Far too long

It has been far too long since I posted on here, so it is high time I did it.

This morning as I drove in, I made the conscious choice of not listening to an audio book or podcast. I even left the radio off for the majority of the drive. It was somewhat enlightening. Usually I drive in with Angel, my wife and we'll listen to the radio, commenting about the songs or go through the day's activities or what needs to happen when we get home. With Angel on her last week of maternity leave I was by myself as I drove and I found that my thoughts went in directions that they normally don't.

One of the first thoughts I had was, "What would happen if I crashed and died?" How's that for your morning commute? I really thought through the implications - my wife would be a widow, my kids without their father, and life would get really, really hard for them. My life insurance policy should help them through the worse of the financial difficulties my death would bring, but (and I'm not bragging here) I also help out a lot around the house. I enjoy being able to do things for my family - even things like dishes and laundry. My death would mean that so much more would be put on my wife and children. It didn't take long for me to be able to visualize what their lives would be like without me. I was more mindful of my speed and drove a little more carefully. I also realized that no matter how carefully I drove there was still a chance of a random accident that could cause my death. There is only so much you can do and then you just don't worry about what you can't do.

I also pondered on day light savings time. We're approaching the time change in a couple of weeks. It used to occasionally fall on my mother's birthday and she often said that an extra hour of sleep was one of the best gifts she could receive. There are people that want to do away with day light savings time and their reasons are not baseless. I'm one of those people who don't tend to have a problem adjusting to the time change. There are times, like this morning, when I enjoy being out in the pre-dawn light and I think that it's a pity to lose that, but given another month and I'm back to driving in pre-dawn light. My sister, Muscles, lived in Arizona for several years and they don't observe DST, so I always had to double check what time it was there. Either way, I can take or leave DST, so well see what people who care about it end up doing.

There were other thoughts and feelings that I went through on the drive in, but I'll leave those for another time. Life has brought a lot of changes and my family is about to experience another with my wife returning to work and the kids to the daycare provider. I really wish we didn't need for our children to be watched by someone else. And that too is a topic for another day.

Activism or Slacktavism or Social Marketing

This last week I was challenged to do the ALS ice bucket challenge. I donated what I could and then took a cold shower.

There has been some criticism of the challenge. Some people disagree with the practice of using embryonic stem cell research, which is common with some forms of ALS research. But many others are criticizing the challenge as promoting slactavism. Maybe the best way to explain this is with a video (from somebody else).

There are many things that people do on social media in the name of charity, but what good does it do just to share, like, +1, or comment on something? Many people see the challenge as donate money or dump ice water on your head. With everybody dumping water on their head is any money being donated? Is this just a way for people to show how awesome they are by dousing themselves with celebrities, politicians, and business leaders. What good is it doing?

The short answer to this question is that the Ice Bucket Challenge has raised over 94 million (94.3 as of Aug 27th) with help from their donors (which include 2.1 million new donors). Their previous year's donation during the same period was 2.7 million. I don't think these numbers could be considered a coincidence. A 3492% increase is nothing to sneeze at. And they didn't have to advertise any of it. It just happened as people shared their videos.

One of my colleagues and I have been discussing this. She is tired of seeing videos of people dumping water on themselves and I can't blame her. But is it doing any real damage? Probably not - other than the multiple instances of people getting the cooler dropped on their head or other such mishaps. I can only assume that many of the people posting humorous videos of them getting wet (or not getting wet) are still donating. I can't imagine that Bill Gates would douse himself rather than donate to an acknowledged needed cause. Granted, he was probably an established donor before the challenge.

So, even though many people may be slacktavists, the campaign has still been a huge success. Even if the increase of funds was more modest it could be argued that the challenge did a lot help the battle with ALS. One of the biggest things that organizations, both for-profit and non-profit, face is getting their message and their product out into the public mind. Even if nobody explains what ALS is in their performance of the challenge the fact that thousands are dumping ice water on themselves in the name of ALS would cause people to investigate and consequently learn more about the condition. This is a kind of social marketing that many organizations would proverbially kill for. Just as it is possible for social media to launch the careers of many musicians and other careers having the ALS ice bucket challenge go viral the way it has will, hopefully, not just help this year but in years to come.

