Posted by Dan T in MO on February 11, 2013 at 19:49:25 from (166.181.3.123):
In Reply to: OT Have you heard?? posted by John B. on February 11, 2013 at 09:25:35:
After reading all of the replies below, I feel I gotta throw my $.02 in as well. Just for the record, I'm a high school math teacher.
Standardized testing and radidly advancing technology is behind the push to drop many of the older subjects like penmanship and cursive. Frankly, for better or worse, the business world is becoming more heavily dependant on computers. Every parent wants his or her kid to learn the skills needed to succeed in life. Now imagine if Junior goes to apply for a job after graduation. No, he can't type, can't run an excell spreadsheet, is baffled by MS word, but boy! look how neatly he can write in cursive. Biff, on the other hand uses a fist to hold his pencil, but is a whiz when it comes to the computer. As long as the electricity is flowing, Biff is going to get the job and Junior will be making minumum wage down at Casey's.
Now a topic more near and dear to my heart: calculators. I'm in the high school, and I still stress to my students the importance of being able to add, subtract, multiply, divide, square and square root mentally or manually. Luckily, I'm in a rural district. I explain it to my students this way. If I have a pile of firewood to split, I can either use an ax or a hydraulic splitter. If it happens to be a pile of red oak or walnut, I grab the ax. I can have the whole pile split and stacked with the ax before you get the splitter running. However, if it's a pile of knotty white oak, I'll opt for internal combustion and modern hydraulics. Don't grab a calculator to tell me the cosine of 60 is 1/2 or to find the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs of 5 and 12.
Surprisingly enough, schools no longer teach many useful skills. Why, I bet if our oil supply suddenly dried up not one kid in 10 could properly hitch a team for a run to town. Few kids would be able to trim a proper nub on a quil pen should the need arise. And in music appreciation classes, they no longer stress the imporatance of keeping the dust off a vinyl record.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Fasteners: The Nuts and Bolts of Nuts and Bolts - by Curtis Von Fange. The nuts and bolts of nuts and bolts is an interesting and essential piece of knowledge that applies to our older tractors. An improperly torqued capscrew on an engine head or a shear bolt that is too hard on the driving shaft of a bushog can create havoc and make an expensive and uncalled for repair. Let’s examine the purpose and design of these fasteners in order to ensure their proper use. Fasteners are probably one of the aspects of mechanics that is given the least amount of thought.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Sell 1958 Hi-Altitude Massey Fergerson tractor, original condition. three point hitch pto engine, Runs well, photos available upon request
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
