“In my daughters parent teacher conference we expressed our concern about the lack of spelling words and tests. And that my daughter really struggled with spelling.  Her teacher’s response was, ‘all she needs to know is how to click the spell check button on her computer. No one needs to know how to spell anymore.'” Teacher in Jordan Utah School District

“I want my boys to be able to add up their groceries as they shop. ‘Now everyone has a calculator on their cell phone. We don’t need to be able to add up numbers in our head anymore.’” Principal in Alpine Utah School District

I have zero confidence in the Utah educational system, but I assume this is common around the country.

Though we all need to express outrage over these responses, I believe this trend will continue. It is easy to relax standards and difficult to get them increased. That is especially true of government programs and departments.

I recently took a test from a career recruiter. It was a one hour test and had a section on math. Calculators were NOT allowed. Here are a few samples from the three page math section:

5.5 / 2 =

3.06 – 1.25 =

.19 * 1.2 = 4(-2)² + 8(-2) + 3(-2) + 5 = 

30 + (.0835 x 30) + (15% x 30) = 

548% / 26% =

4/5 x 1 1/6 =  

Now I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed but it’s been fifteen years since college; I found working these problems by hand was a little awkward. In high school and college I did untold pages of these types of problems. Doing them without knowing how to carry, borrow, use long division or having my times tables memorized would be extremely difficult.

My point is this; children need to be taught the basics. They need to be able to work out problems on a piece of paper and not have to rely on a calculator. They need to be able to write a note on a Post-it and stick it to someone’s door without having to use a spell checker.

Bottom Line: We need to push for vouchers so we can select the school that will most benefit our children.