...and adults who think this is rigorous and smart stuff, don’t have a clue.
Well, that most people on this thread don't understand what's going on tells me THEY don't have a clue. Or maybe they just want to complain about common core and don't know enough to know the math part is fine.
The entire premise of the thread is straw. The intent of the "worksheet" is not to teach multiplication as indicated in the "article". Not at all.
So arguing that it's not a good way to learn multiplication is, well, publik skewl lojic.