Suspension of Disbelief

This last weekend my family sat down to watch Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. It was not a spectacular movie, but it was entertaining. We were worried about my son Tigger. I often call him an omniphob (afraid of everything) and I knew that there would be large animals and bugs that he might find scary. He actually did really well. I think this was with because the creatures that normally terrify him when they are less than an inch across were huge. As in unrealistically huge. Of course they weren't real!

What's interesting is that at one point my wife and I both when, "Yeah, right!" at an action performed by the characters. I think it was when they jump-started 140 year old batteries with a large electric eel. Right after I said it I thought, "We're watching a movie that says that Jules Vern wrote non-fiction, giant animals are real, and popping your pecks is the best way to attract a girl and were complaining about this?" Like Nick from Schlock Mercenary says, "You can't make up rules about X because I already know those rules."

This is a prime example of an inability to suspend disbelief. It's amazing what we allow ourselves to accept but what we throw out. I'm not going to talk about how to do this well - I'll leave that to Writing Excuses. What I find myself musing over the ease I accept and reject things in my entertainment. Journey 2 is just one example. Howard Tayler in his review of the movie The A-team wrote, "I'm not entirely sure what the Pants of Realisty are for, but if you don't have good Suspenders of Disbelief then The A-team will leave those pants around your ankles..." The physics in that movie are just plain broken, not just bent. Granted, as the director pointed out, if you have a problem with exploding cars and helicopters avoiding missiles by turning off their engines then you shouldn't be watching an A-team movie. I find other things entertaining that have big gaping problems with physics, history, logic, and a few other things. 10,000 BC is another one. Every time I watch it I rant and rave about the inconsistency in geography, yet I find it really entertaining.

I think the key word is entertaining. If you have a fun story with fun visual effects and good characters who I care about I am a lot more likely to allow you to break physics wide open. You can't go too far, of course, or it will pull me out of the story, but if you want cars to explode because someone shot the engine, I'm cool with it. You'll notice though that I gave several criteria for me to enjoy something. You'll notice that "fun visual effects" is one, but the others are fun story and good characters which I care about. Don't expect fun visual effects to be able to sway me all on its own. Sadly I think many movies try to get by on visuals alone.

Smiles and the Unknown

This week I learned that one of my cousins was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He was born at 25 weeks gestation, two weeks earlier than my son, Tigger. They were the same weight although my cousin, Smiles, was a little bit longer. He spent over 100 days in the same NICU as Tigger and was released about a year ago. He is an adorable little boy who is full of smiles (hence my name for him). And despite the unknowns ahead of him, I think he'll be just fine.

I don't mean this in any way to distract from the challenges that he is facing. After learning of the diagnoses I had to look up what cerebral palsy is. I had heard of it, but didn't know how it worked. Interesting enough, The 2nd website listed under cerebral palsy was from KidsHealth.org. After reading up on it (from a couple of different websites) I can understand why. CP typically manifests because of brain damage caused from before birth up to five years of life. For those that have had children born prematurely you probably had a health professional sit down and talk brain damage with you. Tigger had a level 3 brain bleed that we know caused some damage. What's strange is that there is very few ways to tell the level of debility that the bleed will cause. The levels, 1 through 4, are just ways of assessing the damage to the tissue, but since the brain can be a puzzling thing, just because the tissue is damage doesn't mean that it will have an affect on the abilities of the individual. With Tigger, we know that bleed caused his gross motor skill development to be delayed. The usual pathways the brain uses to learn things like walking, talking, and potty training, were destroyed so the brain has to find a new, longer, path. So far Tigger has hit his developmental milestones - it just takes him longer.

Knowing about CP is similar. They don't know exactly what causes it and there are three different types of ways it can manifest but there is no set result of having it. Some may be severally disabled while others may have limited impairments. The thing that is so terrifying is that there is no cure and there is no way of knowing ahead of time what is going to be the extent of the difficulties. All that is know is that the child will be limited in some way. As someone who has faced the unknown I can say that it is terrifying.

