Математика в тутешній школі: The good, the bad, the ugly

[malyj_gorgan]

The good:
Нарешті, на математиці зʼявилися досить складні завдання. На тренувальному тесті з pre-calculusʼу дали рівняння, яке я сходу не розвʼязав:
sin(sin x) = 2 sin²x
(До речі, не хочу гуглити, а сам поки розвʼязку не бачу. А ви?)

The bad:
І от, коли, нарешті, пішли досить складні завдання, вони раптом стали давати їх швидко. Тобто, шість років вони потихеньку-помаленьку повзли від таблички множення до найпримітивніших квадратних рівнянь (зате в процесі, для самозаспокоєння, то дали блок "дейта віжуалізейшн", то блок "статістікс", який ніхто не вкурив), а потім хопа –– півтора місяці на логарифми. І ще раз хопа -- два місяці на тригонометрію. Тобто, там, де, реально, треба давати час, думати, розвʼязувати і проникатися, вони це все разом згепали докупи і –– ну, ми ж викладаємо... В результаті, ніхто в класі того не знає, хіба на всю школу пара дітей, які десь спеціально багато додатково це вже вивчили.


The ugly:
Ну і, нарешті, групові завдання. Нафіга вони в математиці взагалі -- ніхто не знає. Але останнє перемогло всі мої очікування: тест виконують групами. Тобто, пише кожен сам, але в межах групи можна між собою говорити. Після чого вчителька бере і кожну з задач тесту дивиться лише в одному зошиті. Тобто, якщо твій сусід роздовбай помилився, то як би ти не знав, що би ти не написав, тобі поставлять стільки само, скільки йому. А ви -- колективізація, ідеологізація, групові покарання....

Comments

[timelets]

Off-topic.

I lost the bet on Trump nomination and now need to send money to a Ukrainian charity of your choice. What's the best way to do it?

Thanks.

[malyj_gorgan]

I wish you haven't lost that bet :(
(Though, I completely forgot about it)
I would suggest to donate via "Demokratychna Sokyra", they used to be a wannabe political organization, but since the start of the war they have been operating as a volunteer organization supporting Ukrainian Armed forces. Here's a page describing their current projects: https://sokyra.space/en
They have bank transfer mechanism, but for people like ourselves they have a PayPal: donate@sokyra.space

If you don't like this option for whatever reason, let me know, I'll think of a different one

[timelets]

Thanks!

[timelets]

Do you know anything about this guy? https://www.buymeacoffee.com/magyar?l=en

[malyj_gorgan]

No, unfortunately, not.
I heard the name somewhere on some social network, but don't know anything specific.
The only people whom I send $$ myself or recommend to others are people/orgs whom I either know and trust personally or have known for a long while virtually and confirmed via at least two independent sources.

[timelets]

I appreciate that.

[malyj_gorgan]

You realize that me not knowing anything about that Magyar guy does not mean anything bad (or good), just that I don't know him
I should not be used as a source of any _broad_ information :)

[timelets]

Of course. I'm happy with any reputable organization and the other person who bet against me doesn't mind either.

[malyj_gorgan]

Then my primary suggestion is still DemSokyra. (At least, they have Paypal: donate@sokyra.space)

If you are willing to do a bank transfer of any kind, this one is also very reputable:
https://spgr.org.ua/en/

[timelets]

Do you know how much PayPal charges for commission? I just checked, direct bank transfer to spr.org would cost about $35 on a $900 donation.

[malyj_gorgan]

Paypal doesn't charge a charge^*, but the user loses a few % on the exchange rates. Last time I tried to estimate, it was about 2.5%, a little less than the 3.9% you are going to pay here on the bank transfer. (Then you can start factoring in other factors like spgr.ua being a bigger organization, so they usually get better deals (I know that last year on thermal vision drones they got a better deal than anything I could find anywhere)... but they are also a bigger fund with bigger administrative overhead, so some money goes there.... I would say that 1-2% difference is the uncertainty range, you just can't tell. (My addressees who get private Paypal transfers often loose up to 5% on local exchanges in Ukraine and another few % markup on buying stuff in Ukraine, but I tell myself that that adds up to the money that keeps the rest of my countrie's economy at least relatively afloat and swallow the costs)
So your choice, the difference is going to be unclear.

^*100% of volunteer PayPal accounts that I ever sent you were registered to private persons as for a while that was the only way to send $ without paying US fees.

[timelets]

Thanks for the info. I feel that a bank transfer would be the most reliable way to do it. Cheers.

UPD. My bank doesn't allow this transfer because of scam concerns. I'll use PayPal then.

[timelets]

I donated $650 to donate@sokyra.space to cover my bet with you and one other person. It shows up on the receipt as sent to Anton Shvets. I hope it's ok.

Thanks.

[malyj_gorgan]

Thank you very much.
As I said earlier: oh how I wish that it would have been losing this bet