School projects that require me to be "artistic/creative"

All Nines

That's not how creativity works, especially in the case of an assignment most students don't give a shit about save for passing, and a lot of us have no talent for artistry.

Crimson

Usually, this means "slap a bunch of pictures on it". They don't really care as much as you think.

Moerin

Just hand in a blank sheet of paper.  If they protest, claim it's Dada.

All Nines

@Neo_Crimson: Nah, my teacher's kind of a bitch, and she probably already hates me since I ditzed out and fucked up a lab and didn't show my work on four ridiculously easy homework math problems (seriously, 57.9 g/cm^3 divided by 3 cm^3? It's depressing enough that people need calculators for this, but show the work? Come on). And this time it's a poster that's supposed to be colored in by hand, so I can't just slap pictures on it.

IJBM: Having to show my work on easy math. If the problem isn't complicated enough that I can't solve it in my head, I don't think it necessitates that much written effort, and if it is, well, I'm going to have to write it out anyway, right?

@Moerin: Unfortunately, that won't fly, and I'd rather not get into the habit of sassing her. Especially if it turns out to be too late for me to drop the class.

delta534

Is this for physics and if so, what kind of physics(general or engineering) are you taking, because it could be really depressing.

RedEyedAbyss

What year are you in? I thought they stopped making you do this crap after junior high.

All Nines

^^ It's for Honors Chemistry, a class which I was hoping to avoid altogether, but that the school decided I ought to take. Physics was never half this much of a pain, and I wasn't aware until some point this year that I don't have to take two sciences this year. Stupid guidance.

^ The class I'm in ranges from 10th graders, who were able to take Honors Biology Freshman year instead of being forced to take Earth Science first like my class, to 12th graders like me, who took Physics first and were probably hoping not to have to take the class.

delta534

I thought you were in college for some reason. Since you are in high school this kind of assignment makes much more sense. It can still go fuck itself. I hate assignments like that as well. Guidance counselors do try to help, but most of the time only have a set plan and deviation from that plan is not in there books. 

Chagen

"(seriously, 57.9 g/cm^3 divided by 3 cm^3? It's depressing enough that people need calculators for this, but show the work? Come on). "

Who the fuck would do that without a calculator

RedEyedAbyss

Seriously, there's one carry operation in that problem, and it's so simple you don't even need it. I could figure that out in the time it takes someone to type the operations in.

But for reference, without the units, it's 57.9 / 3. Though now that I think about it, it's odd to divide the reciprocal of a cubic centimetre by a cubic centimetre. Are you sure you wrote it right?

Chagen

Eh, I'm just used to being glued to the calculator. I have trouble focusing on a single problem long enough to do it in my head--not to mention that my memory is horrible, and I'd end up forgetting something important halfway through....

RedEyedAbyss

"Eh, I'm just used to being glued to the calculator."

If you're considering taking any degree that requires higher math, work to get out of that habit now. Most of the higher-level stuff cannot be done with calculators, and it wastes a lot of time to be to focused on the little things.

All Nines

"Who the fuck would do that without a calculator"

I suppose I'm a biased example; I make it a point to answer questions like that and 31.5/10.5 before people finish typing in their calculators, and I've been known to do double digit by double digit mental multiplication to entertain people. Hooray for useless skills!

But in all seriousness, neither of the problems I mentioned should require calculators for the average person, and teachers' insistence on making students use calculators is disappointing.

RedEyedAbyss

"Hooray for useless skills!"

Try an accounting job, and then see if you would still say that.

Moerin

Mental arithmatic really is a dying art, isn't it?  Sigh... Kids today, relying on their fancy machines to do everything.

Chagen

It's not like people are becoming dumber because they use calculators.

Now, people are becoming dumber, but for rather different reasons, but that's another show.

All Nines

"Try an accounting job, and then see if you would still say that."

Hm. Something to consider. How likely is it that that would require me to take courses on it in college? I'm guessing accounting isn't an entry-level job, and I was gonna major in English. >.>

"It's not like people are becoming dumber because they use calculators."

If not dumber, then lazier, less skilled, and more prone to underestimating themselves.

Lol totally sperging right now.

Chagen

"

If not dumber, then lazier, less skilled, and more prone to underestimating themselves."

 

That was already happening, and people were lazy before calculators as well.

 

And I'm still highly skilled in math....and I have a tendency to overestimate my own skills.

RedEyedAbyss

"Now, people are becoming dumber, but for rather different reasons, but that's another show."

They say that every generation. Next.

"Hm. Something to consider. How likely is it that that would require me to take courses on it in college? I'm guessing accounting isn't an entry-level job, and I was gonna major in English. >.>"

To be honest, I don't know, since that wasn't my major. Though I hear liberal arts degrees are supposed to be jack-of-all-trades in the sense that the skills are general career skills.

DonZabu

Patrick: MATH IS POWER!

In seriousness, though, I wouldn't be able to figure that out mentally either. That's why I want to get into writing jobs rather than math jobs. What does that say about me?

Bee

"Who the fuck would do that without a calculator"

19.3.

It's not particularly difficult when everything before and after the decimal divides evenly.  And if you can't do it in your head, the long division is three steps long and probably shorter than it would take to dig out your calculator.

Everest, if you think having to show your work there is bad, the CIM benchmark around here made me take a page to explain my reasoning behind how I found the area of a 3x5 pool table.  At the time they gave me that test, I was in pre-calculus and almost could have done it with area integration.

Moerin

Actually, if anything people are getting smarter and more aware of the world around them.  It's just that they're also becoming lazier, as they expect everything to be provided for them and throw tantrums if they don't have everything right at their fingertips.  They just don't bother with the effort anymore.

RedEyedAbyss

^^^You're one of those humanities types, and thus we can't be friends.

Noimporta

Try an accounting job, and then see if you would still say that.

We aren't in 1970 anymore, being good in arithmetics is not a very important skill for an accountant.

Hm. Something to consider. How likely is it that that would require me to take courses on it in college?

Very? You don't need a degree to be an accounting assistant, but in many countries (don't know how it works in the US) you need an accounting degree to approve financial statements. Of course, many colleges allow you the possibility to do a Masters degree in a such subjects even with an unrelated bachelor's degree.

All Nines

"the CIM benchmark around here made me take a page to explain my reasoning behind how I found the area of a 3x5 pool table. "

Good thing I'm not majoring in math, huh?

"Though I hear liberal arts degrees are supposed to be jack-of-all-trades in the sense that the skills are general career skills."

That's what my current English teacher told me a week or two ago, as well. He cited instruction handbook writing as something that is normally done horribly that an English major would do better.

"I wouldn't be able to figure that out mentally either."

I suppose plenty of people can't. But if people didn't so often use their calculators, I think there'd be more who could.

Bee

It wasn't for math majors, it was something they made everyone do in my high school.  They were test driving some kind of additional state requirement that was so far below the bar they already had that there was no point.

All Nines

Wait, really? Super lame.

"We aren't in 1970 anymore, being good in arithmetics is not a very important skill for an accountant."

DonZabu

>You're one of those humanities types, and thus we can't be friends.