15 years ago they were doing this new math crap. It took me awhile to figure out what they were wanting my kids to do. My one daughter could do it either way (new math or regular, memorized math). My other daughter could only do it the regular way.
After my one daughter got her weekly “exam” (4th or 5th grade???) back with it all “wrong” the teacher called us in. We asked the teacher if the answers were wrong. “Well, no - but she didn’t do it the right way.”
“Well, as long as the answers are correct, we don’t care. But keep marking them “failed” if you want to.”
I don’t recall what the teacher marked them as after that.
I think they failed using common core.
I live in Texas and we NEVER permit crappy math. No way, nope, NEVER. How do I know? Easy, we’re a Red State and we don’t let the Left anywhere near our schools, nope, NEVER.
(if I claim anything else, I’d have to home school my kids, and that would be a pain)
My leads length for my heart pacemaker must be 105% of the distance from my lower chamber to center of collar bone, and 102% of the distance from my upper chamber to the bottom of the radius of my collar bone. The implant depth must be that which leaves it centered in the pectoral muscle leaving at least 30% of the split muscle on each side of placement.
A while back, a friend’s wife was getting her BS in I think Business.
I looked at her ‘math’ book.
No equations, no explanation, just a bunch of crazy pictures of stuff. That’s a BS in Business math book? Yup.
When my friends kid was taking high school algebra, he was doing quite badly several times and asked me to help him. I would always see what the current subject was, formulate a plan in my head then I would ask him to explain to me how his “teacher” “taught” him how to approach and “solve” whatever the class of problem du jour was. It was always overly complicated to nearly unintelligibke. W He would always give me the most backassards unintelligible explanation that struggled to be classified as English language. Then, slowly, calmly, patiently, I would explain in simple elegant terms how to define, then solve any similar problem. At first, there would always be the “can’t understand mental shield”, but with some patience that look would melt into a healthy skepticism that it can’t possibly be that simple. Then the flash of epiphany as he realized maybe it was that easy followed by rapid succession of completing successfully more difficult problems. I would then task him with teaching 3 of his friends what I taught him. Amazing how a non teacher can undo 3 weeks of bad instruction in less than an hour.
Our garbage establishment has decided to miseducate Americans so that they are easier to control. Fear the government that wants you ignorant and unarmed because once they have enough control then the killings will start.
All this stuff exposes the evil marriage of academics (who can always simply imagine the “right” way to do anything) with political totalitarians (who want to impose their will on every aspect of everything the touches “the masses”, a group of which they are not a part, of course).
Educating methods, developed and honed over thousands of years to find effective methods, simply can NOT be the right way to do it. Those old-fashioned methods carry the legacy of white, European, colonizers, and every trace of their impact on civilization must be squeezed out.
My parents had trouble with the *new* math when I was in grade school in the mid-60’s.
Saxon Math curriculum is the absolute best going.
Teach your kids real math and they will succeed.
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we taught all three kids to do it the right way, put the answer down and them put the NEW arithmetic on top of it
3) Smooth out the differences between individual state curriculums (sic) and practices"
Maressa failed the English part.
'Smooth out differences' is a euphemism to lower standards to the lowest common denominator.
silly...the new math is how the numbers of genders based on chromosomes is calculated. the coolest thing is you can fill in any number that agrees with what you already believe! now THAT is cool.
“New math” is racist.
That article was an absolute waste of time.
What a horrible thing to do to kids.
In 1962, I was in seventh grade, in the first class that was first labeled “new math”. I did not do well, and was dropped back to normal math in 1963.
However, we were part of an experiment, so we were tested twice a year through the end of twelfth grade. I have no idea what was or wasn’t learned from the experiment.
As a sample of what it was like, we were told on the first day that we were now on a planet where the people had seven fingers. Counting from zero, our numbers were 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,10, and we eventually did all arithmetical processes in “base seven”, where large numbers had a ones column, a sevens column, a forty-nines column, a 343rds column, etc.
I have children who range in age from 43 to 14. Therefore, I have experienced many generations of “new math”. Any new math curriculum only lasts 3-5 years, after which all new books and study guides are produced and paid for, all teachers are re-trained, including to the need to show great enthusiasm for the mission.
I think the main purpose of all this frantic activity is to find a way, any way, by which smart children and stupid children will get the same grades.
Anyway, this is a 60+ year old problem, it’s not about Common Core, it’s not about Obama.
My grandma taught in NYC Public from 1911-1966. She was fortunate to retire before this got really bad.
Her observation about the prognosis for the mission of all this curriculum re-engineering has, however, stood the test of time:
“Somebody has to clean the subways”.
“New” math
“Reform” math
This is constructivist math, which has all been thoroughly discredited.
Are we to act as if the Math Wars never took place in this country?