If you know what to expect you can prepare. If you know what is going to happen you can act. But when you don't know what is going to happen or even what you could expect there is very little you can actually do. Doing something, action, is a way of relieving stress. Whenever there is a tragedy you'll always see people rushing to DO something about it. Natural disasters are easy things to act on. Gun violence, bombs, or acts of terror are a little more complex, but again you see people tightening security and trying to pass new measures designed to keep it from happening again. With an illness like diabetes or cancer their are established treatments and options, even if you don't know which one you'll need, you can start researching them. The sudden flurry of action is not always useful, but it makes people feel like they are doing something about the situation and trying to fix it.

It is hard to do anything when you don't know what needs to be done. If you sit still you appear to be apathetic to your situation. But if you rush about tying to DO something you may very well wear yourself down doing nothing productive. The mental and emotional toll are heavy as well as you try to wrap your brain around the unknowns. Perhaps the best way to describe it is that you body is ready for action - your fight-or-flight response is active, but there is nothing to fight or to flee from. Robison Wells has an anxiety disorder which manifests itself by turning his fight-or-flight response on and not shutting it off has described it feeling like he was being chased by wolves. That kind of emotional stress takes a toll.

But as I said, I feel confident that Smiles will do just fine. His parents are just great people, but people who have seen loss and yet know how to smile, laugh, and celebrate the joys they have. Smile's mother started a blog when he came out of the NICU called "A Laugh or Death Situation." Mama Crazy and her husband, Senior Guapo, decided to choose laughter over tears. When you hold Smiles you can't help but notice his smile. Regardless of what challenges he may face, he has already faced so many and yet still has such a wonderful smile. Yes, the unknown is truly terrifying, but I think that the film "Rise of the Guardians" (2012) got it right. When the nightmares are around you it's surprising how a little bit of fun can help dispel them.

I look forward to helping Smiles as he starts this new journey of his as well as experiencing the smiles he freely gives.

I need a new phone

The time has come for me to get a new cell phone. I have mixed feelings about this because I really like my current phone. Contrary to what many who know me might think, my phone is not a smart phone. It is just a regular, boring, phone with a sliding qwerty keyboard for texting. It does have a music player built into it and a IR camera which is fun to take very low level light pictures with, but other than that, it just makes calls and texts. Even though many people around me were getting smart phones with data plans, I resisted. I had an iPod touch to meet my "smart" device needs. What was the point of getting a smart phone when it would do the same thing as my iPod? That, and I enjoyed the fact that I could listen to music, play games, and a host of other things until the battery went dead on my iPod and still make phone calls on my phone. Well, while both of my devices are still functioning they appear to be on the decline and since they are declining at similar rates and I imagine they will both go "kuput!" at about the same time. Is it time to combine?

I have very mixed feelings. On one hand, I like my set up. It means I rarely have to worry about a dead battery on my phone regardless of how much I listen to my audio books. My phone is also very, very portable. I can fit it into the watch pocket of some of my trousers. It also has a physical qwerty keyboard which is very easy to use. My iPod, regardless of it's issues, is very familiar also rather portable, being smaller than many smart phones. On the other hand, it means I end up carrying two devices. Also the screen size of both devices is rather small when compared to current mobile devices. And while I hate to say it I must face the fact that when my wife upgraded her phone to a Galaxy S3 I had screen envy. Probably the most compelling reasons that I am planning on shifting to a smart phone are: 1) the "dumb" phones on the market all appear to be of very poor quality as the phone companies are trying to get people to guy the phones that require a bigger service plan, and 2) my trip to Boston showed me that having a phone that can access just about everything is indeed very handy and useful.

Since sitting down with Angel to talk about the situation (she's been advocating, but not pressuring, that I get a smart phone for a year or more) and deciding to get a smart phone I've put a lot of thought into what kind of phone I want. Leeroy, her brother, and I was talking a couple of weeks ago about phones and he mentioned the new term "Phablet." While I have contemplated getting a miniature tablet for internet usable around the house or work, ebooks, and entertainment, I don't want my phone to be that cumbersome. I want something that I can fit in my front or shirt pocket or in the leg pocket of a pair of carpenter jeans without difficulty. There comes a point where these phablets are no longer conveniently portable.

