective federal tax rate as high as 80%. 

These factors have come together to make California a painful place to run a legal pot business. The majority of small legacy cannabis farms are on their way out of business and even the country’s biggest cannabis companies are leaving the state.

Perhaps This Would Be Easier For The AI

Nope:

rewrite the lyrics to Don't Stop Believing using Shakespearean English

"Cease Not Thy Belief"

Verse 1: Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world She took the midnight train, going anywhere Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit He took the midnight train, going anywhere

Chorus: Singeth with me, just a small town girl And a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit They didst find a love, on a midnight ride And they doth not cease, their belief inside

Verse 2: A singer in a smoky room, the smell of wine and cheap perfume For a smile they can share the night, it goes on Strangers, waiting, up and down the boulevard Their shadows searching, in the night

Chorus: Singeth with me, just a small town girl And a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit They didst find a love, on a midnight ride And they doth not cease, their belief inside

Bridge: Stranded in the night, with a lonely heart They didst find a love, that dost never depart And they singeth with all their might, for a brighter tomorrow And they doth not cease, their belief in a brighter tomorrow

Chorus: Singeth with me, just a small town girl And a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit They didst find a love, on a midnight ride And they doth not cease, their belief inside.

You know what the most fun is? Trying to think up a prompt!

The Proper Role of Government

A friend sent me a tweet today.  That tweet generated a lot of commentary on Twitter, and two of those comments sum up for me why I'm a conservative.  The first:

You can't comply your way out of tyranny.

Don't give in to a government that wants you to give in, especially if their reasoning is that "it's for the greater good", "it's for the children", or some other such silliness.  Don't give up your rights.  Government, and the people who go into government, are about controlling you and everyone around you; forget that, and you'll spend a lot of time clawing back what you gave up so easily.

The other comment I read:

Either you limit government, or government will limit you.

See my last full paragraph above.

So what should a government do?  What is the proper role of government?  Some smart guys told us back in 1776:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Government doesn't exist to be our nanny or our oppressor; rather, it exists to secure our God-given rights against those who would take them from us.  That is the proper role of government.

Let's Give ChatGPT Another Chance

This time I gave it this prompt:  write a 200-word blog post on why learning styles and multiple intellegences are bunk.  The result:

The Concept of Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences: Debunked

In recent years, the idea of learning styles and multiple intelligences has gained popularity as a way to explain individual differences in learning. The premise is that everyone has a unique way of processing information and that learning can be optimized by understanding and catering to these differences.

However, despite its popularity, there is little scientific evidence to support the notion of learning styles or multiple intelligences. Numerous studies have shown that there is no significant correlation between learning styles and academic achievement, and that efforts to match instruction to learning styles do not result in improved performance.

Additionally, the concept of multiple intelligences is based on a flawed understanding of intelligence. The idea of intelligence as a set of distinct abilities, such as linguistic or musical intelligence, is not supported by modern theories of cognitive development and is not supported by empirical research.

In reality, the process of learning is much more complex and cannot be reduced to a single factor such as learning style or type of intelligence. Learning is influenced by a multitude of factors, including motivation, prior knowledge, attention, and feedback, and the most effective instructional methods are those that take these factors into account.

In conclusion, the idea of learning styles and multiple intelligences is not supported by scientific evidence and can be misleading for teachers and students alike. Rather than focusing on learning styles, it is more effective to use evidence-based teaching strategies that cater to individual needs and provide opportunities for all students to learn and grow.

While this is all true, this sounds like a speech someone would give at a school board meeting.  The mechanics of the language are excellent, but there's no "punch" to the writing.

Such *Sick* People

I get that many people support abortion and are not happy with the Dobbs decision, but how can anyone truly support this?

The Minnesota state senate passed an abortion rights bill that guarantees a right to an abortion up to the time of birth.

The bill, known as the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, passed by a vote of 34-33 and now goes to Gov. Bill Walz’s desk. He has indicated he will sign it.

“Minnesotans don’t support elective third-trimester abortion. They just don’t. But that’s what this extreme bill entrenches in our state law: the right to abort any baby for any reason at any time up to birth,” said Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life (MCCL) Co-Executive Director Cathy Blaeser. “Under this bill, even babies who are old enough to live outside the womb and to feel excruciating pain have no protection from lethal violence. The extremism of H.F. 1 puts Minnesota in the same category as just a handful of countries around the world, including North Korea and China.”

H.F. 1, authored by Sen. Jennifer McEwen, would create a “fundamental right” to abortion and would allow abortions for any reason, even late in pregnancy. Since a fetus can feel pain as young as 20 weeks into gestation and no later than 28-30 weeks, some states have mandated anesthesia for babies to be aborted.

