How many times have I told you that the teaching of Arithmetic is being neglected in the Good Ole USofA? Did you just say that I have never told you that the teaching of Arithmetic is being neglected in the Good Ole USofA? Maybe I never have told you, but if I had told you, I would have told you and I would have been right to tell you.
This news story proves the point I may not have made to you. It comes from the state of West Virginia’s Penal System…
Ø An inmate escaped from jail by walking out of jail just before 6am on a Wednesday.
Ø It was not until the next evening at 7pm on Thursday that prison officials discovered he was gone.
There you have it! What’s that you say? Did you just say, “Have what?” You don’t see the Arithmetic Deficiency I am all agitated about. Oops! I guess I left out the reason I am agitated…
After he had left, and before he was discovered to have left, prison officials conducted 3 Formal Inmate Head Counts and 2 Informal Inmate Head Counts.
That, My Dear Readers, is a lack of Arithmetic Ability for sure!
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The Late Paul Harvey just looked over my shoulder and said, “Fella, tell them The Rest of the Story”…
The reporter who wrote this story was obviously enjoying his disdain for the prison official’s inability to count as he went on to report, “walked out of jail, giving himself at least a 36 hour head start”.
I have been known to be picky. Would you consider me too picky if I pointed out to the smug reporter that this Walking Inmate had at least a 37 hour head start?
No that would be too picky. I’m not going to make mention of it.
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Had the Walker Inmate remained in prison, we would certainly have seen more examples of Arithmetic Deficiency…
Ø The article said that on Friday the Walker was due to be sentenced to 3 to 20 years in prison.
Ø What probably would have ended up happening was he would have been sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Ø Then he would end up being released in 6 months.
Would I kid u?
Smartfella
Lagniappe: Maybe there ought to be a law passed that there cannot be more than 20 inmates in any prison at any one time, unless and until they can find prison guards with more than 20 Fingers and Toes.
4 comments:
Fella, maybe give the guards an arithmetic tests on counting our loud before they give them a uniform and gun? We( your birth state) are the national champ for people in prison but don’t know if it is total number or based on population and adopted new provision for early release for supposed nonviolent jailbirds. Somehow the definition of nonviolent was not as specific as should have been as some that would have been deemed violent during prior conviction meet the present test and are back out on the streets. Jails are close to the top in the % of our state budget and the nonviolent theory makes sense except like all law the devil is in the details.
Good one, Fella!
Maybe it is not arithmetic, but higher math that tripped them up. After all, we know that for sufficiently large values of "two", "two plus two" can equal "five"!
Back in the day, they could count in prison. Can you imagine the egg eating contest in Cool Hand Luke in today’s prison??
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