For me, i think the limit is a 5 inch screen. I understand that 5 inches is considered the low end of the phablet size, but I've had the opportunity to look at a couple of phones of that size and try them out. I have a couple of advantages that others might not when it comes to manipulating and carrying that size. My hands are, on average, much bigger than most other peoples. I have large palms and long fingers which make it easy for me to work a big screen. In portability I also have trousers with large pockets. All but my dressiest pair have a large carpenter like pocket on the leg, and one pair has cargo pockets large enough to hold a paperback book. I really like these leg pockets as they don't make it uncomfortable to sit down with the phone in my pockets.

While I'm not 100% sure, I'm pretty decided on a phone. But I'm keeping an open mind for when I actually go to the store to get everything set up. I am now excited for the outcome - a reaction I always look for.

Fisking a Developmental Math Petition

A favored author of my, Larry Correia, will engage in taking an article or blog post and systematically discussing its failings. Using his format as an example, I am going to address a recent article in the Ogden Standard Examiner about a student who started a petition against Weber State's developmental math program. The original article can be found here. The original article below is in regular text while my comments are in bold/italics.

Student petition blasts WSU math program

OGDEN -- It’s not unusual to see students break down into tears because of Weber State University’s Developmental Mathematics Program, according to Lauralee Stephens Kohl.


It's not uncommon to see student break down because of math anywhere. Math is widely considered a difficult and involved topic. If crying students was the only reason to change a program then the Interior Design program at USU should be change. Or nursing programs all over the country. Or Culinary Arts, medical school, law school, anatomy courses, chemistry courses, computer science courses. The list is nearly endless.


The program was already difficult for students who are struggling with math, and changes to the program only add obstacles to graduation, she said. That’s why she’s circulating a petition to stop the changes.

“It’s like an abyss,” Kohl, of Brigham City, said of the program. “Once you get in it, you feel like you just can’t get out.”

Kathryn Van Wagoner, director of the Developmental Math Program, says many of the concerns listed in the petition are based on misinformation or misunderstandings.

“I have received some emails from students about some information they were given, and it’s actually not correct information,” she said. “We are transitioning to this new plan, so we've been refining and verifying our internal communications prior to making a formal announcement of the new plan, and student concerns have brought to my attention some information that has to be corrected on the website.”


So you are saying that the math program shouldn't change? They shouldn't try to incorporate new technologies, teaching methods, or more accurate assessment tools? If people didn't like change in mathematics we would still be using lines and circles. We wouldn't be past Roman numerals. That would make everything better. Consider this. A recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education shows that the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) primarily rely on lecture based teachingf much to the determent of their students. Lecturing has been shown to have limitations particularly "that lecturing is not suited for higher levels of learning: comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation." Those are the very levels that math is designed to stimulate. Why would you want to stop a math program from making changes to their program in an attempt to improve instruction and student experience?


Jeff Henry, president of WSU’s Student Senate, sat down with Van Wagoner to discuss the rumors about the program changes.

“I wanted to get an understanding of what exactly is happening,” he said. “From what she’s explained ... the new changes are going to be beneficial to students.”

So, what Kathy said was right, many of the concerns are due to misinformation and misunderstanding. Once Jeff Henry got his understanding he saw the changes as beneficial. So maybe it's not the program.


Developmental math is, essentially, pre-college math for students whose skills are not quite up to college standards. According to WSU’s website, 75 percent of public four-year universities across the nation offer developmental classes.

The first complaint Kohl lists in her petition is the practice of placing holds on students who have not completed developmental math classes within a certain period of time. Until those classes are completed, no other classes can be taken.

Van Wagoner says that practice has been gone since January. The idea was to motivate students to complete the classes, instead of causing bigger problems for themselves through procrastination. It didn’t work.


"It didn't work" So they changed it. There were many people who celebrated that change. I know of sparkling cider and treats being shared in some offices. Students were not the only ones that didn't like that. Again, they wanted to help students and when they saw it didn't work they got rid of it. Also, if your first concern on your petition was resolved six months ago I would say that you're off to a bad start. Have you done your homework about the issue before asking for signatures?


