Wow, as one who started out with a double major in math and physics and consequently found advanced degrees quite easy due to the heavy math fosted upon me by that first major, I’m sooooooo glad that these education doofuses (spelled correctly?) were not around to ruin me before I learned from intelligent teachers.
Find these folks, tie them up, burn them, and launch their ashes into the sun.
Now!
I recall when they instituted the “New Math”. That too was a colossal failure.
$7.60 worth of apples? That’s alot of apples.
The only way to learn the multiplication tables is by rote memorization. 3rd grade students had to memorize the entire set from 1x1 to 12x12 when I was a kid. I have heard some places went as high as 15x15.................
You can learn arithmetic the way they are teaching Common Core, sure.
But without getting past “having to figure out the arithmetic”, you’ll never advance to any semi to advanced mathematics.
For that, the arithmetic has to be automatic, memorized, rote.
“How much change should the cashier return to Elizabeth? “
The first thing Elizabeth should be taught is...
COUNT YOUR CHANGE rather than relying on Shaniqua to give you the correct change.
My 3rd grade grandaughter used to love math. Now it’s sheer torture for her & those who try to help.
Wrong answer; the correct response is she gets to keep none of it: hungry unemployed rob her outside the store, ‘cause they need to “get paid”.
As a former grocery store cashier, this is simply ‘counting back’ change. It’s a skill every teenage should know - but AFTER they learn how to do traditional addition and subtraction!
I wonder how many McWorkers can count back change. I bet most are completely dependent on the register to tell them the correct amount of change to give.
I can gather a couple of things from this example:
1. I must have missed something in school because I've never had an "actual mental computation" like that.
And
2. Elizabeth has trouble making timely decisions and is in need of therapy.
I was helping my 10 yr old grandson with his math homework this last weekend. I've work in the Apollo and Shuttle programs and couldn't figgure out what in the hell they were talking about!
I can gather a couple of things from this example:
1. I must have missed something in school because I've never had an "actual mental computation" like that.
And
2. Elizabeth has trouble making timely decisions and is in need of therapy.
I was helping my 10 yr old grandson with his math homework this last weekend. I've work in the Apollo and Shuttle programs and couldn't figgure out what in the hell they were talking about!
I bought 2 boxes of apples at the market Saturday.
Apples were $23.00 a box
I gave the Common Core educated clerk a $50.00 bill.
He gave me $75.00 in change.
So, I’m fer it.
How do you know you need 10.00 for the outcome? Why not 25,000? Do you just keep adding 10 till it works out, or do you add up to the next step of currency?
What a load!
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I understand the underlying point the Common Core folks are trying to make, and it’s not without any worth. For more complex arithmetic problems, absent paper, pencil, or calculator, I might start off with an estimate and then adjust it. So, if I’m taking 28% of 445,668. I might start off with 28% of 500,000, which is 140,000. Then, subtract 14,000 (getting me to 28% of 450,000) and then subtract another 1,260 (getting me to 28% of 446,000), and so on. Or, if a rough number will do for the moment, I may stop at that point.
But if I look at the subtraction problem 20 - 7.6, the answer 12.4 pretty much jumps into my head.
The goal of Common Core math is the same as for whole-word reading: To LIMIT the ability of the student.
If you can add 24 and 89 the old-fashioned way, you can add any two numbers - and even whole piles of numbers.
But with Common Core math (as in the OP example) your ability to add numbers is LIMITED to what you can hold in your brain.
So unless your last name is Trachtenberg :-D, you’ll never be able to calculate beyond two or three digits. And THAT is the goal.
“However, this does not teach the student to do math as it is done in everyday life; it simply involves plugging new numbers into an algorithm learned through hours of rote memorization. Under the Common Core, the student instead would follow a process similar to Elizabeth’s actual mental computation while standing at the register:$7.60 + $.40 = $8.00
$8.00 + $2.00 = $10.00
$10.00 + $10.00 = $20.00
“The cashier should give Elizabeth $12.40 in change.
“This is exactly how someone with a strong grasp of numeracy does calculations on a daily basis. Furthermore, solving the problem in this way teaches the relationship between different values far more effectively than the traditional method of plugging numbers into a formula. It is critical that students grasp the concepts behind subtraction before they rely solely on the traditional algorithm.”
She lies. That isn't so.
There is no "$0.40" piece. You need to still come up with the $0.25+$0.05 pieces or the $0.25+5x$0.01 pieces or 4x$0.10 pieces or 40x$0.01 pieces or 8x$0.05 pieces or 2x$0.10 pieces + 2x$0.05 pieces + 5x$0.01 pieces...
New math is hard
The best description I can associate with common core is “insane”.
It does, however, remind me of a psychology student conducting research on memory loss. Three elderly men agreed to the test. The student asked the first man, “What is 3 times 3?” The man replied, “ 274”. The student rolled her eyes and asked the second gentleman, “What is 3 times 3?”. The man replied, “Tuesday”. Dumbfounded, the student asked the third man, “What is 3 times 3?” The man answered, “9.” The student asked how he came up with that answer and he replied, “It was simple....I just subtracted 274 from Tuesday.”
Common Core is no laughing matter, but at times, levity preserves sanity.
EODGUY