Minnesota has no such law.

I don't throw around words like satanic very often, but this is bill is satanic.  I can't come up with a stronger word.  Lefties do this solely out of spite, that's what kind of people they are.

IMNSHO, The ChatGPT AI Has A Ways To Go

The prompt I gave it was:  write a 500-word blog post about math education in the style of rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com

Here's what it gave me:

Math Education: A Look at the Challenges and Opportunities

Math education is a topic that elicits strong reactions from many people. Some see it as the foundation of a well-rounded education, while others view it as a dry, uninteresting subject with limited real-world application. Regardless of one's personal feelings about math, there is no denying that it plays a crucial role in our lives, from basic financial literacy to advanced scientific and technological pursuits.

In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the state of math education in the United States. According to recent reports, American students are falling behind their international peers in math proficiency, with only 40% of 8th graders performing at or above proficient levels. This is a concerning trend, as the ability to understand and apply mathematical concepts is essential for success in many fields and careers.

One of the biggest challenges facing math education is the lack of qualified teachers. Many schools, particularly those in low-income areas, struggle to attract and retain highly qualified math teachers. This results in students being taught by teachers who may not have the necessary subject matter expertise to effectively convey mathematical concepts.

Another challenge is the teaching approach. Traditional math instruction tends to focus on memorization and rote learning, with little emphasis on problem-solving or real-world applications. This can make math seem uninteresting and disconnected from daily life, causing students to lose motivation and interest in the subject.

Fortunately, there are also many opportunities to improve math education. One of the most promising is the integration of technology. By using interactive software and online resources, teachers can present math concepts in a more engaging and visual way, making it easier for students to understand and apply them. Additionally, technology can provide students with personalized feedback and support, helping them to progress at their own pace and build confidence in their abilities.

Another opportunity is the use of hands-on, project-based learning. By giving students the chance to apply math concepts to real-world problems, they can see the relevance and importance of math in their daily lives. This can also help to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, which are valuable not only in math, but in all aspects of life.

Finally, it is important to address the underlying attitudes and beliefs about math that may be holding students back. For many students, especially those from underrepresented groups, negative stereotypes about their ability to succeed in math can be a significant barrier. Teachers can help to challenge these beliefs by fostering a positive and inclusive learning environment, and by highlighting the achievements of diverse mathematicians and scientists.

In conclusion, while there are many challenges facing math education, there are also many opportunities to improve it. By addressing the shortage of qualified teachers, using technology and project-based learning, and challenging negative beliefs about math, we can help all students to develop a strong foundation in mathematics and to see the relevance and importance of the subject in their lives. With a concerted effort from educators, parents, and policy makers, we can ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed in math and to pursue their goals and dreams.

It doesn't at all sound like something I'd write.

Prom Dresses

Seems to me a simpler method would be to make the standards exceedingly clear beforehand, and refuse entry to those who do not comply:

An Alabama high school has been deemed “creepy and sexist” after commanding girls to send “front and back” pics of themselves in prom dresses — or be banned from the dance. Their bizarre measure was subsequently walked back following a fierce backlash from students and parents.  link

Extending The Line (Or, It All Comes Around)

Early on in my tenure at my current school, I had a student in Algebra 2 one year and in pre-calculus the next.  He earned A's in both classes, graduated in 2007, and went off to college to study math in Southern California.

His senior year in college was the first year I taught statistics at our school.  Back then, Christmas vacation was not the end of the semester, and I had some tests and projects to grade over the break, and my former student offered to help me grade them.

In hypothesis testing in statistics, if your P-value is less than some value alpha (usually 5%), you reject your null hypothesis, which is written as H-sub-zero.  My former student told me that his college professor in elementary statistics used this mnemonic device for that lesson:  If P is low, reject the Ho.  I've taught it that way ever since.

Four years ago I had a freshman in an algebra class, and had him again as a senior last year in statistics.  As a gift at the end of the year he gave me a t-shirt that says "If P is low, reject the Ho."  I found on my lesson calendar the lesson during which I would first introduce that rhyme, and I made a note in my lesson plan to wear the t-shirt on that date.  That date was today.

That former student who taught me the rhyme?  He's now a math teacher about a half an hour away.  I haven't (yet) heard from the one who gave me the t-shirt.

The Dress Code Isn't Racist. It's A Good Business Practice.

