• Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.ml
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    2 days ago

    18+52+37+47+56=210 for China. Each child could pick up to 3 answers. The average number of jobs the Chinese children picked was 2.

    For USA/UK the average was about 1. Very few children selected more than one answer.

    That’s weird. What a weird poll. Were there only 5 possible choices? I would have told you I wanted to be a veterinarian at that age, if I answered at all. (I did not become a vet, I became a failure lmao)

    • dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca
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      19 hours ago

      I think it’s pretty obvious this is a subset of the answers.

      So it seems like, given 3 picks, only 1% of kids are choosing YouTuber as an option. That doesn’t really seem ridiculous.

      Edit: it’s 3000 kids total, not per country. So I guess 3% if these are the only 3 countries included.

      • Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.ml
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        16 hours ago

        This poll annoyed me so much I googled it. It’s just a really shitty poll. There is no reason to believe the 5 listed jobs is a subset of the answers. This is an infographic summarizing a single question from a survey that seems to be commissioned by LEGO.

        Article from the “Harris Poll”

        I couldn’t find like, an academic paper describing the poll. There’s no methodology for it I can find. It’s just some corporate fluff piece, frankly.

        So I guess 3% if these are the only 3 countries included

        Yep, only 3 countries. This is just a trash poll.

    • Brickhead92@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      You need to give yourself more credit. You didn’t become a failure, it was within you the whole time; you were always a failure…

      That concludes my Pep Talk®

    • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      I wanted to be an electrical engineer, then I saw all the math and settled for electrician, then I saw all the math and settled for Janitor

      • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works
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        15 hours ago

        How are Electricians needing to do so much math? Its basic calculator and lookup table stuff? I mean a janitor does more complication calculations when they dilute cleaning products and estimate how much they will need for a given room.

        • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works
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          15 hours ago

          Math is mostly taught as theory. It should be taught in practice.

          Teaching people how to calculate an inventory, or taxes in a spreadsheet, is much more useful than teaching them differentials and number theory.

          Its like teaching people carpentry but never having them make anything with it. You just quiz them on which tool and material they need to use.

          • Prime@lemmy.sdf.org
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            14 hours ago

            I get where you’re coming from but i have to disagree. What your describing is not math but econ, a different subject. Math is about how to calculate stuff with least effort.

            • SapphironZA@sh.itjust.works
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              14 hours ago

              I agree with you, its no longer math at thst point, but the application in the service of other fields.

              What I am advocating for is that math at most of secondary school level should be taught on the practical basis. Math theory should be treated as a field of specialization. Much like how language is taught after people get over the basic literacy portion.

              • Prime@lemmy.sdf.org
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                6 hours ago

                That’s reasonable, but some theory is also good to know. In language class we discuss not just the content of an article but also how it is written. Language itself is a tool here, similar to math.

                Another important aspect of school is to ensure that everyone is exposed to many topics. That’s why we have art classes even though most people don’t become artists. It let’s everyone know that this topic exists and what it is about.

                The practical implementation of teaching math is bad though, as you said. Sometimes it is just rote memorization, which is the complete opposite of what it should be. I hate that.

        • clif@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Not an engineer but I took calculus 1, 2, 3, discrete math, linear algebra, statics, dynamics, and probably others I’m forgetting.

          Since school, I needed one trig function for calculating distance between lat/long coordinates that I looked up on Wikipedia and plugged in to a program.

          … Statics was fucking cool though.

          • untorquer@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Statics is good fun. That was one of those courses i spent 40-50hrs a week on.

            That knowledge is great for other applications too. For example, it helps with visualizing of how tension laid in fallen trees on saw crews for trail maintenance.

            I still use statics at work but i could in theory get by with just basic FEA guess and check.

      • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I wanted to be a naval pilot engineer at four. I’m colorblind, terrified of heights, not fond of authority, sloppy, and scatterbrained as hell. It’s quite possibly the worst possible job for me. To be fair, part of the reason was that I hated the word “bellybutton” and thought anyone who said ”navel” instead had the right idea, so it’s not like I really understood that part of it.

    • Redex@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      It’s also possible that these aren’t all of the available answers and they only selected the ones they thought are interesting.

    • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
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      2 days ago

      It says all the children were given an option to pick up to 3 answers. Given the small sample size, it’s likely there were questioned by the same person and that person didn’t convey that to children properly.

      Or they are all very focused on only 1 path.

      • Ecco the dolphin@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        It says all the children were given an option to pick up to 3 answers.

        Mmhmm, I also noticed that, which is why it’s the second sentence in my post.

        Given the small sample size

        It’s a survey of 3,000? It’s still possible that only one person was giving the survey to the Chinese students.

        But yeah, it does look like the Chinese students got different instructions or had them explained differently or something. Just a strange poll.