Conquer Club

how to read roman numerals! Last night watching the Super Bowl she didn't know what XLIII was. This demonstrates the EPIC failure of public schooling!

jay_a2j wrote:how to read roman numerals! Last night watching the Super Bowl she didn't know what XLIII was. This demonstrates the EPIC failure of public schooling!

The only reason to know Roman Numerals is to figure out which Rocky movie you are watching.

Otherwise, they have no bearing whatsoever on society today.

jay_a2j wrote:how to read roman numerals! Last night watching the Super Bowl she didn't know what XLIII was. This demonstrates the EPIC failure of public schooling!

There is just so much more knowledge to gain now...they have to skip some stuff that we used to learn.

She probably knows a lot of other stuff that you didn't know when you were her age.


Or maybe she was outside smoking pot when they had that class...

Why does not knowing Roman numerals represent a failure on behalf of the public school system? Unless there was a Roman History prerequisite (doubtful as she's in her first year of high school), she shouldn't have to know roman numerals. We are in the 21st century here, and schools need to get up to date with contemporary issues, rather than trying to enforce ancient, ineffective methods that have been replaced by superior up-to-date methods.

Jay my friend....it is simply an opportunity for YOU to teach something to your child YOU deem worthwhile.....give ya a break from bashing heads at the slammer, yeah?

Another fine example....I was disappointed my 11 year old son didn't understand calibers and gauges of guns...but I guess that isn't something they teach in school either, although it is a widely used system of measurement. So I taught him. BAM! lol

wrestler1ump wrote: We are in the 21st century here, and schools need to get up to date with contemporary issues, rather than trying to enforce ancient, ineffective methods that have been replaced by superior up-to-date methods.

Is that why they put Superbowl XLIII instead of Superbowl 43?

jay_a2j wrote:how to read roman numerals! Last night watching the Super Bowl she didn't know what XLIII was. This demonstrates the EPIC failure of public schooling!

My son, age 8 (second grade) does. Apparently this is an anomoly in your particular school system. It could even be that she WAS taught, but just forgot/ did not pay close enough attention. Have you been monitoring her education all along? It is always the parent's responsibility to ensure kids really are learning what they need.

However, it is true that kids today must learn a lot more and that roman numerals are not terribly critical to today's society. (though they do come in handy in referencing, outlining, etc.). Take it upon yourself to teach her, but I would frankly worry much more about whether she understands basic science ( that you don't mix certain chemicals, how species relate to each other, how you conduct a scientific test, etc.), the importance of the constitution and what it says, etc., than I would about Roman Numerals.

jay_a2j wrote:

wrestler1ump wrote: We are in the 21st century here, and schools need to get up to date with contemporary issues, rather than trying to enforce ancient, ineffective methods that have been replaced by superior up-to-date methods.

Is that why they put Superbowl XLIII instead of Superbowl 43?

I though Superbowl XLIII meant Superbowl Extra Large 3.



I must have been outside smoking pot when they covered those Roman letter number things....

Oddly enough, some modern methods of math teaching would benefit greatly from a Roman numberals approach.

When I was shown the way that kids are introduced to multiplication and stuff, I looked at the grids of lines of tens and hundreds which they use to help the kids visualise the problem. I said, If you call these lines X's and these blocks C's, and these individeual digits here I's, you have the roman system.
And this was from the stuff they use to make it easier - not harder.
I couldn't persuade them of the blindingly obvious though - whcih was a shame as they had a "topic" on the romans at the time (this was back in the UK btw)

As far as i'm aware, none of my schools(elementary through high school) have taught or explained Roman Numerals. I had to learn it in a latin class freshman year, so i'm pretty sure its not something everyone is taught--i'm doubtful that they teach it in Spanish, which seems to be the favorite language course for students at my high school. While it is not particularly applicable nowadays and i've never encountered anything that required knowledge beyond 30 or 40, I can imagine its implementation at some point in high school, as its really not that complicated. It's not like it will drain a week or anything away from regular studies.

I was taught roman numerals in sixth grade
your are right jay they fail

jay_a2j wrote:how to read roman numerals! Last night watching the Super Bowl she didn't know what XLIII was. This demonstrates the EPIC failure of public schooling!

Yeah man, I'm a freshman in high school and I know Roman numerals... then again, I went to a private school in New Jersey, so...

Well, at least she has regular numbers down. Seems we're lucky to get kids to learn basic math and English.

jay_a2j wrote:how to read roman numerals! Last night watching the Super Bowl she didn't know what XLIII was. This demonstrates the EPIC failure of public schooling!

Ugh,
Remember that Simpson's episode where Bart has to open door 7 (VII) but the doors are all marked in Roman numerals, and then he says something like 'They didn't even try to teach us that at school' - but at the start of the episode they clearly were!

Was it that she couldn't work out what the number was or that she had no idea what the numerals meant at all? (ie, didn't know they were roman numerals but thought they were random letters?)

I've been meaning to get a tatoo saying "© MCMLXXVIII" for quite some time now.

radiojake wrote: Ugh,
Remember that Simpson's episode where Bart has to open door 7 (VII) but the doors are all marked in Roman numerals, and then he says something like 'They didn't even try to teach us that at school' - but at the start of the episode they clearly were!

Rocky II plus Rocky V equals Rocky VII "Adrian's Revenge"!

I was never taught Roman Numerals in school, but I've known them for quite a long time. My parents and peers taught me how to read them. They aren't exactly a difficult concept to grasp... You can't expect school to teach your kids every little thing, there is some responsibility on the parents y'know.

Quirk wrote:

radiojake wrote: Ugh,
Remember that Simpson's episode where Bart has to open door 7 (VII) but the doors are all marked in Roman numerals, and then he says something like 'They didn't even try to teach us that at school' - but at the start of the episode they clearly were!

Rocky II plus Rocky V equals Rocky VII "Adrian's Revenge"!

I would hate to see the result if you started this trend with multiplication

We never learned Roman Numerals in our school.

Seriously what's the point? Why do we need to learn 2 ways to count? Then add in the metric system...

Juan_Bottom wrote:Seriously what's the point? Why do we need to learn 2 ways to count?

It depends what you need to count. For example, I use hexadecimal most days because it makes programming music easier. Granted, Roman numerals are functionally pretty useless, but they have an undeniable aesthetic charm.

KoolBak wrote:Jay my friend....it is simply an opportunity for YOU to teach something to your child YOU deem worthwhile.....give ya a break from bashing heads at the slammer, yeah?

Another fine example....I was disappointed my 11 year old son didn't understand calibers and gauges of guns...but I guess that isn't something they teach in school either, although it is a widely used system of measurement. So I taught him. BAM! lol

Oh, I took a few minutes to show her how to read roman numerals. I remember being taught this stuff in school and now I guess they don't.

radiojake wrote: Was it that she couldn't work out what the number was or that she had no idea what the numerals meant at all? (ie, didn't know they were roman numerals but thought they were random letters?)

She knew I=1, V=5 and X=10 but didn't know what L, C or M was or how to read them.

I learned this stuff at school too - but it was compulsory to study Latin at my school, so it was pretty inevitable.

f*ck it, I got tired at the 9 times tables...

jay_a2j wrote:She knew I=1, V=5 and X=10 but didn't know what L, C or M was or how to read them.

In that case, my 8 year old does not know this already. (but he will soon! )

At any rate, parents everywhere .... its OUR job to make sure the kids are really learning what they need to learn, to the best of our ability.

PLAYER57832 wrote:At any rate, parents everywhere .... its OUR job to make sure the kids are really learning what they need to learn, to the best of our ability.

Holy crap, we agree on something!