This, my friends, is a true story:

A few years ago on vacation, I went to a drive-through restaurant in Texas and my order totaled $2.76. At the window, I gave a cashier $3 and one penny - that way, a single quarter would be handed back instead of loose change.

He stood there for about 15 seconds, blankly staring at the money in his hand and exclaimed "I can't take this," proceeding to offer the entire amount back to me.

I then had my own moment of awe and asked why to which he repeated himself. However, I was still befuddled and it must have shown on my face.

"The register's broken," he said, without blinking an eye. "It won't tell me the change and I don't know how to do this, so just keep it."

The adolescent, who looked to be around 17 years old, was unable to configure the final result in his head.

Exiting the parking lot, I was absolutely shocked and felt immense pity for him.

Then several months later in the midst of a school year (not in Iowa), my seventh-grade son was heading out the door one morning and asked where a calculator might be located. I inquired as to the reason and he said, "They let us use them in junior high math."

I was totally floored by such notion and called his teacher about using the mechanical helper in class, only to be told "We allow the students to use calculators on the easier problems while teaching them the more complex mathematics."

Did you also catch that oxymoronic statement?

Trust me when I say a feeling of panic overtook me, followed by a vision of my son standing in place of the teenager who handed me tacos.

And let me clarify that I am talking about math skills and not restaurants - my point here is numbers.

It doesn't matter where you work if one cannot handle the simplicity of add and subtract.

Now, I am no Einstein - Algebra and Calculus personally made me ill, but I was at least able to decipher when out for my own school lunch without a calculator in tow. On top of that, cash registers didn't used to give you the cash-back sum, so people HAD to grasp these skills.

No child left behind? Please.

Too many of our country's youth are graduating without the common mathematical sense necessary to compete in this economy, especially one that is centered around growing technology - if you don't believe me, look up the U.S. statistics.

And I am also not insinuating that teachers aren't trying - most are while having to become babysitters in the process.

But something is definitely out of sync.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt if parents sat down with their children and a deck of flash cards instead of a Hot Pocket, just to see what's going on in their minds. After all, they are the responsible ones.

P.S. For the record, I let the young adult in Austin keep my change in hopes of starting a math-tutoring fund because that was excruciating to watch.

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Reporter Tammy R. Lawson is a Monday columnist for the Times-Republican. The views expressed in this column are personal views of the writer and don't necessarily reflect the views of the T-R. Contact Tammy R. Lawson at 641-753-6611 or tlawson@timesrepublican.com