Conservatives freak out over common core maths

[Cataclysm]

That picture is especially popular on conservatives’ Facebook walls… and I’m sure one of your relatives has said something about it, too.
On the surface, it seems ridiculous. The top makes sense; the bottom is silly; screw you, Common Core!

Here’s what’s going on: The top is how most of us learned subtraction. I’m sure your teachers taught you what was going on mathematically, but do you really remember what they said? Probably not. For us, it’s just an algorithm. You can do it without thinking. You hope there’s no “borrowing” of numbers involved, but if you had to do it by hand, you could probably pull it off.
The problem with that method is that if I ask students to explain why it works, they’d have a really hard time explaining it to me. They might be able to do the computation, but they don’t get the math behind it. For some people, that’s fine. For math teachers, that’s a problem because it means a lot of students won’t be able to grasp other math concepts in the future because they never really developed “number sense.”

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/07/about-that-common-core-math-problem-making-the-rounds-on-facebook/

[Flying Mint Bunny!]

I have no idea what's going on with the "New Way", but I am rubbish at working numbers out in my head.

[dpareja]

I have no idea what's going on with the "New Way", but I am rubbish at working numbers out in my head.

It's trying to make the point that given two numbers a and b, the number a - b is defined as that number which, when added to b, gives a.

[Flying Mint Bunny!]

I have no idea what's going on with the "New Way", but I am rubbish at working numbers out in my head.

It's trying to make the point that given two numbers a and b, the number a - b is defined as that number which, when added to b, gives a.

Oh ok.

I can sort of see their point, but personally i'd rather learn the harder way that eventually leads to me being better at maths.

[Sigmaleph]

Let it be said: people will always complain about arithmetic techniques other than what they were taught as children, and those complaints rarely go beyond "but that doesn't make any sense!" because people are bad at math and memorise techniques rather than concepts. This should be sorted out by actually testing which method works better, not through facebook outrage which isn't even aimed at the right thing.

That being said, I'm not terribly convinced by the arguments for the new way. First, it seems much slower (subtracting two-digit numbers takes 8 sums as opposed to two subtractions, in the example given, thought it would vary with the specific numbers). You might argue that the purpose of teaching kids pen-and-paper arithmetic is to understand the underlying concepts rather than get it done quickly, which is what calculators and computers are for, but decent methods of pen-and-paper arithmetic should also have a place in education. Sometimes you don't have a calculator on hand.

Second, there's a false equivalence between understanding subtraction and understanding the subtraction algorithm. Yes, it's a bit harder to see how the old algorithm is implementing subtraction*. That's not the same as students not understanding what subtraction is.

Third, the article shows a picture from reddit that shows how much easier it is to do 3000-2999 the new way. Sure. But that's not the kind of calculation you do on paper, anyone can work that out in their heads. The "new way" is similar to how we carry out mental maths on simple subtractions, so it's redundant to teach it instead of the new way.

But, words are wind, data is solid**. Like I said, test both methods and see what happens, teach whichever works best (or both, if they are good at different things).

*I think, anyway. Both methods are pretty clear to me, but I'm a maths nerd and I'm not very good at predicting what the average person understands of maths.

**I need a better saying for this. None comes to mind.

Edit: Also, because it's appropriate and I like Tom Lehrer. Visuals aren't the best, but most videos lack the first part of the audio.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWaJ0sy03g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWaJ0sy03g</a>

[Canadian Mojo]

So adding four times is easier than subtracting once? 

Not terribly convinced myself, although as a mathematical concept it's probably a useful exercise but I'm not really sure why as a lesson you wouldn't bypass the 5 and immediately jump to the nearest 10 and count up from there (8+10+2), or use the even more pragmatic method of going 10+10 (and working your remainder at the end had that been needed)

[m52nickerson]

My son was being taught the "new way" and failing to understand it.  I taught him the old way and he picked it really quick.  Luckily it seems to be working and for some reason showing your work is no longer than important. 

[Ghoti]

I think it's useful to have as many legitimate methods of solving a math problem as possible, because what makes perfect sense to one kid is going to be complete gibberish to another. I don't give half a rat's ass about the "new way" or the "old way" or the ebul libberuls role in promoting one over the other, I care about kids learning math in a way that makes sense to them and makes it easier for them to be successful later in life.

[RavynousHunter]

My son was being taught the "new way" and failing to understand it.  I taught him the old way and he picked it really quick.  Luckily it seems to be working and for some reason showing your work is no longer than important. 

Honestly, on most assignments (barring tests, exams, and such) I really don't see a reason why you should have to "show your work," so long as you got the right answer.

Why?  Well, when I was in high school, I got sick and tired of having to figure out standard things the slow way.  I had a graphing calculator, a TI-83+...why not use it?  If the vanilla calculator programs couldn't cover something, I made something that'd do it.  Being part of a fucking tool-using species, I developed a tool to make my job easier, and yet some teachers would bitch.  Excuse me for thinking outside the effing box!  Besides, if I can express the concept and formula in code, then would it not stand to reason that I, therefore, understand said concept and formula?  The only teacher that consistently praised me for such things was my Statistics teacher.  Glad she did, too...I might've lost interest and decided to go into something much less interesting for a career path.

[dpareja]

My son was being taught the "new way" and failing to understand it.  I taught him the old way and he picked it really quick.  Luckily it seems to be working and for some reason showing your work is no longer than important. 

Honestly, on most assignments (barring tests, exams, and such) I really don't see a reason why you should have to "show your work," so long as you got the right answer.

