Children, Calculators, and Agile Brains

Our children are so deprived!

When I was young, there was no such thing as a "calculator." [Well, okay, there was, but it was a person who made calculations, usually using pencil and paper.] We were taught to add, subtract, multiply, and divide by memorizing the basics and applying them to larger and larger numbers.

The only device available to help with large calculations was a slide rule (you might be able to see one in a museum, or else ask your grandfather is he still has his). Even with a slide rule, you had to keep the decimal point in your head and put it in the right place afterward.

Calculators were not even mass produced until I was in college, and a four function calculator (add, subtract, multiply, and divide) sold retail for $99.99. They couldn't make them fast enough. I know, because one of my summer jobs was on the production line where these first calculators were packaged. The line could not keep up with demand. While in college, there were rules that barred us from using these new devices on tests.

Throughout my school years (both secondary and college) almost all of my mistakes in math classes were arithmetical. I used the correct laws to combine or split terms, integrate or differentiate, distribute or commute. But I sometimes made a mistake in my arithmetic.

Now that some of my children are into higher math, I see that they are making the same mistakes. Should I allow them to use a calculator when they are doing exercises? I don't, for only by keeping in practice does one maintain the ability to work those problems. It keeps the mind agile. My son almost lost all of his arithmetical ability before I banned him from using his calculator for anything other than checking his work.

You might see this same principal in drivers. I know of one person who almost forgot how to get from home to a known destination, because they used their GPS every single time they got in the car. WAIT!!! GPS is a different discussion!

I do have to admit that there was a device called an Adding Machine, and it could handle fairly large numbers, but only businesses had those (in their accounting departments). We learned our arithmetic by rote, then applied it to larger and larger numbers (even ones that those early calculators and adding machines couldn't handle). The ability has served me well.

My children? They are soooooo deprived!