Common Core Math: Rotten To The Core
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Not having been saddled with a public school education may or may not make me qualified to talk about math, but I do have a little experience teaching it to my kids. I read an article about how Common Core works and a more than a few things troubled me... first and foremost that the focus has been shifted away from finding the correct answer in favor of focusing on "the process." If I were an astronaut (who harbored some hope of returning home safely) I would hope that the engineers who did the planning focused on the right answer. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in their 1989 Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics determined, "[t]he first standards gave a strong call for a de-emphasis on manual arithmetic in favor of students' discovering their own knowledge and conceptual thinking." (See Link Below).
De-emphasis on manual arithmetic??? Or, even more troubling- how does one discover one's own knowledge if he/she has no point of reference from which to begin? I, in my ignorance, labored under the illusion that mathematics was about finding the correct answer. The same set of standards goes on to say, "Reformers do not oppose correct answers, but prefer to focus students' attention on the process leading to the answer, rather than the answer itself. The presence of occasional errors is deemed less important than the overall thought process." Well, at least they don't oppose wrong answers, but when it comes to occasional errors, I go back to my astronaut analysis... "Sorry Colonel Tom, it was just an 'occasional error.'"
In reading through the Eight Principles one really stood out to me- number 2 "Reason abstractly and quantitatively." This is fine for a philosopher, but hardly fit for the hard sciences. But, I'm often wrong so I decided to put it to the test. I went to the market this morning and the total was $68.49... I handed the cashier a $5.00 bill. "That's only five dollars," she said. "You're not reasoning abstractly and quantitatively," I replied. "What???" She said. "This is what they're selling your grandkids for math in school," I told her.
Now in all fairness, she's a friend... and elderly black woman who raises money for the Arkansas Children's Hospital, my one charity. When she isn't busy we always chat about our grandkids and I explained to her about the article and frankly, she was shocked to learn what I had told her... as was I when I read the article. It does, however explain why the United States ranks 30th in math and only slightly higher in science. This according to Peggy Carr, Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. Perhaps if Ms. Carr employed the new math, she wouldn't be so concerned about the outcome.
The problems themselves that students are asked to solve are ludicrous as well. In the following video, several adults are asked to solve a 4th grade common core math problem...
It should be clear to any reasonable person that there isn't enough information provided to solve the problem with any measure of success. What's the point of learning to "solve problems" if the right answer is irrelevant? Whatever the intention of Common Core, in any reasonable analysis, the results are a resounding...
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GIF by @papa-pepper
Who needs math anyways?, let's just make the machines do the countin' while we do the collectin'
Just dumbing them down....cant have the plebs getting to smart now
More dumbing down of our society........... it starts with the kids. Control is the game as a free thinking intelligent populace is not controllable.
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Our technology and our society evolved so much in the last 50 years, yet the whole education system it's so impervious to change and innovation. I agree with you that getting to the right answer should be the priority but also harnessing the kid's potential in full should be important. Each kid has different gifts, we can't impose one study method and the same topics to all of them
I agree... the whole premise of "public education" is flawed for that reason. I homeschooled my 4 kids. I knew them and how they learn as individuals... HUGE advantage! My theory is that everyone (well almost everyone) is good at something. People that are successful are the ones that find and capitalize on it.
I am really bad at Maths, I failed my school exam :(
I found out that I'm actually pretty good- I just needed the right teacher.
The same happened to my sister, she failed then went back to college where she found she was brilliant at it :)
This is right on!! I believe you and I have the same values my friend.
Truth warriors need to rise!!
Thank you!!! You have yourself a new follower!
I must say I never got math and I do believe it was mostly because how it was taught to me. I remember having frequent collisions with the teacher just because I had gotten the right answer through a different method. Now what sense does that make?
I had pretty much the same problem... When I got to college I was terrified of math, but the girl that taught the class explained it in just the right way to make it all make sense. It turned out I was really good at it.
This is exactly the same in our country. Students can't even do the basics in math. Our president can't even count, and he never went to school but he condemns homeschooling and there is a big fight going on about it now between homeschooling parents and the department of education. You should watch this and see what we have to put up with. It is hilarious and so disturbing and sad all at the same time.
I'll check it out... I was hoping the rest of the world had been spared the insanity! Oh Dear God... How did he become president??? Is he a military dictator?
You complain about your president. I will take him with a smile. He was voted in by the ruling party. HE is a complete idiot. Everybody hates him but nothing is done about the situation. It is a circus we live in....He is too stupid to be any kind of dictator my dear...I don't think he can even dictate a letter...ha ha ha
If you go to youtube under the funny section you will find more videos of him...he should be top on the list...
I watched a few more on Common Core and they didn't get any more promising- who could think something like this up... it's mental illness disguised as education!
Oh, I think I'll keep "The Donald" by the way... at least he can read and write. Actually he's a graduate of the Wharton School of Business at Penn. It's the best in America so he can't be too bad at math!
Ronald MacDonald would be a better president for us. It's ludicrous...scary what we have to go through....he doesn't even worry about his own people...sickening.
He might be available!
We deal with "common core" math on occasion helping grandchildren with homework. Oh, my gosh. another insane experience. I have long worked in the decorating business and relied on math being an absolute science. And, believe me, when windows are measured to a certain number and draperies are made to order, the measurement must be "absolute" or, when they don't fit exactly, a redo will be in order. Just plain ole common sense!
You're not looking at abstractly enough lol! It doesn't matter if the windows fit the draperies or not as long as you feel ok about it... Clearly the people that made the windows were probably racist- it's their fault!
Lol! It's surely part of the script anyway.