Fox: Algebra is Liberal Indoctrination.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

Yeah. the graphic is the offensive thing. Also, if it's supposed to be about distributing the wealth, where's the notation to denote monetary value? It's a poorly designed worksheet from our point of view.

This thing is not about distributing the wealth, idiot. It's about making an equation that can be solved by elementary school kids. Real life context is used to help students realize that the math they learn can, will and should be used in real life. They picked this specific context because the rest of the book had already taken the other 10,000 options available.

Tell me something: do you honestly think that this was the only problem with a real-life context in the entire book? Or even that it was one of only ten, twenty or so?

[JLTucker]

Yeah. the graphic is the offensive thing. Also, if it's supposed to be about distributing the wealth, where's the notation to denote monetary value? It's a poorly designed worksheet from our point of view.

This thing is not about distributing the wealth, idiot. It's about making an equation that can be solved by elementary school kids. Real life context is used to help students realize that the math they learn can, will and should be used in real life. They picked this specific context because the rest of the book had already taken the other 10,000 options available.

Tell me something: do you honestly think that this was the only problem with a real-life context in the entire book? Or even that it was one of only ten, twenty or so?

Of course not. You don't have to lecture me about worksheets designed to connect real life contexts to help the children understand concepts. I'm designing elementary school lessons this semester that I will teach to a class of third grade math students. It's just that if I were to design it, I'd have some $ signs in there because I like little details like that. But hey, I'm an idiot and can't deduce the obvious. Thank you, Lord Tranwreck, for your astute analysis on what that worksheet represents.

[Dominus Atheos]

I don't think most people actually watched the video.

Here's the worksheet in question:

<snip>

So yeah, people were just knee-jerking.

Well, obviously they were knee jerking. It's still not "the distributive property" itself per se that got people riled up, but the "distribute the wealth" line, which has little to do with the distributive property. I'll grant that it wasn't a complete word problem strictly speaking though, but it's not an abstract set up either. It has a phrasing which has obvious real-world connotations.

So, knee jerking from Fox? Yes indeed (and what a shock that is **). But it's undeniably also subtle social/political commentary in a worksheet designed for kids.

I'm not sure what you thought I meant, but I was talking about the posters in this thread when I was talking about knee-jerking. It's pretty clear that the first repliers didn't even know that the worksheet said "distribute the wealth", which the article didn't mention either.

[Lord Zentei]

OK, that's fair enough.

[Dr. Trainwreck]

Yeah. the graphic is the offensive thing. Also, if it's supposed to be about distributing the wealth, where's the notation to denote monetary value? It's a poorly designed worksheet from our point of view.

This thing is not about distributing the wealth, idiot. It's about making an equation that can be solved by elementary school kids. Real life context is used to help students realize that the math they learn can, will and should be used in real life. They picked this specific context because the rest of the book had already taken the other 10,000 options available.

Tell me something: do you honestly think that this was the only problem with a real-life context in the entire book? Or even that it was one of only ten, twenty or so?

Of course not. You don't have to lecture me about worksheets designed to connect real life contexts to help the children understand concepts. I'm designing elementary school lessons this semester that I will teach to a class of third grade math students. It's just that if I were to design it, I'd have some $ signs in there because I like little details like that. But hey, I'm an idiot and can't deduce the obvious. Thank you, Lord Tranwreck, for your astute analysis on what that worksheet represents.

And I am sorry that I didn't intuitively know that you were a teacher yourself. It's almost as if we're using a medium of communication that is nearly completely faceless.

So, on topic, you are offended because the guy forgot or didn't bother to put there a dollar sign? Wow, that's even more worth telling you to get over yourself.

[JLTucker]

And I am sorry that I didn't intuitively know that you were a teacher yourself. It's almost as if we're using a medium of communication that is nearly completely faceless.

It has nothing to do with me being an aspiring teacher. The problem is that you stated the obvious that anyone could deduce from the worksheet while simultaneously insulting me without provocation.

So, on topic, you are offended because the guy forgot or didn't bother to put there a dollar sign? Wow, that's even more worth telling you to get over yourself.

Of course I'm not offended. I just think it's odd to have an image of someone holding money and not including the necessary notation to further connect the material to real world experiences. Not only does that have the potential to help students understand the material more, it can add a great bridge to future math lessons that require monetary calculations. My "Yeah, the graphic is the offensive thing" statement is in regards to the ignorant Fox News hosts, not my opinion on the overall worksheet. I think it's a poorly made one, but I'm not offended by it.