Math problems are a problem for job-seekers, employers say

[Freeper]

FarCenter (12,552 posts)

Math problems are a problem for job-seekers, employers say


 
Before job-seekers fill out an application for work making foam products for the aerospace industry at General Plastics Manufacturing Co. in Tacoma, Wash., they have to take a math test. Eighteen questions, 30 minutes, and using a calculator is OK.

They are asked how to convert inches to feet, read a tape measure and find the density of a block of foam (mass divided by volume).

Basic middle school math, right?

But what troubles General Plastics executive Eric Hahn is that although the company considers only prospective workers who have a high school education, only one in 10 who take the test pass. And that's not just bad luck at a single factory or in a single industry.


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-04-math-problems-problem-job-seekers-employers.html

http://election.democraticunderground.com/10022615254

I bet you they have a ton of self esteem and can put a rubber on a banana though. 

SpearthrowerOwl (10 posts)
1. I have a suggestion.

Last edited Thu Apr 4, 2013, 04:35 PM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

They could pay more to receive more adequately skilled workers.

Meanwhile the market for degree carrying scientists is flooded. There are more degrees served annually in the US currently than at any point in history. It's easy to scapegoat the bad economy and declining US science sector (why do we look at the space shuttle in awe? the thing is over 40 years old....) on lack of qualified scientists in the US, but it's blatantly untrue. Meanwhile, I get out of college with my BS in physics and sit woefully unemployed.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to discover a conscious effort by big business to encourage the flood of the science sector with new graduates as an attempt to lower salaries of "highly paid scientists" by market manipulation.


If they were truly serious about math skills being too low for low wage positions, they wouldn't be trying to stamp out algebra requirements at public schools in Texas.

WTF has pay got to do with being able to do some simple math?

hobbit709 (25,486 posts)
3. Maybe if schools went back to teaching the material instead of teaching how to take a test.

People might learn something.

And who runs the schools?

[Skul]

http://election.democraticunderground.com/10022615254

I bet you they have a ton of self esteem and can put a rubber on a banana though. 

That alone earns one. 

[marv]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/mcdonalds-want-ad-demands-bachelors-degree-two-years-experience-for-cashier/article/2526145

(snip)

A job opening at a Massachusetts McDonald's restaurant for a full-time cashier requires one to two years experience and a bachelor's degree.

"Get a weekly paycheck with a side order of food, folks and fun," offered McDonalds.

It is not clear if the fast-food restaurant really wants that kind of experience or is fishing for the highest-qualified applicants. The website for the Winchedon, Mass., McDonald's also lists jobs in Spanish.

(snip)

Why not! If the cash register burps, do they know how to count out change manually?

[GOBUCKS]

http://washingtonexaminer.com/mcdonalds-want-ad-demands-bachelors-degree-two-years-experience-for-cashier/article/2526145
Why not! If the cash register burps, do they know how to count out change manually?

It probably doesn't matter whether they can count change.

The few times I've been in stores when the electronic registers were down, they just stopped selling.

[A7X_foREVer]

Most of them can't count to 11 without taking off their shoes

[NHSparky]

Dear noob DUmmie OP,

You COULD expect people to meet basic qualifications prior to paying them a shitload of money.  Then again, you COULD have paid attention in school like I did.  I have a degree, yes, but it's barely relevant to my current position yet that doesn't stop me from pulling some decent coin.

I'd love to see what DUmmies would do if they had to jump through the hoops I did/do to not only GET my job, but to KEEP it.  Yeah, just because they hired me doesn't mean I have carte blanche to **** off.

[ChuckJ]

They'll be calling on 0 to pass an executive order designating the correct answer to all math questions to be "potato".

[Karin]

SpearthrowerOwl (10 posts)
1. I have a suggestion.

They could pay more to receive more adequately skilled workers.

That doesn't even follow.  A "BS in physics."  Right. 

And what's with your screenname, noob?  Is that like "spear-chucker?"  Racist scum. 

[NHSparky]

Again, it's not like recruiters are going to the local unemployment offices and going, "Psst!  Wanna $100K/year job?  All ya gotta do is pass this test!"

