Yet another convoluted “Common Core” assignment intended to make things easier while doing the exact opposite has cropped up.
Common core insanity for six year olds! How to go from simple to complex, in four steps.#mathmadness pic.twitter.com/GaTAVR1tHb
— Amber Papadopoulos (@NYCdeb8tr) March 30, 2014
This was intended for first graders. Rather than just teach them the basics, from which they could later learn these tricks and shortcuts, “Common Core” replaces “rote memorization” of basics with rote memorization tricks without the conceptual understanding that makes them useful.
The veritable Ace of Ace of Spades HQ puts it succinctly:
“Here’s the problem with this, and I’ve said this before, so I won’t belabor it: The method that they are offering to avoid rote memorization or the mechanical method of subtraction involving two digit numbers is actually more conceptually difficult than the memorization or mechanical ‘carry-over-the-one’ method.”
In order to be able to build up something complex, you need to start with simple building blocks.
Hat Tip: Twitchy.
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