Stone Soup by Jan Eliot

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  1. Dora Dingle

    Dora Dingle said, 3 months ago

    Holly: “Sixty-three, gran. Happy now? Now can I snorkel?”

  2. Crooky

    Crooky said, 3 months ago

    You don’t get out of it that easy Holly!

  3. ejcapulet

    ejcapuletGenius_badge said, 3 months ago

    Way to go Grandma! She must really love that brat!

  4. Bob

    Bob said, 3 months ago

    Funny how they cut off frame 4: Holly holding Grandma’s head under water!

  5. lightenup

    lightenup said, 3 months ago

    Mom is nice… I would have taken Alix and told Holly, “sorry, but you didn’t finish your flash cards, plus you have a potty mouth, so you’re staying home.”

  6. Ash

    Ash said, 3 months ago

    lightenup, hear! Hear!

  7. Macushlalondra

    MacushlalondraGenius_badge said, 3 months ago

    Watch Holly swim away from Grandma. Watch Grandma keep chasing her. 9x7! 9x7!

  8. angelwalker

    angelwalker said, 3 months ago

    Good thing I’m not Holly. I’d be a smartie pants and tell her that the card actually reads 7x9. Not the verbally stated 9x7…

  9. iamtxmilady

    iamtxmilady said, 3 months ago

    Hey guys, play nice.

  10. terrabeth7776

    terrabeth7776 said, 3 months ago

    Isn’t Holly a little old to not know her multiplication tables? I think we learned them in fourth grade.

  11. RinaFarina

    RinaFarina said, 3 months ago

    Oooo, I love that gramma!

  12. avatarjk137

    avatarjk137 said, 3 months ago

    Go underwater, Holly! The flash cards aren’t waterproof; they can’t follow you!

  13. TrinityLyte123

    TrinityLyte123 said, 2 months ago

    lighten up, lighten up

  14. 4deerinmyyard

    4deerinmyyardGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Replies to yesterday’s remarks, ‘cause they were all such great comments (thunderboomer last night; no computering):

    @ EJ: You’re right; I should have included geometry in my encomium of algebra, because some people think linearly, some people think spatially, and some people can combine. Whatever branch of math zaps you with the epiphanic vision of the magical gestalt of mathematics in toto.

    @ Wolfdreamer, Lewreader, and Lectrice: Oh, man, I am so sorry to hear that! That’s awful, that you got turned off of math by your elders, the very people who were supposed to be encouraging you to excel. Very hard to overcome that early, bad programming. Lewreader: carrots are so much more effective motivators than sticks, aren’t they? Wolfdreamer: No doubt your parents themselves were not friendly with math. This is one of those situations in which I think parents should flat-out LIE to their kids, if that’s what it takes to avoid passing on their own negativity. Of course, this requires some perspective: “We think math sucks, but maybe we’re wrong. Let’s allow the kid to come to his own conclusions.” Lectrice: See my reply to Ushindi, below.

    @ Macushla: I sympathize with your experience, too. I wish teachers would just level with students: “There’s a branch of mathematics for everybody. Each subject is a gateway to the next. If you don’t like this one, I promise that down the road you’ll find some type of math that you’ll take to like a duck to water.” (Witness EJCapulet and geometry vs. algebra.)

    For me, trigonometry was just a grim,tedious slog; but having had the experience of enjoying both algebra and geometry, I had reason to hope that there would be some reward for surviving trig–and I was right, because we got to take calculus next year if we wanted. It was only retroactively that I began to appreciate trig. I’m not a teacher, but if I were teaching trig, I’d tell my students: “When Coach makes you do push-ups and laps, you groan and moan, but you don’t say there’s no purpose in doing them, because you know what the purpose is: they tone you up and increase your stamina. Well, trig is push-ups and laps for the brain. It tones up your logic muscles and increases your mental stamina. So moan and groan all you like, but do your laps without protest.”

