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2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

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Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

#111

Post by sitkack »

ctdonath wrote: post #104
sitkack wrote: post #8

Calculus can be taught to anyone independent of age. It is not a unit of difficulty. I think people are railing at teaching math to children because they themselves suck at math. Your inability to grasp subject matter is not proof that something is wrong or too hard. http://commonsensequantum.blogspot.com/2010/11/geometric-rep...

Seems the problem is those creating the curriculum likewise have a poor grasp of it and of how to present it to inexperienced minds. They know that "concepts" and "process" and "psychology" are important, but lack the Tufte- and Feynman-like grasp of how to present the complex in simple clear ways.

I am not sure how true this is. Most of the public sentiment has been 3rd parties not able to understand the material. I think the adult population is vastly under-educated. The problem isn't the children, it is the parents. The parents can't understand their own child's homework. Whose failing is that?

You see this in developing countries where the whole population is illiterate. It usually ends up that the children reach a level of proficiency that enables them to teach their parents.

Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

#112

Post by ekm2 »

hga wrote: post #14
tptacek wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that Common Core prevents students from taking calculus is disputed: http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2014/04/a_sorry_at... Further, a citation to Caltech's admission policy would be handy; I found sources directly disputing your claim (also in the context of Common Core), citing Caltech Math1a to rebut it.

Their Math1a uses Apostol as its textbook ( http://www.math.caltech.edu/~2013-14/1term/ma001a/#text ). This is the classic proofs based text, in other schools what's commonly used for "honors calculus", including MIT but not with such a name. I suppose in theory a really mathematically adept student could start with it, but that's not what I remember any school I've looked into, including CalTech, requiring before yo…

>Their Math1a uses Apostol as its textbook.

Try Harvard's Math 55b.They hit you with Rudin freshman year.

Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

#113

Post by NateDad »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #57
NateDad wrote: post #13

The parents rail against the new style of teaching because they were taught with the old style and never properly comprehended math other than by rote memorization. This is exactly the problem the new methods are trying to fix. I bet most people on HN are math-minded enough that they could pick up the new ways of doing things and actually understand how it is teaching total comprehension rather than just being able t…

You nailed it. On the other hand, it's a bit double-edged. As I am the parent with the CS degree, my wife is already referring our second-grader to me for help with math homework. Sure, after calc I-III, diff-EQ, linear algebra, etc. I can readily pick up on what they are doing and why. I also absolutely agree that they need to go beyond rote-memorization and help kids with a fundamental understanding of numbers, the…

Glad to hear from someone currently going through it. My older daughter is only 3, so I haven't gotten there yet. I hope the new way works, I'd like our kids to understand math better than we did, and I'm not averse to learning something new in order to help with that.

I find it funny that these parents get so upset at how hard it is.... if the curriculum is designed for your third grader.... you should be able to learn it pretty easily, if you just try. My guess is that a lot of the parents aren't actually trying to teach themselves the new way, and then get mad they can't help with the homework.

Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

#114

Post by Catalyst4NaN »

ollysb wrote: post #94
Catalyst4NaN wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty horrible attitude to take to learning. It's like asking why ever read a book, with a level of english past the level of a memo asking if you have completed a task. This article also seems to suggest that people don't understand how to preform basic mental arithmetic. In the states there also seems to be this insane way of thinking that you should learn an algorithm to do things in a particular way, if…

There's an infinite number of things you could be learning, wouldn't it be better to concentrate your efforts on the things that are valuable to you individually? I'm not of the belief that you need to learn things at specific ages and I also believe that you learn much faster when you have an application in mind for a particular skill. That in mind I think students should be encouraged to explore the things that are…

yes I completely agree about specialization. but A) this is about people learning addition and B) some people are totally clueless about what is useful to them. there really is a lot of good that comes out of studying general stuff that stands to the a lot of people

Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

#115

Post by Catalyst4NaN »

ollysb wrote: post #94
Catalyst4NaN wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty horrible attitude to take to learning. It's like asking why ever read a book, with a level of english past the level of a memo asking if you have completed a task. This article also seems to suggest that people don't understand how to preform basic mental arithmetic. In the states there also seems to be this insane way of thinking that you should learn an algorithm to do things in a particular way, if…

There's an infinite number of things you could be learning, wouldn't it be better to concentrate your efforts on the things that are valuable to you individually? I'm not of the belief that you need to learn things at specific ages and I also believe that you learn much faster when you have an application in mind for a particular skill. That in mind I think students should be encouraged to explore the things that are…

yes I completely agree about specialization. but A) this is about people learning addition and B) some people are totally clueless about what is useful to them. there really is a lot of good that comes out of studying general stuff that stands to the a lot of people

Re: 2+2=What? Parents rail against Common Core math

#116

Post by gnaritas »

dkhenry wrote: post #95
gnaritas wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we currently raised millions of children who _can_ do math just fine the current way Unfortunately that’s simply not true, we live in a culture where most people can't do math, and find it acceptable to not be able to. How math is being taught is simply wrong and those methods you're so resisting aren't new, they're decades old and they're already proven. > What happens when it turns out a combination of poor train…

I guess we just have a different outlook on the world. If your working under the assumption that people currently can't do basic math nothing I can say will change that opinion.

Sounds like you live in a bubble and haven’t met most people.
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