Reply to Is there a benefit to teaching “old math”?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Old math is the equivalent of learning phonics and then moving on to reading and then moving on to understanding.

New math is the equivalent of sight words, spelling errors not being corrected, and expecting understanding without context and most importantly without a solid foundation.

IMHO[/quote]

I agree with this.  My children were taught using new math from 3rd-5th grade.  It is not as intuitive as claimed, especially when poorly taught.  I think new math needs a lot more time and excellent, highly prepared teachers. Unfortunately, we can't rely on that.

I found out during the pandemic that neither of my kids could do long division by hand without a calculator.  I recommend this as a test of whether your kids have absorbed new math or not.

For some of us, drill and kill on rote steps works better than new math problem-solving techniques.  Because math is boring for a lot of kids.  Being expected to engage, hypothesize, and problem-solve with just a pile of numbers, manipulatives, or printed formulas can actually be worse than being taught a math technique and replicating it.  However, pedagogical innovation continually assumes engaged learners and excellent teachers.  Faulty assumption at its root.

My husband was taught using new math by excellent teachers and it makes sense to him.  I can't even help with the homework using the new math methods.[/quote]

Yes. There are "Math Wars" to go with the Reading Wars. Virginia actually fell on the right side of the Math Wars in the early 2000s and didn't go for the stupidity, but failed to do so when they came around again.
http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/[/quote]

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