    @ Sgt. Angua: (Hey, Girl-Geek isn’t the only other math nerd of the female persuasion around here!) I thoroughly concur. Too many parents, and even elementary school teachers, overtly or subconsciously, accept and perpetuate the notion that math is (a) hard, (b) boring, (c) pointless, and (d) part of the punishment you get just for being a kid. Math is a language, and we all know that there’s a window of opportunity for language-learning that closes down to just a narrow little gap after a certain age. As for the coolth factor: math should be presented as PLAYTIME in grades one through five. (P.S.: Raving Sgt. Angua [the original] fan, here. Speaking of Carrots as motivators….;-D)

    @ Ushindi: You’re quite right. In the first place, there are different kinds of intelligence, and standard I.Q. tests only cover two or three of them:
    http://skyview.vansd.org/lschmidt/Projects/The%20Nine%20Types%20of%20Intelligence.htm
    In the second place, there are differend kinds of learning styles, and teachers naturally tend to teach only to their own. They’re trained to teach to the other learning styles, but I imagine it could be difficult to remember to do so day in and day out:
    http://www.ldpride.net/learning-style-test.html

    @ Selma and Myshta: Yep; scares me, the dependence upon calclulators. They’re great for plowing through a lot of repetitive calculations quickly; but if you make a typo while inputting, you need to be able to recognize that the answer you’re getting is borked, which you won’t if you can’t at least do estimates in your head.

    @ Katt: Exactly. There are little tricks for every arithmetic fact. I have ADD and memorization is not my best Olympic event. (But I’ll remember esoteric trivia from something I read a hundred years ago; go figure. /shrugs/

    @ Eattea-etc.: Probably you and I will agree on very few things, but this is one of them. Holly is terminally, suicidally, homicidally bored, poor kid.

    And tracking is good–for students in the “good” track. I was A-tracked starting in fourth grade, thank goodness. I think my third grade teacher saved my life. I was dimly aware at the time of some sort of pother between her and my parents. Fortunately for me my teacher prevailed and the following year they sent me to a new school 18 blocks away, the nearest that provided the advanced classes. Bonus: Because it was so far away, Mom had to dole out busfare every morning. This was the only money I ever saw. I pocketed it, learned to walk really fast, and bought comic books. :-)

    As for what happens to the self-esteem of kids who get labeled “slow” or “below average”: No, that should never happen. It is crippling–and unjust. It is unjust because of the existence of the different intelligences and learning styles (see above). I agree that a rigid policy of mainstreaming isn’t helpful to anybody; but instead of slow-tracking kids who don’t test well in verbal and/or mathematical intelligences, an effort should be made to discover the areas where they do shine. Of course, I’m postulating an ideal educational system with lotsa resources. /sigh/

    @ Rina: WHAT YOU SAID!

    @ Rakkav: I agree with your general import, but my impression is that Jungian theory as applied to academic learning has been superseded by more recent research; see links above.

    SORRY this is so long, but as I said, your comments yesterday were so excellent. So it’s your fault.

  15. Ushindi

    UshindiGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    4deer: Why, of COURSE I am…..LOL

  16. eatteaphonenome

    eatteaphonenome said, 2 months ago

    Sorry, SchmoozeMinkey, but Angel is correct, Grandma is reading the cards incorrectly. Equations in column format are read from top to bottom, and the operation sign (multiplication) is in front of the 9 not the 7. Thus the answer is indeed 7 times 9

    Since the valve stem is in Holly’s reach: “Grandma, what is floating tube minus air?”

  17. Tigger

    TiggerGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    Holly, Grandma will get you, You cannot hide.

  18. boxbabies

    boxbabies said, 2 months ago

    Love Holly’s expression in the last panel. Reminds of Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street…the old Sesame Street from the 70’s and early 80’s.

  19. NoBrandName

    NoBrandName said, 2 months ago

    eattea: Actually, shouldn’t the answer be 63? The question is 7 times 9.

    Regardless, 7 x 9 = 9 x 7.

