This Dave Barry column is 12 years old, but it's not exactly outdated:
Seriously, young people, I have some important back-to-school advice for you, and I can boil it down to four simple words: "Study Your Mathematics.''I say this in light of a recent alarming Associated Press story stating that three out of every four high-school students -- nearly 50 percent -- leave school without an adequate understanding of mathematics. Frankly, I am not surprised. ''How,'' I am constantly asking myself, "can we expect today's young people to understand mathematics when so many of them can't even point their baseball caps in the right direction?''...
A shocking number of you young people are unable to solve even basic math problems, such as the following:
A customer walks into a fast-food restaurant, orders two hamburgers costing $2 apiece, then hands you a $5 bill. How much change should you give him?
a. $2
b. $3
c. None, because the question doesn't say you WORK there. You could just take the money and run away.
The correct answer, of course, is that you should give the customer:
d. Whatever the computerized cash register says, even if it's $154,789.62.
Are we sure he didn't write this column yesterday?
(Via Joanne.)
Posted by kswygert at August 31, 2005 01:11 PM