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 ebonification of math.
Ah, any true blue FReeper would call it fact!
What did Ebonics ever do to deserve the comparison (duck’n & runn’n!)
If the students spend a week or two drawing jumps on a number line then I have no problem with it. If that ends up being their primary method or they spend months doing it then I do have a problem. One page in a workbook doesn't show which of those is true.
One thing I don't like is how this problem subtracts 300 first instead of 6, because the standard method goes from the least significant to most significant digits to handle borrowing properly.
Can you imagine how they’d handle hex?
In my grandchildren’s school district, this nonsensical system was introduced 2 years ago and is in use up through 6th grade. NONE of the parents understand it; the school district had to put a special page on its website to try to teach the parents how to help their kids. I’ve had a 10 year old dissolving in tears because she doesn’t understand it and, when I try to show her the “old” way, is afraid to try any other way than what her teacher says.
It is absolutely the most stupid thing introduced to elementary schools since “look and see, memorize, but don’t use phonics” attempts at teaching reading.
Yes, it’s a mess.
I think one of the worst parts is that it DOES alienate parents.
They used to teach borrowing and carrying with clothespins on a Masonite figure. That was close enough to the numbers on the paper to directly translate.
This is a sign that parents need to descend en masse on the school boards. Problems aren’t just on paper; they are in real life too.
By drawing a pentagram on the floor and splashing around some goat's blood? Or were you talking about hexadecimal numbers?
P.S. Why do programmers get Halloween and Christmas confused?
Another reason for the separation of School & State. BEEP!
Hexadecimal silly. Or octal?
2-3 generations of educational decline prove the fact. 40 to 60 years is no accident.
“Right” answer? There’s the problem right there. There are no right answers, only opinions. What’s important about arithmetic problems is how they make the student feel about him/her/itself. Sure, you might *think* the answer is 111, but that’s strictly a social construct of the oppressive Patriarchy. What if you’re a minority womyn in a man’s body? How oppressive is it to be told by a white heteronormative male that the “right” answer is what he thinks it is? Huh?
A government with a constitution headed like this one “We The People” will track whatever “We The People” happen to believe. Whether that is false or true or however that happened.
This is where Bible literacy used to help. It showed the major ways in which people could get themselves in trouble, and we could learn from their errors rather than in God’s school of hard knocks.
Be careful that when you point a finger at anyone three more point back at you.
I saw a post where the kid had the right answer but the teacher admonished him for not using “friendly numbers”
Crazy
Looks like Jack can’t use a simple number line.
This ping list is for the “other” articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)
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Pinging BOTH homeschool lists to see this abomination called Common Core.
Indiana just opted OUT or the core program....we’ll develop our own!!!!
Public education may be child abuse, but at least it costs a fortune.
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