Have you ever heard .....

*Page*

Claim: The Mississippi state legislature removed fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of public secondary schools.
Status: True.

Origins: First
Alabama tried to redefine the value of pi to 3. Then Kansas removed the requirement for teaching evolution in its public schools. We thought it couldn't get any worse, but then Mississippi came along and proved us wrong:


13 August 1999
Jackson, MS -- Bolstered by the state of Kansas' recent measure removing the requirement for the teaching of evolution in public schools, yesterday afternoon the Mississippi legislature passed a bill eliminating fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of all public secondary schools in the state.

"Despite the coincidental timing of the measure, this was no whim," asserted Mississippi state senator Cassius de Spain. "We'd had the issue under consideration for several months now."

The bill, which cleared the Mississippi Senate by a vote of "a lot" to "a little" (with "this many" senators abstaining) after some initial confusion over how many votes constitute a "majority," directs public secondary schools in Mississippi to emphasize whole number arithmetic in mathematics courses and orders the removal of questions involving non-integer mathematics from standardized state tests after 1999. The fate of percentages remains undetermined as educators attempt to work out an alternative scoring method for tests.

Judith Sutpen, chairperson of the Mississippi Senate Education committee, defended the legislature's action against charges that it was motivated by "controversial religious beliefs."

"This has absolutely nothing to do with religion," she told reporters at a press conference Friday morning. "We're simply seeking to make mathematics more accessible to schoolchildren by de-emphasizing the elements that so many of them find confusing. It makes no sense to try to train our students how to think logically, then present them with nonsensical concepts such as 'irrational' and 'imaginary' numbers."

Senate minority leader Cora Tull indicated that religion did play a part in the passage of the legislation, however, maintaining that "if cardinality is good enough for the Catholic church, it ought to be good enough for the children of the great state of Mississippi." She added that "'improper fractions' have no place in any respectable school system, public or private."

Freshman senator John Sartoris of Brookhaven elaborated on the reasons for his colleagues' support of the bill: "We're sick and tired of hearing about how everything in our culture, from art to entertainment to education, is aimed at the 'lowest common denominator' of society. We're took aggressive action to do something about it yesterday by eliminating that denominator."

School librarians expressed concern about whether they will be able to continue categorizing books according to the Dewey decimal system once the law goes into effect, but Jason Compson, chief librarian for the Greater Biloxi School District, opined that "anyone who couldn't beat that pinko Truman doesn't deserve a place of honor in our schools' libraries anyway."

Several senators indicated that an additional measure aimed at removing "irregular verbs" from English classes might be in the offing.

Tobias Greeshman

This does not surprise me in the least, being americans afterall.

I mean redefining PI so it will become easier for students to understand, PI has a distinct value for a specific reason, I mean if they are teaching french, why dont they redefine the french verb etre, so it wont be irregular and students will find it easier to learn.

ixoy

Don't believe this one, regardless of what snopes says. A browse of the web has a response from a Mississippi trainee teacher saying it's nonsense and any cirriculums you find on the web, from Mississippi, include the teaching of fractions.

The teaching of evolution bit is true, AFAIK. At the very least they emphasised, overly, that it was the theory of evolution and just one possibile answer..

*Page*

only in the public secondary schools

not the whole schooling level.

*Angel*

That really can't be true, that would be totally insane!

*Angel*

*Page* wrote:

Several senators indicated that an additional measure aimed at removing "irregular verbs" from English classes might be in the offing.

oh come on, such a load of bullsh*te

*Page*

i know i just read it and thought
"have you ever heard such bullsh!t"

i just thought i'd pop it up hear to make sure i wasn't the only one who thought it was tripe!

modular

"Nonsensical concepts such as irrational and imaginary numbers"

This says it all.
Apparently huge parts of maths are nonsensical.

WhiteWashMan

i know.

why it was only at the weekend as i sat doing some integral calculations to discover the approximte volume of paint needed to cover the columns of my porch, that i realised if it wasnt for high school mathmatics, where would i be!

and then i realised, id be unemployed and p1ss poor

but nothing would be different (iation - hey look at that. who knew you could make maths puns! )

dahamsta

One, two, Many, LOTS!

Pet

Apparently the pi thing came about, because there's a passage in the Bible where it says something vaguely along the lines of "Solomon had a pillar that was exactly 3 units around and 1 unit across, and it was perfectly round."

I kid you not.

theCzar

Why is anybody taking this obvious piece of satire at face value? Go read www.theonion.com of want more incredible "news"

Hobbes

Its not Satire.. its on Snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/lost/fraction.htm

Its a good read as it teaches you something about how I do my research when looking on the net.

Btw did you know that Mr Ed was a zebra too...
http://www.snopes.com/lost/mistered.asp

theCzar

The article is satire. true or false.

sat·ire Audio pronunciation of "satire" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (str)
n.

