Hoosiers Ate My Brain

Oh, Mildred, Go to Homecoming, Will Ya'?

You know some days, it just seems that every thing strikes me as funny. Or weird. This is one of those days. The following story isn't local or related but from Raleigh, NC via the SF Chron.

It poses that question that even if it's beside the question, is it still important it be right? That or it could just be The Geeks versus the Jocks as Adults, Part 467. Oh, so many headlines for this one with at least one requiring that you might need to be certified to use football analogies. At the very least, isn't it about time Mildred learns what a first down is?

FOOTBALL FANS ARE SMARTER THAN MATHEMATICIANS
North Carolina test muffs a question and draws a flag

Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The state's test writers tried to come up with a math question about football and ended up with a fumble.

On an end-of-grade test this month, seventh-graders had to calculate the average gain for a team on the game's first six plays. But the team did not gain 10 yards on the first four plays and would have lost possession before a fifth and sixth play.

The team opened with a 6-yard loss, a 3-yard gain and a 2-yard loss, which would have made it fourth down with 15 yards to go for a first down. The team's fourth play was just a 7-yard gain, yet it maintained possession for a 12-yard gain and a 4-yard gain on two additional plays. "Whoever wrote it didn't think it through," said Gene Daniels, athletics director of Salem Middle School in Apex.

Mildred Bazemore, chief of the state Department of Public Instruction's test development section, said the question makes sense mathematically and was reviewed thoroughly. "It has nothing to do with football," Bazemore said. "It has to do with the mathematical concepts that you're studying."

posted by braingirl @ 9:34 AM