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We live in a world of computers in our pockets and you really think that getting the answer to long form math problems on paper quickly is what is important?
I guess not everyone can be the ones to program the computers, but i wouldn't designate your son to that fate simply to save a few minutes of homework time.
My son knows his math and can do it in his head.
That was my doing, not the school.
And most parents are just like you with regards to technology at our fingertips.
And that is why kids cannot do math without their crutches.
I don't understand people's desires to keep doing things the old fashioned way. Writing long form answers is not conducive really in today's technologically advanced society. And FWIW, my son does want to be a programmer and/or software developer. I saw the new types of math problems he did in later grades, primarily 5th and 6th, he had some interesting problems those grades but still nothing that was confusing and I was an English major, though I have always been pretty good at math up through Trig, as pretty advanced and my son can still do a whole lot of math in his head and hardly ever writes anything down. FWIW, he doesn't even get As in math, primarily due to him not writing out problems and explaining answers. He says math is direct, if he knows the answer and can tell you how he got it, he shouldn't have to write it down lol. He is working on that, but all his teachers feel that it is great that he has used all the grouping and estimating he has learned to figure out pretty complex problems in his head. Taking time to write out long form multiplication and division is getting to be pretty antiquated. If we don't keep our kids learning new things, we will stagnate as a nation.
That is very true and teachers need to take that into account because some students just "get it" right away and there is no need to justify every single answer especially if the teacher is aware of the skill level of the students.
As far as long form math..you do need to know that especially if you want to go into software development because one day he might be working on math libraries or math algorithms.
Learning synthetic division will be extremely hard if you do not know how to do regular long division as an example.
You cannot use the computer if you are the one programming the computer.
I don't agree with this either. Usually when people do math in their head, they do it like the picture shown earlier in the thread. When I compute that way in my mind, it is quicker than writing it out because I don't have to think as much about 39+46=85 when I do (30+40)+(9+6)=85 in my head. I do this all the time really quickly without writing anything.
But its not "in their head" anymore. This is how they are taught to do it on paper.
My son knows his math and can do it in his head.
That was my doing, not the school.
And most parents are just like you with regards to technology at our fingertips.
And that is why kids cannot do math without their crutches.
Nor can many tell you who won the American Revolution, why 1776 is a significant year, who Hitler was.
Here's what's happened because of "all the technology at their fingertips", at least in the classes I was teaching, which were non-leveled History classes.
The kids can not take a test, or even a quiz, without using the book/internet device. Even after doing and correcting all the homework and classwork. The ability to remember critical information is being lost year by year.
How will that work out with your neurosurgeon? Or airline pilot?
Has anyone ever wondered the why of so many of our surgeons/doctors/professors/scientists, etc. are now coming from countries with what can be called a traditional education system? It's not because our kids are too dumb to do those things.
Last edited by North Beach Person; 04-01-2015 at 01:04 PM..
Reason: punctuation; because I changed my thought in mid-keystroke
Nor can many tell you who won the American Revolution, why 1776 is a significant year, who Hitler was.
Here's what's happened because of "all the technology at their fingertips", at least in the classes I was teaching, which were non-leveled History classes.
The kids can not take a test, or even a quiz, without using the book/internet device. Even after doing and correcting all the homework and classwork. The ability to remember critical information is being lost year by year.
How will that work out with your neurosurgeon? Or airline pilot?
Has anyone ever wondered the why of so many of our surgeon's/doctors/professors/scientists, etc. are now coming from countries with what can be called a traditional education system? It's not because our kids are too dumb to do those things.
Oh they see it but they don't blame our educational system. They blame the corporations for "selling out".
My son knows his math and can do it in his head.
That was my doing, not the school.
And most parents are just like you with regards to technology at our fingertips.
And that is why kids cannot do math without their crutches.
I don't think your kid was under common core, because clearly it is designed to teach the kid how to do math from the basis of why instead of just memorizing tables. It is what allows one to do math without crutches. Many kids of the old system could get by with memorization but did not actually understand anything and struggled when they got to advanced maths.
That is very true and teachers need to take that into account because some students just "get it" right away and there is no need to justify every single answer especially if the teacher is aware of the skill level of the students.
As far as long form math..you do need to know that especially if you want to go into software development because one day he might be working on math libraries or math algorithms.
Learning synthetic division will be extremely hard if you do not know how to do regular long division as an example.
You cannot use the computer if you are the one programming the computer.
This is just wrong. The manual 'long form math' that we are talking about is not required for anything in computing. The more relationships the kids see and understand in the numbers, as are shown by the steps used with common core's approach to math, the better; that is what will allow the child to understand advanced math or be able to write computer algorithms. In fact the way the kids do math in common core is the way math is done on a computer with its array of logic gates, only with humans we use a 'base 10' approach while on a computer we usually do a 'base 16' approach.
This is just wrong. The manual 'long form math' that we are talking about is not required for anything in computing. The more relationships the kids see and understand in the numbers, as are shown by the steps used with common core's approach to math, the better; that is what will allow the child to understand advanced math or be able to write computer algorithms. In fact the way the kids do math in common core is the way math is done on a computer with its array of logic gates, only with humans we use a 'base 10' approach while on a computer we usually do a 'base 16' approach.
So, every kid form now on is going to write computer algorithms? That seems to be what you're saying.
And, by the way, kids are not doing better in higher Math using the new methods. That was tried back in the 60s, too, and was the reason Math education went back to the "old" way.
I have experienced it and have never had anything come home looking like that.
Oh I have, and it sucks ass..
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