Robots vs. Thinkers

"That's not fair! We didn't have a problem like that on the homework!"

Yep, and that is the point. I'm trying to teach my students that being able to redo a homework problem with different numbers in it is not a reasonable test. I don't want them to simply memorize step one, step two, and step three. I want them to think about what is going on in the problem and what needs to be done to get from what they are given to what they want to find. Apparently making them think about what to do is unfair. How do I tell the parents that are mad that the school has been failing their kids by making them think that math is just learning the formulas and then doing the same problems with different numbers on the test? That isn't learning, that is training a monkey to count. I like to think my students are smarter than monkeys.

**On an unrelated note I'm looking for a good way for a male teacher to inform a female student that it isn't that his room is too cold it is that she is wearing far too little clothing**