At the heart of Kohl’s petition is the use of Accuplacer exams to determine in which class to place students, based on their math skills.

“When I started ... you could take unlimited AccuPlacer placement tests,” Kohl said.

It cost students $10 per test, but many were willing to take them several times in an attempt to score high enough to get out of taking certain classes. Now the number of times a test can be taken has been limited, she said.

“We made that change quite some time ago,” said Van Wagoner, “because students were repeatedly testing and not making any improvement in their placement, and basically throwing their money away.”

Now students have two attempts at the placement test, which is enough to allow a retake, said Van Wagoner. More should not be necessary, because the point of a placement test is to find out what math do you know, so you are put into the right class.

Henry agrees that taking the test multiple times isn’t helpful.

“If I’m taking it 15 times, I’m really guessing — I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said, adding that the current policy of allowing the test just twice a year is fair and reasonable.

Can you argue with their reasoning? "were repeatedly testing and not making any improvement...basically throwing their money away." Kathy basically is saying "We don't want your money if it's not helping you." But this change limited the effectiveness of Acer Placer - and that's what a lot of student object to.

Acer Placer is a private company that "offer[s] personalized instruction in a class of no more than 8 students. Our instructors guide you through the materials covered on the Accuplacer math placement test." They claim, "students from any background in math can test our of Math 1050." I cannot condemn them nor can I recommend them. I don't really want to do either. This is because I've seen them work for some students and not work for other students. Students take an eight week course which involves taking the Accuplacer test multiple times, often more than once a week. When WSU limited the number of times a student could take the Accuplacer students enrolled in Acer Placer courses claimed it was because we were trying to shut down Acer Placer - that WSU felt threatened by Acer Placer.
It wasn't, WSU doesn't. It's because of the reasons that Kathy gave above. It is also worth considering that students that take the same test multiple times will learn how the test reacts. So, are those students learning how to succeed in a math class, are they demonstrating that they know the basis of algebra well enough to succeed in a class or are they just learning how to take a test? I will never understand a statement I've heard so often. "I'm not good at math, so I'm going to test out." If you aren't good at something what makes you think you can test out? If students want to spend money on a private company which wants $1000 dollars that is their right. If Acer Placer is teaching students mathematical concepts and principles then it doesn't matter what test they take - math is math whether its Accuplacer, ACT, Math Mastery, or SAT. Math is the same in English, French, Russian, and Chinese. Do what you want to study for the test. Just don't expect us to endorse wasting your time taking the same test twelve times with minimal results.


Starting Aug. 25., the Accuplacer test won’t even be used for math placement. It’s being replaced by a weighted rubric of high school GPA and ACT math scores.

“We’ve eliminated the need for students to take a placement test,” Van Wagoner said. “We did an internal review of past student success, and found ACT scores and GPA were a good indicator of student success.”

Look! You don't even have to take the test. You don't have to spend your money if you don't want to.


Students who don’t have an ACT score, or who want to improve their placement, will now be given the “Math Mastery” exam.

If you want to test out of classes go ahead! We're not trying to stop you.


Kohl objects to the “Math Mastery” exam, saying it’s based on the school’s 0950 and 0990 math courses.

“The math program has a 60 percent fail rate at Weber State, so you’re not teaching the essential skills needed,” she said, adding that the curriculum should be fixed before it’s the basis of testing.


Of course! The curriculum is at fault! The topics that they cover in Math 0950 and 0990, which are almost identical to other developmental math courses offered around the state. The subject of mathematics, one of the most standardized topics across the state is at fault for the 60% fail rate. Only 40% of people in college can do fractions, real numbers, decimals, exponents, and ratios. The curriculum of the developmental math classes was taught 500 years ago and last week in millions of elementary schools across the country and the world. Of course it's the curriculum that's at fault. Blame the professors. Blame the technology, Blame astrology. Blame any variable you care to, but to say that the basic curriculum of the developmental math classes of Weber State is not suitable material to gauge a student's ability to succeed in math is laughable. If you can't do fractions, it's not the fractions' fault. It might be yours, it might be your sub-par teacher's fault, it might the fault of dyscalculia , but it's not the fractions.


