SOMT: Calculators Are Allowed

Blogger's Note: SOMT stands for Sign Of My Times, an occasional blog sharing my thoughts how time changes life from when I was young to today.

Calculators were not allowed in tests. My junior high math classes calculators were not allowed. My high school math classes from freshmen year to junior year calculators were not allowed. Calculators were allowed doing classwork and homework. The top reason was students must learn how to solve math problems in case there were no calculators. Another top reason was students understood the math concepts and math theories completely without calculators.

My education life changed in my senior year. My trigonometry and pre-calculus math teacher allowed calculators. All of my college classes involving math calculators were allowed.

Look who's talking now. Calculators are everywhere. Most people carry a calculator. The calculator is on their phone. Calculators are encouraged. Calculators are acceptable in education, in the workplace, and in the household. Calculators are efficient. Calculators reduce errors.

My high school chemistry teacher said don't memorize formulas. He provided the formulas during the tests. My Introduction To Physics professor answered any questions directly related to formulas during the tests. If the student forgot a formula, then he told the student. Don't memorize. There's no need. People remember the formulas by repetition and by practice. It's like a pharmacist memorizing the drugs and their spellings. Pharmacists learn drugs in college. Pharmacists work with drugs at their jobs.

My Mechanics Physics professor allowed open books and open notes. The first exam all questions were straight from the homework. The professor told the class a few students were stupid they scored a D or a F. All students earned A's copying our homework to the exam.

Open Book, Open Note, Open Everything

My Macroeconomics professor was my only Economics professor who allowed open books and open notes in all exams. The multiple choices questions were three choices. A few of the questions the students were required to open the textbook to a specific page. The negative was all exams except the final were timed. He explained the students after the first exam there was no such thing as a perfect test. The professor graded on a curve. A few students scored a D or a F. I believed the professor knew if we forgot anything we learned outside the classroom, then we could look it up from a book or ask for help.

Look It Up, Google It

The internet is the third source to look up anything. Forget memorization. Remember repetition. We live in the information age. There is information everywhere. There is knowledge everywhere. Access to information and knowledge are on our phones. People look it up when something is unknown. There is no shame not knowing. There are exceptions; e.g., a football fan must know a touchdown is six points. A friend of mine is a programmer. He and his co-workers Google programming documentation. No memorization required. Programmers learn new concepts. Programmers remember new concepts by repetition and by practice eventually. The programming and the pharmacist examples apply to many aspects of life.

The information age gives people methods to save information, save exercises, save work, create templates, and backup our work. The methods include USB flash drives, cloud storage, printed hard copies, network storage, and online repositories. People can access any method to recall procedures, retrieve knowledge, practice exercises, remember past projects, and research information.

Just In Case

Finally, I carried a flashlight and a multi-tool plier on my belt, and a Swiss Army Knife in my pocket while I was a student. I received criticisms. I received funny looks. Fortunately, there were no emergency situations. If there was an emergency situation, then nobody was laughing because either my flashlight or my multi-tool saved us.

Today's information age technology people with smart phones have access to a flashlight. Everyday carry or EDC technology tools allows people to carry multiple and miniaturized tools like a multi-tool plier. I carry an EDC bag 90% of the time when I'm out of the house. Some items in my EDC bag include three flashlights, AA batteries, USB battery storage, first-aid kit, sewing kit, pens, and matches. I don't bring my EDC when I run errands locally. Nobody laughs at me when my EDC bag saves myself and other people around me from an emergency situation.

Update On A Past Blog

I update the blog SOMT: Newspapers Are Still Great on Aug 5, 2010. My local newspaper prices have been going up two times a year. My household is paying more for less content. I learn less. We cancelled our newspaper subscription.