The older generation always seems to rail about a decline in the quality of education today compared to when they were in school. Like all such observations, there’s an element of truth to it but usually not all that much. Until it comes home to roost when hiring or training people and you discover that some basics are unknown or misunderstood. Add to this a blind acceptance of something because a computer is part of it, or in the case of dimensional metrology, it uses a laser.
I’m reminded of this almost daily when shopping. The cashier enters the items and the cash register shows what I have to pay say, six dollars and thirty-five cents. When I offer a ten dollar bill plus five quarters and a dime in coins, I get a funny look which turns to amazement when the machine tells him to give me a five dollar bill as change. Adding and subtracting numbers without a calculator is somehow beyond the ‘new’ math.