snapshot of philly public schools

me: so, did you learn anything interesting in school today?
8 yr old pt: no.
me: you didn't learn anything new?
pt: no. we're just reviewing the same old stuff.
me: how come?
pt: for the PSSAs
me: when's that?
pt: in a few weeks
me: how does that make you feel?
pt's dad: he's nervous.
me: well, if you aren't learning anything new, then you must already know it all, right?
pt: i failed a couple sections.
me: which ones?
pt: inferencing and subtraction

(inferencing is not a word according to spell checker here.0

me: you'll get better if you keep practicing.

(primordial tiger mom speaking here....)

pt: oh, and we are supposed to have division, but we didn't learn that yet.
me: have you learned multiplication yet?
pt: OH YEAH!
me: if you can do multiplication, then division is just the opposite.
pt: OOOOOH. I KNOW WHAT 100 DIVIDED BY 100 IS.
me: you do?
pt: it's 1.
me: great. do you know why?
pt: no.
me: well, anything divided by itself is always 1. say you have 5...
pt: FIVE HUNDRED APPLES
me: right. and you have 500 people. how many apples does each person get?
pt: ONE!
me: ok. and say you have a pizza with 8 pieces, and there are 4 people in your family. how many pieces does each person get?
pt: some people eat three, and some people don't eat any.
pt's dad: nooooo, like, everyone gets the same amount of pizza.
pt: oh. two.
me: good! you know how to do division.
pt: and there are no leftovers.
me: correct. no remainders.
pt: my family always orders two pizzas.
me: ok.
pt: because everyone likes different kinds.
me: what's 'inferencing'? is that for science?
pt: no. it's for reading. like, you have to guess what happens next in a story.
me: oh. well, you should be pretty good at that since you were filling in all the blanks of the pizza story.
pt: duh! i already know my family!
me: -_-


good luck, son.

---
observations + analysis:
-this kid is probably at the top of the bell curve in my neighbourhood regarding conversation skills, according to my definition of conversation skills.
-semi-sad that kids have to learn 'to the test'
-wish that we could take these 'street smarts' and somehow translate as 'book smarts'
-or wish that education system could hone 'street smarts' into something that would help such kids become more socially mobile