Why?  Well, when I was in high school, I got sick and tired of having to figure out standard things the slow way.  I had a graphing calculator, a TI-83+...why not use it?  If the vanilla calculator programs couldn't cover something, I made something that'd do it.  Being part of a fucking tool-using species, I developed a tool to make my job easier, and yet some teachers would bitch.  Excuse me for thinking outside the effing box!  Besides, if I can express the concept and formula in code, then would it not stand to reason that I, therefore, understand said concept and formula?  The only teacher that consistently praised me for such things was my Statistics teacher.  Glad she did, too...I might've lost interest and decided to go into something much less interesting for a career path.

Because without seeing your work, there's no way of knowing whether you actually know how to do that sort of problem in general or just happened to get the right answer by some sort of fluke despite your method being completely wrong.

[OmniLiquid]

My son was being taught the "new way" and failing to understand it.  I taught him the old way and he picked it really quick.  Luckily it seems to be working and for some reason showing your work is no longer than important. 

Honestly, on most assignments (barring tests, exams, and such) I really don't see a reason why you should have to "show your work," so long as you got the right answer.

Why?  Well, when I was in high school, I got sick and tired of having to figure out standard things the slow way.  I had a graphing calculator, a TI-83+...why not use it?  If the vanilla calculator programs couldn't cover something, I made something that'd do it.  Being part of a fucking tool-using species, I developed a tool to make my job easier, and yet some teachers would bitch.  Excuse me for thinking outside the effing box!  Besides, if I can express the concept and formula in code, then would it not stand to reason that I, therefore, understand said concept and formula?  The only teacher that consistently praised me for such things was my Statistics teacher.  Glad she did, too...I might've lost interest and decided to go into something much less interesting for a career path.

Because without seeing your work, there's no way of knowing whether you actually know how to do that sort of problem in general or just happened to get the right answer by some sort of fluke despite your method being completely wrong.

Agreed. As a math tutor I've often seen things like:

3x - 5 = 10
     -5      -5

x = 5

Where a student will make errors (in this case subtracting instead of adding, and forgetting to bring the 3 down) but come up with the correct answer.

(I assume you can all handle that one but just in case, a correct way would be:

3x - 5 = 10
    + 5   + 5

3x = 15
/3     /3

x = 5           )

[Old Viking]

I've received four trophies for my skill in mathematics.  There's one.  And there's one.  And there's one.

[RavynousHunter]

My son was being taught the "new way" and failing to understand it.  I taught him the old way and he picked it really quick.  Luckily it seems to be working and for some reason showing your work is no longer than important. 

Honestly, on most assignments (barring tests, exams, and such) I really don't see a reason why you should have to "show your work," so long as you got the right answer.

Why?  Well, when I was in high school, I got sick and tired of having to figure out standard things the slow way.  I had a graphing calculator, a TI-83+...why not use it?  If the vanilla calculator programs couldn't cover something, I made something that'd do it.  Being part of a fucking tool-using species, I developed a tool to make my job easier, and yet some teachers would bitch.  Excuse me for thinking outside the effing box!  Besides, if I can express the concept and formula in code, then would it not stand to reason that I, therefore, understand said concept and formula?  The only teacher that consistently praised me for such things was my Statistics teacher.  Glad she did, too...I might've lost interest and decided to go into something much less interesting for a career path.

Because without seeing your work, there's no way of knowing whether you actually know how to do that sort of problem in general or just happened to get the right answer by some sort of fluke despite your method being completely wrong.

Aye, true.  I just wish most of them would've listened when I told them I'd made something to do it for me.  But no, don't praise the creative children, that might actually make them want to contribute something positive to our society, instead of wanting to burn the planet with nuclear fire.  Don't want that now, of course, but at the time I did, because it seemed like absolutely fucking no one outside my parents valued any kind of creative thought.  Nope, screw you, little fucker, and get back into line like a good little drone.

[Radiation]

I have undiagnosed dyscaculia (or NVLD) and the "new way" would just confuse me the more as I would have no fucking idea what it's about.

[dpareja]

My son was being taught the "new way" and failing to understand it.  I taught him the old way and he picked it really quick.  Luckily it seems to be working and for some reason showing your work is no longer than important. 

Honestly, on most assignments (barring tests, exams, and such) I really don't see a reason why you should have to "show your work," so long as you got the right answer.

Why?  Well, when I was in high school, I got sick and tired of having to figure out standard things the slow way.  I had a graphing calculator, a TI-83+...why not use it?  If the vanilla calculator programs couldn't cover something, I made something that'd do it.  Being part of a fucking tool-using species, I developed a tool to make my job easier, and yet some teachers would bitch.  Excuse me for thinking outside the effing box!  Besides, if I can express the concept and formula in code, then would it not stand to reason that I, therefore, understand said concept and formula?  The only teacher that consistently praised me for such things was my Statistics teacher.  Glad she did, too...I might've lost interest and decided to go into something much less interesting for a career path.

Because without seeing your work, there's no way of knowing whether you actually know how to do that sort of problem in general or just happened to get the right answer by some sort of fluke despite your method being completely wrong.

Aye, true.  I just wish most of them would've listened when I told them I'd made something to do it for me.  But no, don't praise the creative children, that might actually make them want to contribute something positive to our society, instead of wanting to burn the planet with nuclear fire.  Don't want that now, of course, but at the time I did, because it seemed like absolutely fucking no one outside my parents valued any kind of creative thought.  Nope, screw you, little fucker, and get back into line like a good little drone.

But even then, how can I tell whether that something you've made to do it for you isn't just fluking into the right answer for the particular problem set? If you can provide me with proof that what you've made is in fact implementing a correct algorithm, great, but otherwise you're no better off than before.