1.
1. A literary work in which human vice or folly is attacked through irony, derision, or wit.
2. The branch of literature constituting such works. See Synonyms at caricature.
2. Irony, sarcasm, or caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity.

WhiteWashMan

dahamsta wrote:

One, two, Many, LOTS!

sgt detritus i presume....

0utshined

*Page* wrote:

Claim: The Mississippi state legislature removed fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of public secondary schools.
Status: True.

Origins: First
Alabama tried to redefine the value of pi to 3. Then Kansas removed the requirement for teaching evolution in its public schools. We thought it couldn't get any worse, but then Mississippi came along and proved us wrong:


13 August 1999
Jackson, MS -- Bolstered by the state of Kansas' recent measure removing the requirement for the teaching of evolution in public schools, yesterday afternoon the Mississippi legislature passed a bill eliminating fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of all public secondary schools in the state.

"Despite the coincidental timing of the measure, this was no whim," asserted Mississippi state senator Cassius de Spain. "We'd had the issue under consideration for several months now."

The bill, which cleared the Mississippi Senate by a vote of "a lot" to "a little" (with "this many" senators abstaining) after some initial confusion over how many votes constitute a "majority," directs public secondary schools in Mississippi to emphasize whole number arithmetic in mathematics courses and orders the removal of questions involving non-integer mathematics from standardized state tests after 1999. The fate of percentages remains undetermined as educators attempt to work out an alternative scoring method for tests.

Judith Sutpen, chairperson of the Mississippi Senate Education committee, defended the legislature's action against charges that it was motivated by "controversial religious beliefs."

"This has absolutely nothing to do with religion," she told reporters at a press conference Friday morning. "We're simply seeking to make mathematics more accessible to schoolchildren by de-emphasizing the elements that so many of them find confusing. It makes no sense to try to train our students how to think logically, then present them with nonsensical concepts such as 'irrational' and 'imaginary' numbers."

Senate minority leader Cora Tull indicated that religion did play a part in the passage of the legislation, however, maintaining that "if cardinality is good enough for the Catholic church, it ought to be good enough for the children of the great state of Mississippi." She added that "'improper fractions' have no place in any respectable school system, public or private."

Freshman senator John Sartoris of Brookhaven elaborated on the reasons for his colleagues' support of the bill: "We're sick and tired of hearing about how everything in our culture, from art to entertainment to education, is aimed at the 'lowest common denominator' of society. We're took aggressive action to do something about it yesterday by eliminating that denominator."

School librarians expressed concern about whether they will be able to continue categorizing books according to the Dewey decimal system once the law goes into effect, but Jason Compson, chief librarian for the Greater Biloxi School District, opined that "anyone who couldn't beat that pinko Truman doesn't deserve a place of honor in our schools' libraries anyway."

Several senators indicated that an additional measure aimed at removing "irregular verbs" from English classes might be in the offing.

*Page*. you've lifted this straight from Snopes. If you click on the link for Additional information you'll see that this is complete bull.

therecklessone

WhiteWashMan wrote:

but nothing would be different (iation - hey look at that. who knew you could make maths puns! )

Alcohol and calculus don't mix: don't drink and derive, know your limits.

Or how about:

An infinite amount of monkeys walk into a bar and say EVERYTHING.

WhiteWashMan

therecklessone wrote:

Alcohol and calculus don't mix: don't drink and derive, know your limits.

Or how about:

An infinite amount of monkeys walk into a bar and say EVERYTHING.

rofl.

that second one is a cracker. high brow humour on boards.ie.
who'd have thunk it

therecklessone

WhiteWashMan wrote:

rofl.

that second one is a cracker. high brow humour on boards.ie.
who'd have thunk it

I thank you.

And on AH as well... :eek:

Beats snot and God hands down...

*Page*

0utshined if you notice what i already said, i read this and thought.....



"i know i just read it and thought
"have you ever heard such bullsh!t"

i just thought i'd pop it up hear to make sure i wasn't the only one who thought it was tripe!"

Blisterman

Everything in this section is a spoof. Mister Ed was no more a zebra than the origin of the nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence had anything to do with pirates on a recruiting drive. As for Mississippi's doing away with teaching fractions and decimals in its school systems because kids find them too hard to master, that's no more true than Kentucky's imposing a licensing fee on uses of its name, Edgar Rice Burroughs naming his celebrated apeman after the city he lived in (other way around, actually), George Bernard Shaw penning a poorly-attended play called Closed For Remodeling, passengers on the Titanic viewing a 1912 silent version of The Poseidon Adventure while their doomed ship was sinking out from under them, or the design of California's flag being the result of "pear" being taken for "bear."

WhiteWashMan

Blisterman wrote:

Mister Ed was no more a zebra

:eek:

say it aint so!

0utshined

*Page* wrote:

0utshined if you notice what i already said, i read this and thought.....



"i know i just read it and thought
"have you ever heard such bullsh!t"

i just thought i'd pop it up hear to make sure i wasn't the only one who thought it was tripe!"

