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I read the article. Some of the newer math is pretty downright cool. And in my time, I refused to allow my kids to use manipulatives in math, until they'd mastered the rote learning of math. They were permitted to use the newer math, and I do not mean rainforest math, but this was only after they'd learned the traditional methods.

The article was fairly covered in re the subject matter.

However, I'll cite an anology I've seen zillions of times in the non-school world.

At the cash register of any retail business. Amount due is $20.61. Customer forks out 40.11. -- The change due the customer would be $19.50 -- an even amount, less change to trot out and around.

Some customers are very arrogant about this.

They shouldn't be. It was due how they were taught math; not that they are necessarily "smarter" at math.

I'll go one step further. Newer math makes assumptions based on past, provable theory, e.g., long division, etc. Newer math is much faster especially in re the 4 basic calculating methods. When my children were doing long division, say, I observed they paid greater attention to details in their lives. When they moved on to newer math means, they weren't as attentive to smaller details, but they accomplished the problem sets much faster.

Both methods have purpose and meaning contingent upon what they are to be used for, in application. Some jobs require attention to detail; some require a faster processing time.

I think the schools are trying to "process" the children up to a par in math as a standard; this is good.

I've been through the hellacious math wars in CA. I do mean hell.

Imagine junior high. Where as many as 5 to 10 k-5(or 6's) feed into the junior high. Each of those k-5 schools used different forms of math. Now entering the same classrooms. Egads, I saw it. It was a mess. And that's not even to take into account slower/fast students; math ability.

I felt for the teachers, to be sure; as well as the students.

So, no. I would never refer to these parents teaching their children traditional division at home as "renegades". If their child has not been exposed to traditional division, this is an additional learning for them, an important one. Contrariwise, the parents might try to learn some of the newer methods being taught.

My hat is off to those parents working with their children at home. And to those teachers struggling to find the parity line of which method to use in a classroom full of students whose background to date in math has been more than likely all over the map.

“At the cash register of any retail business. Amount due is $20.61. Customer forks out 40.11. — The change due the customer would be $19.50 — an even amount, less change to trot out and around.”

I do that sort of thing all the time to avoid pennies, or to receive quarters instead of smaller change.

I often get odd looks, but since most all cash registers figure the change, all the cashier has to do is correctly input the amount a customer gave them.

If today’s population had to actually figure change, the entire nation would grind to a halt as everyone stood in line waiting for their change, and arguing over the correct amount.

In my area, students aren’t required to learn times-tables anymore. We spent a lot of time drilling our youngest on those, because they weren’t emphasized in school anymore...someone had decided that students didn’t need to know math facts anymore because calculators are so readily available.

What I’ve found with my students is that since they don’t really have a good grasp on basic math facts, (1) they can’t readily tell when they’ve put the numbers in the calculator incorrectly, and (2) they are unable or unwilling to attempt calculations without a calculator.

Manipulative Math SUCKS.

My child is in a school using this joke of a program.. he’s going into 6th grade and still much count on his fingers to do simple addition and subtraction and does not have wrote memorization of these simple interactions solutions.... We forced him to wrote memorize his multiplication tables, which he has most of them, but not all, because there is no reinforcment in the classroom of these principles and because they move from one concept to another at blazing speed.. .its crazy.

I know I am going to have to privately teach him math, either myself, or by paying someone else to do it sometime in the next few years.