Good Example of Bad Math Curriculum

The following email was sent out to the BCAMT (BC Association of Mathematics Teachers) listserv.  I think it is very indicative of what can go wrong with math education when we spend too much time dictating math curriculum and standardized testing.  In no way is this a criticism of the math teacher, the teacher is obviously doing whatever they can to help their students have success in the final exam.

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Subject: Math 10 and imperial calipers

Has anyone seen these on the provincial exams so far?

Our text has decimal imperial calipers (ie, marked in tenths of an inch), our actual imperial calipers show fractions (i.e. 1/16 of an inch)

I’ve taught them imperial rulers, in fractions, and metric calipers, but not sure what I should do about imperial calipers…

And what about micrometers?

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