cheap calculators
A while back (~20 years?) one of my brats came home with a recommendation from the teacher for a very expensive scientific calculator. having seen the type of work she was doing at the time I suggested a much cheaper alternative to the teacher who responded that it didn't have a log button. I said "but she doesn't even know how to use log tables yet" - apparently I'm a dinosaur, seems nobody uses them any more, just as well I didn't send her to school with a slide-rule. (More of a problem I suspect, do those who use the log function on a calculator understand logs?)
I did concede and bought a calculator with a log function but still at a fraction of the price of the school's recommendation.
There is an argument that its easier to teach a class if they all have identical kit but no reason why it shouldn't be identical _inexpensive_ kit. Also needing to rely on a specific model implies that they're being taught how to use that device rather than how to use scientific functions.
In retrospect the kid in question still has not the faintest idea what a log is (well, if asked, would only know the word in the sense of firewood).
My other brat came home from school telling me he needed Macromedia Dreamweaver for his IT homework (to make a small web-site) as that's what the school used. I pointed out that at the time it cost several hundred pounds (the school got theirs FOC) and that a pirate copy would be illegal and at risk of introducing malware.
He got on fine using a text editor and HTML/CSS but he got a poor mark for the completed web site because he'd not used Flash for the buttons (and teacher didn't understand HTML/CSS). Rewrote the project to use Flash and - surprise! no benefit but much larger total filesize and slower page-load times. His basic understanding of HTML is still useful and I'm surprised to find Dreamweaver is still available, at a cost of £20 a month, and that it is still being used (on 0.3% of all websites).
On the subject of calculators, I still have my RadioShack EC4075 programmers Hex & Time calculator and use it most days ~40 years old, LCD still fine, 2xAA cells last 10 years. Should it die before me it will be a sad loss (no log button but I find I am able to live without that luxury).
Biting the hand that feeds IT