They're accepting resumes and applicants with supposedly qualified backgrounds.  Tests cost money to administer, but are one way to filter out the BS before conducting the interviews.  Better you have a guy/gal who actually, you know, UNDERSTANDS the basics of what they're doing before you waste the time and effort of hiring them only to find out they're incompetent morons.

[JohnnyReb]

DUmmie has a B.S. in Fizz-icks....... .....and B.S. also stands for bull hockey rocky.

[Wineslob]

Well, DUmmies, what do you expect from all these College kids with Environmental Studies, Wymns Studies, or a Fine Arts degree.....

[A7X_foREVer]

Maybe they should have learned more in school then Pot 101 and Cheetos 102

[BlueStateSaint]

Maybe they should have learned more in school then Pot 101 and Cheetos 102

At least those were subjects that they did well in.

[jukin]

I rightly blame teachers unions. Not necessarily the individual teachers but the unions that keep the worst of the teachers and push to lower standards at every turn. The costs per pupil have skyrocketed, technology use has skyrocketed and students test scores and aptitude have stayed the same or are lower. In every other field technology has made the worker 3-5 times more efficient but not teaching. Why? Unions.

For example, in Oakland a private company took over the worst performing school and within two years this school was in the top 10%. Now, one would think that public schools would look to see what and how this school did to make such an improvement because they are all about the children!!! NO the teachers union sued to get the school out from private control and back down to the worst performing school.

"For the children"="For the teacher union and **** the children"

Until the unions are abolished the children!!! will be screwed.

Parting thought, our country was built and most of our greatness came from people that had eighth grade educations. If you have seen an eighth grade final test from 1930s or 40s you would see that it is harder than any test given today for graduating high school and most CCs.

[Scoobie]

Dear noob DUmmie OP,

You COULD expect people to meet basic qualifications prior to paying them a shitload of money.  Then again, you COULD have paid attention in school like I did.  I have a degree, yes, but it's barely relevant to my current position yet that doesn't stop me from pulling some decent coin.

I'd love to see what DUmmies would do if they had to jump through the hoops I did/do to not only GET my job, but to KEEP it.  Yeah, just because they hired me doesn't mean I have carte blanche to **** off.

Heh....guess it depends on who you are...look at where I work and what some people are allowed to get away with, yet still make the crunch that I do.

[NHSparky]

Heh....guess it depends on who you are...look at where I work and what some people are allowed to get away with, yet still make the crunch that I do.

Don't remind me.

[Wineslob]

For example, in Oakland a private company took over the worst performing school and within two years this school was in the top 10%. Now, one would think that public schools would look to see what and how this school did to make such an improvement because they are all about the children!!! NO the teachers union sued to get the school out from private control and back down to the worst performing school.

This is why I fully support Charter Schools. The Unions can't get their hooks in them.

[BadCat]

A B.S. in physics has NEVER been a ticket to a job.  An M.S. or higher is needed.

[Duke Nukum]

Bobby has two apples and three friends. Sarah has four oranges and one friend.

What is the combined carbon footprint of Bobby and Sarah's friends?

[GOBUCKS]

SpearthrowerOwl (10 posts)Meanwhile, I get out of college with my BS in physics and sit woefully unemployed. 

Well, DUmmy Spearchucker may or not be a troll, but one thing he very likely isn't is someone with a degree in physics.

Hard to imagine you could be smart enough to finish a physics degree, yet be dumb enough to think a bachelor's degree in that field will yield a job.

Unless he can finish grad school, most probably needing a doctorate, he's wasted his four years of college expense as surely as if he'd majored in voice or watercolor.

That would have been the case during the Great Bush Prosperity, let alone this miserable 0conomy.

He'd be better off to forget physics and study to be a psychic. Then he could at least make enough money to pay his student loans.

[AprilRazz]

A B.S. in physics has NEVER been a ticket to a job.  An M.S. or higher is needed.

Good friend has one. He is teaching in a private school to pay off his loans then is planning on going back to school.
But he has mentioned recently that he likes his current job and may stay.

So you can find a job with that degree in certain fields so I think the primitive might just be a tad lazy.