Sorry *Page*, mea culpa. I replied after a night out and skimmed over that reply.

0.

lost_lad

*Page* wrote:

Claim: The Mississippi state legislature removed fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of public secondary schools.
Status: True.

Origins: First
Alabama tried to redefine the value of pi to 3. Then Kansas removed the requirement for teaching evolution in its public schools. We thought it couldn't get any worse, but then Mississippi came along and proved us wrong:


13 August 1999
Jackson, MS -- Bolstered by the state of Kansas' recent measure removing the requirement for the teaching of evolution in public schools, yesterday afternoon the Mississippi legislature passed a bill eliminating fractions and decimal points from the mathematics curriculum of all public secondary schools in the state.

"Despite the coincidental timing of the measure, this was no whim," asserted Mississippi state senator Cassius de Spain. "We'd had the issue under consideration for several months now."

The bill, which cleared the Mississippi Senate by a vote of "a lot" to "a little" (with "this many" senators abstaining) after some initial confusion over how many votes constitute a "majority," directs public secondary schools in Mississippi to emphasize whole number arithmetic in mathematics courses and orders the removal of questions involving non-integer mathematics from standardized state tests after 1999. The fate of percentages remains undetermined as educators attempt to work out an alternative scoring method for tests.

Judith Sutpen, chairperson of the Mississippi Senate Education committee, defended the legislature's action against charges that it was motivated by "controversial religious beliefs."

"This has absolutely nothing to do with religion," she told reporters at a press conference Friday morning. "We're simply seeking to make mathematics more accessible to schoolchildren by de-emphasizing the elements that so many of them find confusing. It makes no sense to try to train our students how to think logically, then present them with nonsensical concepts such as 'irrational' and 'imaginary' numbers."

Senate minority leader Cora Tull indicated that religion did play a part in the passage of the legislation, however, maintaining that "if cardinality is good enough for the Catholic church, it ought to be good enough for the children of the great state of Mississippi." She added that "'improper fractions' have no place in any respectable school system, public or private."

Freshman senator John Sartoris of Brookhaven elaborated on the reasons for his colleagues' support of the bill: "We're sick and tired of hearing about how everything in our culture, from art to entertainment to education, is aimed at the 'lowest common denominator' of society. We're took aggressive action to do something about it yesterday by eliminating that denominator."

School librarians expressed concern about whether they will be able to continue categorizing books according to the Dewey decimal system once the law goes into effect, but Jason Compson, chief librarian for the Greater Biloxi School District, opined that "anyone who couldn't beat that pinko Truman doesn't deserve a place of honor in our schools' libraries anyway."

Several senators indicated that an additional measure aimed at removing "irregular verbs" from English classes might be in the offing.

Can we see the exact link?? Please.
Sounds like crap. America IS being dumbed down but really not a real number?
I dont think they'd get away with it.

Although many many schools in America because of christian fundamenatlism
are not teaching evoulution. And some are sticking big stickers on front of science books saying its just a one of many theories and not a fact(technically true but can anyone really doubt the evidence).

I dont see them sticking stickers on the bible saying "This could be a work of fiction we dont really know."

athena 2000

I think we might need a big sticker for this thread that says
"Warning: Satirical Content!"

shelsfan

TUI Website wrote:

Union Expresses Concerns with Teacher Ratings Website

08 March 2005

The Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) has expressed its concern with a website which allows anybody with Internet access to assess the performance of teachers. The union believes the site facilitates unwarranted criticism of teachers and is ethically wrong.
Jim Dorney, General Secretary, TUI said:

“We are extremely concerned by this website, which could facilitate any party in blackening the good name and professional reputation of individual teachers.

There is nothing to stop any member of the public logging onto the site and submitting ratings and comments which could be extremely damaging to individuals. It is apparent from the way the website operates that good teachers can be defamed by disparaging comments from anybody a mind to do so and access to the Internet. This anonymity factor clearly negates any claims of fairness on the part of the creators.

There was a time when official student examination results were published in this country, and this practice was rightly stopped. It follows that we are utterly opposed to this site, which while clearly a gimmick, could impact negatively on our members. Ethically this is very wrong, and it is certainly not the right way for any pupil or parent to pursue a grievance, no matter how legitimate they feel the issue is.

If doctors, members of the Garda Síochána, lawyers or any other group was scrutinised in this underhand way there would quite rightly be an outcry. Teachers have enough professional pressure without the added stress of such unwarranted ratings. We will be seeking legal advice on the matter and also highlighting it to the Department of Education and Science. We are also asking schools to block access to the site from school computers. ”

*Page*

Hobbes wrote:

Its not Satire.. its on Snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/lost/fraction.htm

Its a good read as it teaches you something about how I do my research when looking on the net.

Btw did you know that Mr Ed was a zebra too...
http://www.snopes.com/lost/mistered.asp

heres the link!