One of the pitfalls is the way the schools now attempt to teach math. The goal appears to be having elementary school students in frist, second, third grade achieve the kind of higher understanding of math that a math major might have, which is something 99% of students will never need. In the past, practicing the basics to the point of automaticity was how American students were taught arithmetic and math, so that when algebra on up was taught, the students did not have to think about the building blocks that the higher math skills are built upon. They just knew.
yes and the higher level of thinking the schools are requiring of the primary level children is not developmentally appropriate.
they are concrete thinkers and need fact based education