She says she spent three times the required hours working on math assignments, and never improved until she took math classes from a private tutoring business.


Students in developmental math courses that use the Hub meet one day a week (50 minutes) and are required to meet 100 minutes to simulate the time they would normally spend in class if they were in a regular lecture course. Research has shown that for every hour in class, students can expect to spend two hours outside of class on homework and studying. This is widely acknowledged. Let's say she spend 300 minutes a week in the Hub, that is three times the required amount for the class. Based on our ratio of hours in class per hours out of class she is short another 100 minutes a week. A common misconception is that those 100 minutes is the minimum to succeed in class. It is not. It is the same simply attending class. Homework is extra. She made a great start and just needs to keep going.

Van Wagoner says changes have been made. In addition to online classes and a TERM (Technology Enhanced Redesign of Mathematics) self-paced course, which students do on their own with help available from tutors, the program is offering developmental math classes in flipped form. Flipped classes ask students to study lessons at home, and then meet in a classroom, with a teacher, four days a week while working through assignments.

The program is also starting a new “Pathway to Contemporary Mathematics” (Math 0810) class, for students who aren’t going into science, technology, engineering or math.

“It’s not necessarily less rigorous, it’s just more relevant to the student,” said Van Wagoner, explaining that it has less emphasis on algebra.


Again, the developmental math department is expanding their offerings in an attempt to meet the needs of more students. And they are petitioning to stop that? You want math instruction to stay the same and not look for new and improved methods of teaching and reaching out to students?


Kohl’s petition also says the “Math Mastery” exam can only be taken once a year, and will be more difficult to pass because it’s fill in the blanks instead of multiple choice.

“It’s tricky. If you put in 0.5 instead of 1/2, it’s wrong,” she said.

That is true, said Van Wagoner, but each question will tell you the format in which the answer should be written.


If you can't follow instructions.....


Joanna Bushell, of Ogden, signed Kohl’s petition. She is one of several students who has been taking private math classes to learn skills, and then taking AccuPlacer tests multiple times at an applied technology college.

“It’s not a trick — you have to know math to pass,” she said. “There’s no way to just fumble your way through AccuPlacer and get an accidental passing grade.”

Taking the test multiple times is for practice.


Good! If they teach you want you need to know and you can still practice what's the problem?


“Once you feel confident you can pass it consistently, you go to Weber State and hope you can pass,” she said.


Hope you pass? If you know the stuff and you pass it consistently, why wouldn't you be able to do it at Weber State? Math is math (as shown above).


Carin Mann, of Layton, is using AccuPlacer to test out of math completely.

“I’m not even signed up for math at Weber State University,” she said. “I heard horrible things about it, and that nobody can pass it.”

And a person who has not even tried something is a good source for information about the situation. This is also a good place to mention that many student that don't take developmental math courses at Weber, take developmental math classes is at one of two Applied Technology Colleges near by. Weber does not discourage students from taking classes there. What is interesting is that they use a self paced modular layout for instruction. There is no teacher and no tutor support. We use a similar system: modular and with minimal class time, so students can work as fast or slow as they want within the usual semester time line. So students that attend the ATCs are taking classes using the same format that they would here but they don't have a designated professor or free tutoring services. I've learned that some students after taking classes at the ATCs returned to Weber because we can provide additional support unavailable at the ATC. We're okay with students taking classes somewhere else and transferring them in. I just find it funny that they avoid us because they hear that "Weber math is hard!" just to go somewhere that is just like our program with less help.


Bushell says eliminating AccuPlacer tests forces students into developmental math classes at WSU.

“They’re gradually narrowing it down so your only option is to take two years, or four semesters, of their math classes,” she said.


Because we only want to to take our courses. That's why we accept transfer work. That's why we allow students to complete their math requirement how ever they want. That's why we still allow students to test out of math. That's right, not just test out of developmental math, but students can still completely test out of math. The only thing that has changed is that they need to demonstrate their competence in fewer attempts.


She’s afraid the real reason for doing away with AccuPlacer is monetary, because students would have to pay for WSU classes instead of private tutoring.

