9+6=Mass Confusion

When you hear complaints about Common Core Standards in schools, a lot of the complaints are not about the actual standards that need to be met by students.  Instead, it is the "new way" that children are taught even the most basic of concepts in complicated, non-linear form that frustrates most people and leads to calls to throw out Common Core.

There have been plenty of social media posts by parents--many with college and advanced degrees--who cannot even help their elementary school students because answers really aren't that clear anymore.  But posts like that can be faked to make Common Core even dumber than it is--so I've been reluctant to use any of them here.  But a Houston TV station is doing a series of "Homework Helper" segments--in an effort to assist parents in understanding this "new way to learn":

 

Now I consider myself pretty lucky--I'm able to do math in my head.  A lot of people aren't able to do that--they are called caluculator users.  And I always hated "showing my work" on homework or math tests.  The teachers would always say "Jonathan, the answer is correct, but you have to show your work."  And I would always try to argue that I just "know" that 238 plus 498 equals 736--because I could "see it in my mind"--so no need to do the old "carry the one...." and so forth.

But this "Make everything equal ten" because "10 is a friendly number" stuff is assinine.  I'm trying to imagine every employer watching that video thinking about all of the future employees who can't figure out basic addition and subtraction in the work setting because the "numbers aren't friendly enough".  

So when you hear people talking about how much they hate Common Core--they aren't racists--they probably just know how to do math.