Reply to Why is the math so terrible? Can parents do anything?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
As a parent, I struggle with the new curriculum too, because it's not how *I* learned math.  I was very accelerated myself and it wasn't until far too late that I understood the real-life applications for the algorithms I was learning.  What is a quadratic equation really representing?  What are you doing when you calculate an integral, and why would you ever need it?  I appreciate that my kids are breaking down the problems into parts that I might not recognize, but that it will give them a better foundation as they advance.  I see why it's not enough that my kids are getting the right answer -- which they frequently do -- they have to explain how they got there.  Could CC/2.0 be rolled out better?  Yes, absolutely.  But I get tired of reading all the doom/gloom here about how it's contributing to the downfall of Western Civilization or it's part of some master conspiracy by Starr to destroy MCPS so that illegal immigrants can take over.  Or that there is no value to teaching our kids how to solve problems in multiple ways and to explain -- in words -- how it is done.[/quote]

Exactly this. The difference is not simply getting the right answer, but knowing why it's the right answer, and why you can do what you just did, in math terms. That's the goal. The words are not the goal -- the words are one way to demonstrate understanding. Just getting the right answer does not demonstrate understanding. Conversely, words (for people without verbal disabilities) do not impede understanding, despite what many posters on DCUM seem to believe.[/quote]

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