“I would imagine it’s a great money maker for the university,” she said.


Because the $1000 dollars they pay for to Acer Placer is such a loss to us. The average class size is 3 credits. Based on current tuition rates if they only took that one class the cost would be $920. Yes, we might feel that, but Weber's job is not to make money. It's what we need to do to help enhance our programs and offerings, but nobody who works with students is being told by administrators, "If students don't register for developmental Math classes then you're out of a job." But very few students take just one class because it's not as economical as going full time (12 credits), or even just going part time. If a student who traditionally attends 12 semesters says, "I'm only going to do nine semesters and take my math somewhere else" the difference between the tuition and fee's cost is just under $500. If a student did that for three semesters we would lose $1500, less than what one additional student would bring in by taking six credits. While the student in question would save $500. Unless you are going to try to test out of at least two classes there is no real cost benefit to Acer Placer. Not to mention, if the student continues to take 12 credits we essentially don't lose anything. I can understand their reasoning to save money. The argument that we will suffer monetarily simply because of a small percentage of our students not taking upwards of 10 credits over the course of their 60 to 120 credit university career is silly. Not to mention tuition and fees are used to pay for services and resources to support students - most of which are not used by the students. Yes, we are money grubbers and developmental math is our method of staying in the black.


The new policies apply to all students, no matter when they started at WSU, according to Kohl.

Because the “Math Mastery” test takes over on Aug. 25, students who were counting on testing out through AccuPlacer are in a pinch.

“They should have to give more notice,” said Bushell. “I just need to test out of math to get my degree. ... I have approximately 30 days to do it.”


Interesting if you can test out of three classes over the course of 8 weeks, why would you have problems simply completing once class over 16 weeks? How much notice would you require? 8 weeks? The change was made at the beginning of Summer semester which was the first week of May. It's been at least 11 weeks since then not to mention another four weeks until the deadline goes into effect. If you had wanted to do the Acer Placer course, you could have done it twice in the time give. Thirty days is four weeks, what were you doing the other four weeks?


Van Wagoner says every change that’s been made has been with the goal of having students take fewer math classes, and get to graduation.

“We want them to be successful in their math,” she said.

She knows the changes make for a complex situation, and encourages students to meet with advisers on a regular basis.


Ever since we heard about this change I have asked every student how they intend to complete their Math requirement. Those that said that they were doing Acer Placer, or even that they "intended to test out" that there were changes and that they needed to talk to the Developmental Math Department before paying for anything. Most of the things that students experience difficulty with could have been either prevented, fixed, or avoided by talking to an advisor. Yes, we try to contact students about policy changes, but we are limited by the information students give us. I've been involved in initiatives to contact students and many do not have current or correct contact information. Others still do not return correspondence which may indicate that they don't receive it, read it, or care about it. If students don't try to stay in contact with us there is no way to verify that we can reach them.


“If there is any student who has any kinds of concerns about math, I would be glad to meet with them,” she said.

Contact reporter Becky Wright at 801-625-4274 or bwright@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @ReporterBWright.


Overall, I thought the reporter did a decent job showing both sides. I am continually amazed at the lengths people will go to find a way around math. It seems that if some people put the effort they dedicate to complaining, circumnavigating, and trying to work the system to just doing what is asked of them in the system they would be done. Yes, math is hard. Yes, it is abstract, Yes, you will rarely, if ever, see it the same way that it is shown in the text book. Yes, it takes time you would rather use to do other things. So does a lot of other things and yet we do them. Taxes, insurance, immigration, legal proceedings, raising children, dating, recovering from illness. Yet people do those things too. Yes, those examples are all individual and different. People still do it. Math is required for a college degree and so you do it if you want the degree. In your work life there may be times you have to do something undesirable for your boss. Think of this the same way. If you have difficulty ask for help. If that person can help you, ask someone else - just like anything else that's hard. There are legitimate disabilities that prevent people from succeeding in math classes - get help for them, we will accommodate you as needed. I am more than willing to acknowledge the difficulties these students have experienced in math. I am not willing to consider this petition as being the slightest bit useful.

