FLASH CARDS

 

When I was in grade school we used to use flash cards to learn how to add, subtract, and multiply. I don’t recall if we had any for division, but we probably did. (There’s a “divided” opinion on that) They were manila colored with big black numbers. They probably don’t have them anymore. Now days  flash cards are probably decks of cards with various pictures on the back of flashers dressed in trench coats. The front of the flash cards had numbers that added, subtracted, or multiplied (or probably divided). There was a blank under the line and we were supposed to give the answer to the teacher as she held them up in front of us. The answers were on the back of the card and we always tried to see through the card for the answers if we didn’t know them. This would explain why I tend to write sums, remainders, and multiplication answers backward and inverted. Once and a while if the teacher stood by the window and if the light from the sun was just right, we could see through the card and see the answer on the back. By the way, I’ve always wondered why the answers were on the back anyway. Didn’t the teacher know the answers???? Because the sun was probably not shinning and it was raining on those days, whenever my turn would come, I would get a lot of the answers wrong. Math has always been my worst subject. Probably one reason why they don’t have flash cards anymore is that kids now days use a hand calculator for any math problems and all you have to know is how to turn it on, how to change batteries (unless it’s a solar one), and how to push buttons. Speaking of math in school, I used to hate “story problems”! For example: Farmer John has 2,883.263 bushels of corn. He sold 173.82 bushels to farmer Percival, then farmer John gave 3.7193% of the remaining corn to his pet aardvark (named “Artie” the aardvark) The remaining corn was shipped on a train to Moose Jaw, Alaska. The train left from Possum Breath, Missouri at 4:42 central time and the train was traveling 47.392 miles per hour and stopped every 4.81 hours to take on water for the steam engine which took 8.2261 minutes. The train was then delayed for another 57.814 minutes at Pickle Corners, Iowa to unload a box car full of fake rubber dog vomit. Part of the track was being worked on so the train was delayed for another 2.927 hours. The corn was leaking out of a hole in the bottom of the hopper car at a rate of .033746 bushels per minute. Now what time did the train with the remaining corn reach Moose Jaw, Alaska? (The time needs to be converted to Pacific Time and daylight savings time since the time changed on the way to its destination). Also, how many bushels of corn were delivered? And finally what was the name of the engineer?

The only problem with learning math from flash cards is that in real life when you face a math problem, you have to acquire of set of vintage flash cards from EBay then go through them to find the answer on the back (unless it’s really sunny that day). Hopefully, any real life math problems will occur in the summer on sunny clear days.

As long as I’m on the subject of early elementary school stuff, I remember the capitol and small cursive letters alphabetically arranged that were always over the blackboard. They were on a black strip with white letters with 2 white lines that were supposed to represent the green lines on the yellow pulpy tablet paper we used to use with the big fat pencils. The tablets were “Golden Rod” brand. Every elementary school room had the black strip with the capitol and small letters alphabetically arranged over the blackboard. In high school they weren’t there since by then they assumed you could at least recite the alphabet, which came in handy in case you were stopped for a DUI. This leads me to another paradox. Why do they teach printing in the 1^st grade, then in the 2^nd grade and after, they teach you cursive AKA longhand? Just another thing to add to my Life’s Mysteries List. Then there were the spelling tests, which of course were given orally. Speling waz alwaze mi beste subgect. Hmm, that looks like the way kids now  days really do spell. If you doubt that, just surf the web and you will see what I mean! I don’t blame the schools; I blame peer pressure and rap music.  Aha, yet another one of my many conspiracy theories. I will now post this story at exactly 2:38 PM. I have some errands I have to do before 3:34 PM. It will take me 10 minutes and 38 seconds to post it. My clock is 5.81 minutes fast.  If there is an electrical failure and the clock stops for 10.47 minutes I need to know what time I will finish posting it. Will I still have enough time to start my errands before 3:34 PM? (I guess “story problems” really are useful in “real life” after all!)