I don't know...I'm glad my teachers didn't come down to our childish levels when teaching us sums and all other subjects. My children, 21, 26, & 29, who did not grow up with calculators attached, are still nonetheless amazed at how well I do sums in my head; sometimes it downright frustrates them!

I am grateful that my teachers had high expectations of us and gave us the tools and training to accomplish them.

I am not sure some of this holds true, today. Teachers are expected to be and do so much more now. They don't have time or energy left, quite often, to really focus on actual teaching. That and children, today, seem to be pretty passive and lazy, in general, about learning. I think there are many reasons for this, mostly societal. And, after all, children will only strive to live up to our expectations, so if those are low, well....there ya go.

MHO, kat