Posted on 09/04/2014 2:09:32 PM PDT by walford
A simple addition problem seems to become a little more complicated under Common Core. That is made very clear in a new “Homework Helper” segment that recently aired on WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, New York.
In the new educational segments, local teachers attempt to help confused parents better understand their children’s Common Core homework. In the introductory segment, a math teacher takes nearly an entire minute explaining why 9 plus 6 equals 15.
“Our young learners might not be all together comfortable thinking about what 9 plus 6 is. They are quite comfortable thinking about their friend 10,” the teacher says in the video. “10 is emphasized in our young grades as we are working in a base-10 system. So if we can partner 9 to a number and anchor 10, we can help our students see what 9 plus 6 is.”
She continues: “So, we are going to decompose our 6 and we know 6 is made up of parts. One of its parts is a 1 and the other part is a 5. We are now going to anchor our 9 to a 1, allowing our students to anchor to that 10. Now our students are seeing that we have 10 plus 5. Having them now more comfort seeing that 10 plus 5 is 15. That is much more comfortable than looking at 9 plus 6, an isolated math fact.”
Got all that?
Essentially, the Common Core way of solving the simple math problems has students decipher that 5 plus 1 equals 6 and 10 minus 1 equals 9 before they even solve the actual problem. One has to wonder why kids can’t simply be taught that 9 plus 6 equals 15.
It's a form of stupidity redistribution.
Making the stupid feel smart
Is your child dumber because of public schooling? That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
I think the Common Core math junk is an attempt to teach kids ways to “cheat” the system and simplify the question to attain the answer. This sort of math trick comes naturally to one after years of adding and subtracting, one does not need to be taught how to do this - it just becomes a natural way of doing it. Supporters of CC will say “little kids can’t wrap their minds around 9+6 or 3x4 because these are challenging numbers.” However, if kids just learn addition, subtraction, multipication and division by simple memorization, they will come to these shortcuts by themselves. Thus, having the facts at hand and a true understanding of the mathematics behind it. Teaching the shortcuts too early will just confuse them and they end up with nothing....
Many of today’s teachers are incapable of holding a job with any real skills. They have been pushed into teaching because they are illequipped to do anything serious. Is it any wonder our children are as dumb as their teachers?
“Teaching the shortcuts too early will just confuse them and they end up with nothing.”
Common Core is child abuse.
I’m afraid I don’t understand the recent focus on Common Core as being responsible for this kind of crap.
Much the same thing was going on in the 60s when I was in grade school. Except then we called it New Math.
Here’s a primer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA
OMG! I guess the liberals figured that America has been a leader in innovation for way too long, so we need to dumb down our kids as much as possible so that the rest of the world will shine.
Any parents out there. If your kids run into this and other insanity, get flash cards and teach them the basic facts yourself. For some of the later messed up topics, get some traditional math text books and make sure the kids get their math skills and vocabulary mastered.
And how do they know 6 = 5 + 1????
The majority of teachers are stupid.
Saw a teacher on “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” who didn’t know the answer to “What element is the most in the air we breathe?” with Oxygen, Nitrogen, Hydrogen and something else as choices.
The teacher didn’t know so he “phoned a friend”, another teacher at his school that was the actual “science” teacher. He said oxygen. Regis did one of his help questions by asking “Are you SURE?” with the inflection on ‘sure’. He said “yes.”
We all know the correct answer is nitrogen. I looked at my wife and said “if we had kids and this was their school I’d pull them out.”
“Teaching the shortcuts too early will just confuse them “
I generally agree, but they should be shown the shortcuts when they are ready to learn them I do those exact shortcuts all the time when figuring things in my head. My Shanghai born and educated lady friend taught them to her daughter quite early on. Her daughter went on to excel in Math. Started college at 16, after skipping grades in school.
You need this many fingers and toes.
Problem solved...
The best way to prevent math anxiety is to have the basic facts memorized up to 9+9 and 9X9.
For some reason, leftists hate the idea of memorization.
Probably related to their revulsion of fixed, objective rules.
I was told that a person could get a substitute teaching job with only 2 years of college under one’s belt.
I was looking for a job after I got my BA cum laude in Gov’t & International Politics/Electronic Journalism and figured it would be a way to bring in a little money while looking for something more permanent. I could teach English, history, civics, things like that.
I live in the DC area and applied to all of the neighboring school systems as a sub. DC Public Schools sent me a letter saying that my credentials didn’t meet their standards.
DC Public Schools has consistently been amongst the lowest performing and having amongst the highest per-student cost in the country. I am wondering what sort of people are teaching those poor kids.
Bump
You have to see this video. Too funny.
I would like to have read the story , but it was on THE BLAZE
that web site is junk. My ghostery goes nuts.
Yes, I’m old enough to remember New Math. Remember the Outcome-Based Education that came afterward?
Common Core is the latest means of enforcing mediocrity.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.