Posted on 05/15/2014 4:29:29 AM PDT by Olog-hai
An Iowa woman jokingly calls it “Satan’s handiwork.” A California mom says she’s broken down in tears. A Pennsylvania parent says it “makes my blood boil.”
What could be so horrible? Grade-school math.
As schools around the U.S. implement national Common Core learning standards, parents trying to help their kids with math homework say that adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing has become as complicated as calculus.
They’re stumped by unfamiliar terms like “rectangular array” and “area model.” They wrestle with division that requires the use of squares, slashes and dots. They rage over impenetrable word problems. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Oh, sorry. I forgot it’s my problem that you intentionally chose to have more kids than you can offord feed, clothe and educate. I forgot all about your right to whelp out a litter and piss and moan about how much it costs to people who chose to live within their means.
Gotta love those suburban soccer moms who’s sense of entitlement would make the stereotypical inner city welfare queen blush.
Homeschool your children if you can’t manage a way to send them to a private school. Actually, homeschooling may be the better answer all the way around. I’ve done both.
Many liberals sit through liberal arts programs where there is no absolute right or wrong answer, from philosophy to English to history. The idea that there is only ONE answer, and that there is a direct, logical and ideal way to get the ONE right answer is anathema when you think all ways and interpretations are equally valid.
So they apply muddied analysis and debate methods to math, for which it doesn’t work.
The problem with running all children through number theory, essentially teaching them to derive Calculus by high school, is:
A. Most kids aren’t smart enough for it
B. Most kids spend so much time on theory that they don’t learn math facts
C. You teach kids that math is too hard, because it is so confusing, and drum out a large number who could have become engineers and STEM experts.
I am not a teacher, but I remember the joy and satisfaction that I felt, when I finally "got it". I think these kids are going to be so frustrated they may give up altogether and then we will have more ignorant people running around.
“Your guess is as good as mine. They could be searching for an Einstein, or an Eichmann - who knows? “
They are searching for people who can understand the math of our alien overlords.
I think we need to stop using the term elitist, whether prefaced by “Liberal” or not.
The proper term is “plutocrat”. In plutocracies the plutocrats entrench their power and pass it down to their heirs (essentially creating a closed system) by keeping the masses in their place through a variety of means.
With Common Core we’re seeing plutocrats use education to restrain the masses, giving them just enough knowlege and skills that they will be useful workers while ensuring that the masses will never be a threat to the power structure.
Ever heard of HSLDA? The homeschool lawyer co-op program? They have a great record of taking on and winning cases. I'm guessing they'll have a better chance of winning in court than the average private school.
The answer to that is patently simple. A minus from the 'haves' equals a 'plus' for the have-nots.
A tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme. Barely even friends.
Then somebody bends [tra-la-la].....Unexpectedly [RINOs, actually expectedly].
No argument from me.
When my kids were little, age 2 or 3, I put up big addition table and multiplication table posters in their rooms. I didn't tell them what to do with them; in fact, I didn't mention them at all. But by the time they were ready for school, they knew both their addition facts and multiplication tables. My daughter by age 9 was saying things to me like, "Mom, did you know that all the 9s are made up of numbers that add up to nine?" "Mom, did you know all those numbers have patterns?"
Parents may not be able to afford private schooling, or want to homeschool, but they can make some big preemptive strikes by doing similar things. Then, when the little darlings get into school, they already know the stuff.
I also put up posters of the US Presidents, the Constitution, Gettysburg Address, US Map with state names and capitals, etc. They figured out what to do with the information.
Many homeschoolers belong to HSLDA.org because of problems they may encounter such as Commie Core. It is quality representation.
great idea!
I was watching some poor little girl try to demonstrate a simple multiplication problem to her mom. The cc method took her about 15 minutes and she got it wrong. The regular way took her about two minutes and she got it right. Watching the girl draw boxes and dots reminded me of permutation matrices from my college days, except those make sense.
I have ZERO SYMPATHY for parents of kids trying to learn this crap. Those parents simply FAILED at their primary job, which is to make sure their kids get a useful education. The crap going on in math has DECADES of history behind it. Common Core is just the latest incarnation.
Thankfully, there are no FREEPERS that would ever trust government schools to teach their kids something as important as math, since we know that will never happen. Right?
Hahaha. I was in a school today watching a third grade class do a math assignment. I wish I had a copy of it. For the first problem, there was a pitcher of liquid. Beside the pitcher were three one liter containers. The students were asked how many liters of liquid was there if the full pitcher were emptied into the three liter containers, filling each container. Well, duh, three liters. So in essence, the students had to count the containers. This was a third grade assignment at the end of the school year. I asked the teacher if all of the assignments were this easy. She said they are but that I would be surprised by how difficult counting can be for some of those students. She is going to get me one of the workbooks so I can see how awful they are.
What I learned in the last two days is that the schools, public and private, around here teach to the lowest common denominator. The private schools tend to get a better group of students, so the denominator is higher. But it is still mediocre in my opinion. There are private schools which cater to better students, but they are very pricey.
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