Posted on 03/26/2014 10:39:08 AM PDT by grundle
A Facebook update from a father frustrated with the Common Core math program at his son's school is making the Internet rounds after the father Jeff Severt expressed (via what looks like a kid's homework assignment) how convoluted the teaching approach is.
The worksheet posted to Facebook shows the elaborate Common Core (CC) formula for solving a math problem (as opposed to the simple strategy of subtracting the smaller number from the larger one). It instructs the student to explain why a fictional kid named "Jack" should be using common core strategies to solve the problem: “Jack used the number line below to solve 427 - 316. Find his error. Then write a letter to Jack telling him what he did right, and what he should do to fix his mistake.”
Severt's response reads, “Dear Jack, Don’t feel bad. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering, which included extensive study in differential equations and other higher math applications. Even I cannot explain the Common Core mathematics approach, nor get the answer correct. In the real world, simplification is valued over complication. Therefore, 427 - 316 = 111. The answer is solved in under 5 seconds — 111. The process used is ridiculous and would result in termination if used. Sincerely, Frustrated Parent.”
(Excerpt) Read more at shine.yahoo.com ...
The govt is attempting to train kids to think in a way that is not natural for every person.
Common Core belongs in a puzzle book collecting dust on a forgotten bookshelf.
Which is a good skill to have.
...without teaching the *techniques* those tricks are based on.
And you know this as a fact because you've seen all of the previous pages of the workbook in question? Or are you just jumping to this conclusion without any evidence to back it up?
The right answer is not relevant....it’s the new standard process that you must follow as the regime dictates
(weak smile)
Hexadecimal silly. Or octal?
Hex is shorthand for binary..
I hear you Joy. When I was in CA., visiting my granddaughters , I was amazed to see this crazy way they teach math. The eight year old was also reduced to tears trying to grasp, what to me, what should have been simple problems.
My almost 11 year old and 13 year old grandsons, in MA., don’t seem to be having this problem but then the 13 year old could probably run circles around the teacher. He’s one of those people that has a mind for mathematics.
Now that's funny. I remember teaching alternative number systems to my kids. It's not really hard. Best way is to start with a clock. Time is actually more complex than a lot of folks really thing You're looking at at least three separate bases. Depending upon whether or not you're using military time, whether or not you care about am/pm indicators it can be more.
I've seen plenty of examples of CC here and elsewhere as well, followed by a bunch of people jumping to the unsupported conclusion that traditional columner math wasn't already taught in an earlier lesson.
Some math methods work best when you have paper and pencil ("the old way"), and others work best when you're trying to do math in your head (what I suspect is the point of the given exercise).
If you are a proponent of CC, then please explain how it is better than the old way.
I am not a proponent of CC. The difference between us is that you (and a whole bunch of FReepers, btw) are basing your arguments on the assumtion that the old way isn't also being taught.
Are children learning faster? Will they be more proficient? Will they be functional in life, art, business and the scientific community? Where are there studies that were made, pro or con, before this standard was made official? Everything I read about the pros of CC are full of empty buzzwords.
I have no idea.
Recently I attended a meeting led by someone from HSLDA. The talk turned to Common Core. I have to admit, I didn’t understand what Common Core was until that meeting.
Everyone was talking about correct answers being marked wrong because the student didn’t explain it the way Common Core wants it explained.
And eventually, the SAT could be changed to match this Common Core nonsense.
You know, it’s funny, but I’m a middle school English teacher and so far, there ARE NO new textbooks to go with Common Core. In fact, I was heartened to see them giving recommendations rather than orders, and recommending classic writers like Mark Twain and Louisa May Alcott, rather than the modern day PC gods, bell hooks and Maya Angelou. I don’t think Common Core is the demon people think it is. Some of it is quite positive; no more obsession with making sure the kids read leftist drivel.
The common core way is no benefit to doing mental math.
The best mental math is the old way. Knowing your addition and multiplication facts down cold, by memorizing them.
This is a way of doing mental math, and remarkably similar to how I have been doing mental math for decades (I'm a 50 year old engineer), so this method is not unique to common core.
The best mental math is the old way.
For you, maybe. I can only hold so many digits in my head at once. Beyond that, I resort to tricks, like the lesson shown above. It's a valuable skill to teach, even if you don't think you have any use for it.
Knowing your addition and multiplication facts down cold, by memorizing them.
You are assuming basic addition and multiplication tables aren't also being taught, and memorization drills given. And again, only so much can be memorized. Beyond that, I rely mental math tricks.
What in the world is so complicated about
six from seven is one, one from two is one, and
3 from 4 is one, one hundred and eleven?
I guess I just came from another world.
Of course in my time, my high school used us
as test subjects for this crap and so we had
the football/basketball coach teaching us algebra
is some “new” way. Needless to say it was a balls up.
Looks like they’re doing to math what they did to reading.
Looks like they’re doing to math what they did to voting.
Of course there are mental tricks to use.
However, the kids are not going to be carrying around number lines with them everywhere.
When my son was in high school a few years ago, he could mentally out math any kid in the school. While they were fussing around on their calculators, all getting different answers, he had the answer in a few seconds. They didn’t have a clue how he did it.
We homeschooled and used Saxon Math. Those public school kids were *educated* on Everyday Math, which looks like genius level compared to the examples of what I’ve seen coming from Common Core.
I’ve yet to meet a teacher who doesn’t hate it with a passion.
Here in NYS, liberal capital of the country, our Democratic very liberal assemblyman, sent out a mailing urging people to contact the state senate and urge them to delay the implementation of Common Core in NY.
It’s so bad the teacher’s unions here are opposed to it.
Had not thought about the goat parts. Two questions for you:
Any idea how how hexadecimal got to be a description of that system? And 2) I don’t have an answer for 10/31 vs 12/25??
Well done.
This isn’t just from Common Core. My wife went back to school a few years ago and completed her BS in Early Childhood Ed. One of the courses she had to take was a course in how to teach math, where she was taught to teach kids to “explore” and “be creative” and to figure stuff out for themselves rather than to do math (a k a “fuzzy math”). Like the frustrated parent in the example, I am an engineer and was taught to get the right answer in the most efficient way possible. Don’t know how any kid learns enough math to survive any more - most kids today struggle at math and hate it with a passion, and it’s easy to see why. If someone wanted to strip America of her scientists and engineers, they would have employed this very strategy.
Wikipedia says that it is a combination of hexa- from six in Greek and decimal from ten in Latin from the 1950s. Various terms such as senidenary and sexadecimal have also been used.
And 2) I don’t have an answer for 10/31 vs 12/25??
Because Oct 31 = Dec 25 (octal 31=decimal 25).
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