“I hate math.” “I was never good at math.” These are usually the responses that I get when people find out that I am a math teacher. What I truly find comical though is when I get told my math is wrong by people who do not know I am a math teacher. It has happened several times involving calculating tip and discounts. This always frustrates me because not only do I teach percentages as a 7th grade math teacher but it makes me feel like the public school system has failed in teaching the students how to do basic everyday math.
As a manager at Monkey Joe’s I have to close out birthday parties. Each birthday party has a host, basically their waitress, that can accept tips. Just a few months ago I was closing out a birthday party and asked the customer if he would like to leave a tip for his host, to which he responded that he would like to leave 20%. His bill was $150 so I told him that would be a tip of $30, bringing his total bill to $180. Normally our customers pay the bill and that is that. This customer however told me that I was wrong. I proceeded to orally explain to him that 20% of $150 would be $30 since 10% is $15. He still continued to tell me I was wrong. My boss is of course standing behind me trying not to laugh. I didn’t want to be rude but this customer just wasn’t getting it. I tore off a piece of receipt paper and wrote down the steps that I had done in my head as I walked him through each step...just like I would have one of my 7th graders.
Situations like this really have me worried about the future of our students. Several restaurants have even started to include the suggested tip amount at the bottom of their receipts. Is math really that difficult that so many people need help in calculating an appropriate tip that it now needs to be done for us? Our math text will usually try to grab the students’ interest by including problems involving potential interests and hobbies but they hardly ever involve situations where the students will actually use the math. Why do we not require a more real world applicable math class or at least a more real world applicable text?
You have brought up a consistent theme in our future readings, real world application. When teaching young adults, it is important to make these connections. You will use this when. . .
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