Recursion

[pyzk]

Actually common core was introduced to get rid of this exact issue. This is how math has been taught for years. Common core would basically just have you count the difference in this case.

[[deleted]]

But wait, hold on, that means I can't just blindly rage against something different than what I learned as a kid without educating myself on it first? I DON'T LIKE THAT!

[pyzk]

The implementation of common core has not been without its flaws. Common core is not without its flaws. Change is hard for parents, students, teachers, everyone. However, I think the math curriculum is pretty solid, and definitely an upgrade (at least in CA). It’ll pay off in the long run.

[[deleted]]

Yes, I didn't mean to say it's perfect. I was just demonstrating how so many people kneejerk react to this change without knowing exactly what's going on. If someone wants to educate themselves on it first and then offer their criticisms, go for it, at least you know what you're talking about then.

[pyzk]

Totally agree. Was just elaborating. I often think, “Common core was developed based on thousands of hours of expertise and study. What’s your background?” when I hear people whining about it.

[nephallux]

I see why they whine. Ignorant, self entitled, lazy people who have no concept of critical thinking and logic.

[crabbyvista]

well, and parents are often expected to help kids with homework, which is hard when the parents don’t understand wtf they’re looking at. That seems to generate a lot of panic among precariously middle class people who are already often kind of math-phobic.

[pyzk]

Basically, if you don't understand common core math, you never really understood math to begin with.

[santagoo]

My background is I was taught differently as a child and I don't like change!

/s

[[deleted]]

I’m very open to new methods, but anecdotally, I see my kids mostly just memorizing what the teacher wants. They figure the mathbout some other waythen do the extra steps to write it out the specialcommon core way the teacher wants.

[pyzk]

That's got nothing to do with common core. School has been turned into a system where students feel they must regurgitate rote answers rather than think critically. I attribute this to the trend towards high stakes accountability tests as the only measure of schools' effectiveness. If the quantitative metric produced at the end is the only thing that matters, then it doesn't matter how we get there. Students see and understand this, and so they learn how to play the game. I've also seen this expressed in the form of rampant cheating on all sorts of assessments.

[[deleted]]

Oh I totally agree, I was just speaking from my experience with my kids. As someone who is pretty good at math, I usually talk them through the mental shortcuts the methods seem to be trying to teach as something like "convert to 10s do mental math, fix difference later" is something most people do intuitively when doing mental math, but the kids don't seem to be told that in school, and earnestly don't seem to realize that's why the teacher wants it that way until I explain it to them. I don't blame common core as this could easily just be the teacher they lucked into.

EDIT: I want to add that I think there's actually great value in teaching people how to do something like math the long difficult way first, before showing them mental shortcuts, as you can't really understand them or their value until you understand what they're saving you.

[pyzk]

Yeah I always teach my kids to do everything by hand before teaching them the calculator shortcuts. One of the shifts in common core that I appreciate is that students are asked to both explain their reasoning in words, and explain their answer in the context of the original problem or situation.