I blew up at one of my child’s elementary school students when we didn’t understand the math assignment (two digit by two digit multiplication), so I showed him how to do it the traditional way and had him do it on the page that way. He got the right answers.
The teacher counted it WRONG because he didn’t use the new matrix method.
Then she dared say that the problem wasn’t the new fangled methods and new terminology (designed to make parents look stupid, boost workbook and tutoring sales and render all prior content obsolete) but that we were bad at math.
I stated that as two engineers who managed to make it through calculus three and differential equations, if we had trouble helping an eight year old with math homework, it was the curriculum, not the parents.
However, when I showed them how to Google Algebra Problems on their Smart Phones, I did make some headway. They're not all bad. They treat me quite respectfully, and many have some very artistic tattoos. On a non-Maths note: a significant number (O say 3 of 10) can even name the state capital! Many fewer have an idea of just who their Congressional Representative might be. All know everything about Kim Kardashian and delight in bringing me up to speed on that and other topics apparently vital to them.
While Algebra remains a mystery to them, it remains a mystery to me as to how this or any other serious political entity can continue to thrive when populated by people of such profound ignorance.