It used to be that all the mom and pop shops along the streets and in the neighborhood had a rickety, dinging cash register and alongside it a well worn abacus called a soroban in Japanese. I even remember my grandfather boasting that he was faster at using the soroban than most people are at using a calculator. It also used to be that if any woman wanted to hold down a job; and in the past the only jobs available for young women were office lady jobs (referred to in Japan as OL), then she must have attained a certain ranking in abacus classes. Of course nowadays I think being able to use a computer is a more marketable skill in the working world.
My kids were instructed to buy an abacus around 3rd grade and they were taught the rudimentary workings at school but I don't think they gained any great skill. I know I have a couple children who come to English and who also go to abacus school once a week (2nd graders). They are involved in calculating competitions and working up their speed however I don't think parents consider this as necessary a skill as it used be. (Advertisement for abacus school from the Internet).
My kids were instructed to buy an abacus around 3rd grade and they were taught the rudimentary workings at school but I don't think they gained any great skill. I know I have a couple children who come to English and who also go to abacus school once a week (2nd graders). They are involved in calculating competitions and working up their speed however I don't think parents consider this as necessary a skill as it used be. (Advertisement for abacus school from the Internet).
7 comments:
Your post brings to mind a documentary that I watched one time. It had Japanese children doing the abacus(abacai? lol) and they were fast as lightening. I was fascinated watching them.
I wonder how hard it is to learn the use of a Abacus?? I remember years ago working at a Japanese Company here in CA, the President who was from Japan, used this all the time, never did I see a calculator in his office. Rae
The nerd in me is glad that use of the abacus has not disappeared! Kind of like the slide rule (which, when I was in college, was still very much in use in the scientific fields - yep, I'm old). I had a professor who plied the slide rule like a maestro and maintained that in performing complex calculations he could beat anyone's speed using a calculator - and he could. I'm sure that these abacus pros could smoke anyone with a calculator too.
I used to love using the abacus in elementary school. I can't remember now how it was done!!
I was fascinated with the abacus, & often wondered if I would have been better at maths, had I been taught to use an abacus!
I remember playing with an abacus as a child too, but I sure don't remember anything about it now! I played this challenge tonight too! Fun!
If you have a lot of problems with dissolving meatballs, you're probably not using enough binding agent. Try using some more egg.
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