Update: As it turns out this article was useful to the Developmental math Department at Weber State. Kathy VanWagoner said that she wanted to do a press release when they made changes but the PR department wouldn't do it. Then this article came out and she was required to do a press release.

Cake or Why Americans like sweet

I grew up enjoying dessert. I have a strong sweet tooth and have been known to raid the chocolate chips supply. To me one of the prime sources of sweets is baking. Pies, cakes, cookies, brownies, pastries, tarts, cobblers, crisps. Even fresh baked breads and rolls are something that I enjoy more than most other things. This weekend I made an "old-fashion pound cake" from the Lion House Cakes and Cupcakes cook book.

My wife and I tried a slice each before serving it and remarked on how it wasn't a particularly sweet cake by itself. We served it, as recommended, with whipped cream and strawberries and black berries and enjoyed it much more. This got us thinking about the different types of cake and  differences between richness and sweetness. From my own experience in Russia it seemed that there was a preference for richness than sweetness when it came to desserts. Russian cakes weren't as sweet as those I'd had in America. Russian food in general wasn't as sweet. I knew several locals who told me that they couldn't eat Snickers candy bars because they were too sweet. American food has been considered too sweet by others, many blaming high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as the reason. However, I think the sweetness was there prior to the corn syrup. HFCS got it's big break in the food industry when sugar took a tariff hit and increased in price making the HFCS more economical. It wasn't introduced to make food sweet but rather to replace what was already there.

Perhaps the reason that American food tends to be sweeter is because American's history has been heavenly influenced by sugar. Prior to the discovery of the New World sugar was scarce in Western Europe, a delicacy by all standards. Is is because sugarcane - the primary source of sugar with little competition until the sugar beet became a contender in the mid 1800s - requires particular growing conditions. According to Netafim a company who "has successfully cultivated sugarcane in diverse climates and growing conditions worldwide," states that sugarcane is grown world wide between 36.7 degrees N and 31.0 degrees south latitude and is essentially a tropical plant. For perspective, the countries of Spain, Sicily, Italy, mainland Greece, and Turkey are all located above the 36th parallel, were as the states of Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina are all below the 36th parallel. While those states, with the exception of Florida, are not considered tropical, the Caribbean is. And turned out to be very good to grow sugarcane.

While the North American colonies, for the most part, did not actually produce sugar they were involved in the sugar trade. They grew a lot of the food that went to the sugar rich islands. Islands that were growing so much sugar they important their food because it was cheaper to buy food with sugar money than try to grow it themselves. Sugar was king. Due to proximity to the sugar rich Caribbean I suspect that it was easier to get sugar in the North American colonies than in Europe. Now, the mother countries would of course want to hoard the sugar, and its profits, as much as possible and as a luxury item not everyone could afford it, but it would be very easy for smugglers, privateers, pirates, and other such entrepreneurs to sell their forbidden cargoes in the colonies than sailing all the way back to Europe. We know that the colonies ultimately evolved an identity and decided to throw off the chains of their imperial masters forming the USA that we all know today. While a melting pot the colonies began to develop their own culture and consequently their own take on past traditions and customs. Including food. With an increased accessibility to sugar it is more than possible that they fortified their native dishes with it.

While, "American as apple pie" is not strictly true - apple pies are not native to the USA - comparing various apple pie and apple pie analogs does show some possible evidence for my hypothesis. I've found receipts for "Real Dutch Apple Pie," a French apple tart, a apple pie that looks lot like what Russians make, and an "American" apple pie. The Dutch receipt has the most sugar overall, with 250 grams, but that includes 180 g. for the pastry and 70 g. for the filling. The American pie has 1 cup (1/2 cup white + 1/2 cup brown sugar) which is just over 236 g a difference of about 1.5 teaspoons. However, the American receipt does not include the pastry for the pie, just the filling. Between the American and the Russian apple pies the difference was about 2 tablespoons and a 1/4 of a cup compared to the French apple tart. Again, both the French and Russian receipts include the pastry. Not concrete proof, but interesting. Personally I like them all. Just don't be a little surprised if I put ice cream or whipped cream on any and all of them.