[hanamizu]

Fractions are the first step into the abstract...

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Yes, and mastering them is the key to being able to get through basic algebra. Alas, today they don’t teach math the way they used to. When I went to school you learned to add in 1st grade, subtract in 2nd, multiply in 3rd, divide in 4th, fractions in 5th, decimals and percentages in 6th and then on to algebra in junior high.

Nowadays, concepts are introduced, but only rarely mastered. I’ve subbed in 2nd grade classes were the math lesson was introducing fractions to children who could not successfully add. Maybe 20 % of 8th graders actually can do simple multiplication without the aid of a calculator (I may be overestimating the %). They are never forced to learn their times tables. Imagine dealing with lowest common denominator or greatest common factor without having times tables in your head

I am not talking about an inner city school, but a school that is at least 90% white A method of teaching math that was successful for more than a century was abandoned in favor of methods that consistency yield much poorer results.

[Mariner]

For the smart kids, method doesn’t matter.

They just get it. It unfolds as an image in their brain and it’s innate.

The problem is they have to share a classroom and curriculum with 22 retards.

It’s probably the greatest failure of the education infrastructure.

They could have been somebody.