Carrying the One

When I was in middle school, graphing calculators had just come out on the market.  They were so advanced that some classes didn't allow using them, because it gave you answers you should be figuring out on your own. 

"There is no profession that does not use math in some way or another," every math teacher I've ever had said.  And this is true.  But if you ask me to do long division- heck, if you give me a subtraction problem where I have to carry the one- I will reach for my calculator every time. 

We have now jumped from graphing calculators to having calculators on our cell phones.  Cell phones weren't even on the radar (ahem) when I was in sitting in math class.  But we'll still send our kids to school to learn mathematical concepts from their roots.  Oliver made a strong start on this at our trip to the library this evening.

Charlie, on the other hand, has figured out that in the end, it's really not that necessary.