Good for Amazon and Whole Foods:

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought against Whole Foods by three former employees who alleged the Amazon-owned grocery chain unlawfully fired them for wearing Black Lives Matter masks.

Massachusetts District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, granted summary judgment in favor of Whole Foods on Monday, finding there was no evidence Whole Foods used its dress code policy as a pretext to discriminate against the three fired employees...

Whole Foods faced walkouts and protests in 2020 for forbidding workers to wear masks with Black Lives Matter written on them in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. 

The three employees represented in the lawsuit sued after they were fired for violating the dress code policy.

The judge has to let us know that she doesn't think Whole Foods' decision was a good one, just that it wasn't illegal:

"The record, at most, reflects a series of arguably ill-advised business decisions by Whole Foods in light of Plaintiffs’ dress code violations and the message they sought to display, but it is not one from which a jury could conclude that Whole Foods’ legitimate reasons for firing them were ‘shams’ concocted to punish them for protesting its strict enforcement of the dress code," Burroughs wrote.

She further ruled that the plaintiffs had failed to show how a similarly situated employee who had violated the dress code policy was treated differently than the employees fired for wearing BLM masks. 

"The evidence demonstrates only that Whole Foods did not strenuously enforce the dress code policy until mid-2020, and that when it increased enforcement, it did so uniformly," the judge found.

She Probably Believes This. But She's Wrong.

I truly don't understand how people can think this way:

It’s understandable that most parents would want to know if their child was undergoing such a significant transition. The question, though, isn’t what it’s reasonable for parents to want, but what it’s reasonable to enforce through laws and regulations. And it is wholly unreasonable to demand that a teenager’s experimentation with identity and belief, so long as that experimentation is not physically dangerous, be disclosed to parents. 

So teachers are to be trusted with this kind of information, but not parents? Why should teachers have this kind of power? Who has a more vested interest in doing what’s in the best interest of a child, a teacher or a parent? 

A post at Joanne's site was in a similar vein, including this point:

School officials had put her child "on a path the school wasn’t qualified to oversee," rather than let the family decide what was best, Bradshaw said.

Jill, the author at the first link above, is a leftist nutjob. Her own words demonstrate that.

What Is It About...

What is it about lefties and their obsession with bathrooms?  Don't they have anything more important to think about than trying to convince us that people should use whichever restroom they want?  They've made such a big deal over this that the Supreme Court will probably eventually decide the issue:

The Supreme Court will likely consider whether schools can require students who identify as transgender to use the restroom of their birth sex rather than their gender identity, according to The New York Times.

A Dec. 30 ruling out of the 11th Circuit in Georgia found that a girl who identified as a transgender boy was not entitled to use the boys’ restroom in school, contradicting a 2017 decision from the Seventh Circuit in Chicago which had drawn the opposite conclusion; this is referred to as a circuit split and can often lead to the Supreme Court stepping in to make a final decision on the matter. Justices avoided addressing the bathroom issue in the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, decision, a case about discrimination against gay and transgender people, but the circuit split and the increased prevalence of children with transgender identities has pushed the bathroom debate to the forefront, according to the NYT.

Why are lefties so interested in forcing this on a public that clearly doesn't want it?  Why this fascination with restrooms?  What is wrong with these people?

Happy Blogiversary To Me

Right On The Left Coast is an adult now.

The first post is here.

When Will People Finally Tire Of Lowering Standards?

Math used to be immune to this silliness, maybe the 'rona vaccinations weakened us:

An education professor delivered a lecture in early January at a major mathematician meeting that described college math as “white” and “cisheteropatriarchal.”

“Undergraduate Mathematics Education as a White, Cisheteropatriarchal Space and Opportunities for Structural Disruption to Advance Queer of Color Justice” was the full title of the lecture given by Luis Leyva, associate professor of mathematics education at the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University.

Leyva delivered the lecture Jan. 4 in Boston at the Joint Mathematics Meetings 2023. The summit is the “largest mathematics gathering in the world,” according to its website.

Blah.  Maybe the Queers of Color (their term, not mine) just need to study harder.

The 'Rona Lockdowns

Those shutdowns caused a lot of harm:

In hopes of containing the pandemic, everyone across the country was forced to suffer through lockdown orders, closed schools, and shuttered workplaces in the spring of 2020. In Democratic-controlled areas, many of these restrictions lingered into 2021. Yet they didn’t work. We all got COVID-19 anyway, more than a million Americans nonetheless died of the disease, and in a dark and ironic twist, most COVID-19 spread actually happened at home .

