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.