    Maybe Grandma would have more luck if she texted the questions to Holly.

    BTW, didn’t Holly used to hate swimming in the lake, due to the dirty creepy crawlies in there? Or am I thinking of someone from a different comic?

  20. 3hourtour

    3hourtour said, 2 months ago

    …Jesus Christ people write books on this site…

  21. Just plain Steve

    Just plain Steve said, 2 months ago

    ejcapulet said, about 15 hours ago

    Way to go Grandma! She must really love that brat!

    Nice comment!

    SchmoozeMinkey said, about 11 hours ago

    angelwalker

    It’s 9x7. You flunked math, didn’t you moron?

    Crappy comment!!!!

  22. lectrice

    lectrice said, 2 months ago

    Heh, 4Deer, thanks for your kind words! When I have kids, I’ll make sure they learn math in a natural way.

    Funny, when I read someone’s comment about teaching very young kids math using block units, I suddenly remembered that while I did so badly at math problems, I did very well with counting money, and that was back in elementary school. No one ran with that as far as I can recall. Ironic, since I couldn’t remember my times tables, even though my father made me do them every day for a year or so. I still have trouble with the 7 and 8 tables.

    I do agree with some people here that there are different types of intelligences. I do very well with language (I was in the top 95% nationally on my SATs) but not math (42% in mathematics, sigh.)

    I’m also an artist, meaning I should have good spatial awareness, but it doesn’t extend to judging the trajectory of a thrown ball so I can catch it!

    Human brains are strange, strange creatures.

    With that being said, I hope grandma starts applying the concept of money and shopping as math problems soon, so Holly can actually start to understand math, and hey, girls can do math too!

  23. 4deerinmyyard

    4deerinmyyardGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    3hourtour said, about 2 hours ago:

    …Jesus Christ people write books on this site…

    Yeah, yeah, I said I was sorry… :-(

  24. sgt.angua

    sgt.angua said, 2 months ago

    @4deer: No need to apologize, enjoyed reading your comment.
    And I Totally concur with the Carrot effect! ;D

    I also agree re your comments about negativity.
    I think there are 2 aspects of this:


    1. Parents should KNOW that making statements such as “Oh, I’m no good at math..However, I’m good at X” or “I always hated math” or “I was never good at math, but it didnt matter because….” ARE inherently negative.
      I honestly think people/parents do not know that.

    [Aside:And when there’s a rider attached, “it didnt matter because..” then they’re not only being negative on their ability, but also being negative on math’s relevance. IMHO the only somewhat good clause that can follow is “I was no good at math, but YOU’ve got a knack for it, you’re doing so well!” or something of that sort.]


    1. Second, it requires what you said - that parents consciously put aside this negativity and let their offspring decide for themselves. It is very, very hard for parents to do this. It requires letting go of their egos, and allowing that their children are not necessarily a miniature version of themselves, but persons in their own right who can be empowered to make their own choices… most parents realize this at some point, but its not until the child is much older. Getting them to realize this early (elementary school math ed) is the key.

    There is plenty of societal stimulus that tells kids that math is boring, or math is for geeks, or you only need math to figure the tip in restaurants, or some such absolutely mundane application that nobody cares about (oh yeah, I’ll get an iPhone application that does that, so I dont need math anymore!). Math, like knowing french, opens up a whole new world of little things you had been missing all along. It’s like when I learnt french, and I suddenly understood the meaning/origin of little words and phrases in English.. it was like there was this whole subtext going on in the world that I hadn’t paid attention to before, and was now opening up to me.

    So there’s plenty of stereotyping/badmouthing math going around, and parents don’t need to add to that.
    In fact, parents can try and counteract that all the time and still probably wont result in a net positive impact given all the other sources of stereotype that their child encounters.

  25. hildigunnur

    hildigunnurGenius_badge said, 2 months ago

    4deer, hehe, I teach music theory (which is basically math) and so much of what you say fits right in there too :D