Meanwhile, those restrictions themselves evidently had deadly consequences. A new study from Casey B. Mulligan and Rob Arnett published in the journal Inquiry finds that non-COVID deaths were highly elevated above expected trends in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021. They report that over this period, approximately 97,000 Americans died annually (not including COVID deaths) above the baseline trend, a statistic known as “excess deaths.”

These deaths included 32,000 deaths from heart disease and hypertension, some of which may have been fueled by the disruption to healthcare services and healthy lifestyles from the COVID restrictions. Meanwhile, deaths due to obesity-related illness, drug overdoses, and alcohol-related causes were all 12,000-15,000 above expected trends. All these factors were heavily influenced by the way COVID-19 lockdowns fueled social isolation, sedentary lifestyles, and mental health issues.

The data “point to a historic, yet largely unacknowledged, health emergency,” the study concludes. “COVID-19 is deadly, but so were the draconian steps taken to mitigate it.”

There's no evidence the lockdowns did any good at all, yet I'm convinced that we'll eventually see them again now that they've escaped Pandora's box.

Recycling

As a conservationist, I like the idea of recycling; why waste something?  Unfortunately, as even National Geographic points out, the fantasy of recycling often conflicts with the reality:

A plastic bag, a dirty pizza box, plastic utensils, paper napkins, and a soda can—a single takeout meal can feel like a game of recycling trivia. 

Which items can be recycled? What kinds of plastic go in the trash? What if the container is greasy? 

Recycling can be complicated, and the rules outlining how to do it vary from city to city, which might be one reason why only about 32 percent of our trash gets recycled.  

Only about six percent of the plastic—everything from plastic bottles to IV drips—produced in the U.S. in 2021 was recycled, according to a Greenpeace report. Some plastic items are designed in ways that make them difficult to recycle or recyclers struggle to find people who want to buy recycled material. 

Once China stopped accepting our recyclable trash, the heyday of recycling was over.

Election Fraud

I'm posting this just so it's easy to find this link, and to remind everyone that the Heritage Foundation's Election Fraud Database exists:

But election fraud is not a myth. In fact, 1,412 confirmed cases of election fraud have been documented in the Election Fraud Database maintained by the Heritage Foundation’s legal center. According to the Heritage Foundation, the database “provides a sampling of recent election fraud cases, demonstrates the vulnerabilities within the electoral process and the need for reforms to secure free and fair elections for the American people.” Of the 1,412 confirmed cases they’ve documented, there have been 1,219 convictions.

As bad as this sounds, it’s not even the entirety of the problem. “The database doesn’t list potential fraud discovered by election officials and others that is never investigated or prosecuted, and it obviously cannot list fraud that goes undetected when states with poor security don’t have the tools in place to even realize such fraud is occurring,” Hans Von Spakovksy of the Heritage Foundation explains.

Intentionally Bypassing The Rules

Project Veritas strikes again:

Critics are outraged after shocking video surfaced of Ohio school officials discussing how they can push critical race theory covertly, working around school policies already in place.

Solving The Big Problems

I'm not one of those people who pretends to require people or organizations to solve every single large problem before they tackle any small problem, but this has got to be the smallest problem out there:

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued an order banning the use of Times New Roman font in all State Department communications.

The replacement is to be Calibri.

Financial Math and the Number of Cylinders In An Internal Combustion Engine

Going over the previous day's homework assignment in Financial Math, we came across a problem that went something like this:  A shop charges $40 for an oil change, $70 for a tune-up on a 4-cylinder car, $80 for a tune-up on a 6-cylinder car, and $90 for a tune-up on an 8-cylinder car.  How much did the shop make if they did 5 oil changes, 6 4-cylinder car tune-ups, ....

Yes, folks, that's in a high school math class.  Which is full of mostly seniors.

I gave the answer, and then something hit me.  I asked how many students had no idea what 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, and 8-cylinder engines meant.  Over half the students raised their hands, and I couldn't just let that go.  Today's lesson was going to be a short one and the homework assignment was brief, leaving plenty of class time I could make use of, so I spent several minutes talking about engines.

I started by explaining the 4 strokes of a 4-stroke engine:  intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust.  My drawing on the board was very elementary since I wanted to keep things as simple as possible, and I was surprised how many students opted to learn about this rather than complete their assignment in class.  After walking them through the 4 strokes, I showed this video that used animated graphics to reinforce and extend what I had just taught:

Then we went into the difference between a "straight" configuration and a V configuration of the cylinders, and lastly discussed what is meant by a "5.0 liter engine".  This entire discussion, including the video, took significantly less than 15 minutes.

I think it was worthwhile.