Question

Why does "Common Core" math get so much hate from the rest of the mathematics community. My professor, co-workers, OpenStudiers and students at my school mention their bitter dislike for common-core when brought up, but I don't see a reason which warrants so much hate. Care to explain?

Answer 1

i want to know too

Answer 2

@thomaster , @Directrix , @kropot72 , @ganeshie8

Answer 3

@Owlcoffee and @FibonacciChick666 had a discussion about this just a few days back...if I'm correct they are both teachers.

Answer 4

I don't live in America, So I haven't much of an idea.
But I think that this is mostly a problem that involves something as meaningless as : "We must make math less of a memory-solving thing and more critical thinking one".
I get this a lot, I have to admit, (I have never taught at ground school or with kids younger than 13 years). But I have read a lot of math books with already oversimplified concepts of math.
What do you think happen when students are shown out of the blue the formula: \(x=\frac{ -b \pm \sqrt{b^2-4ac} }{ 2a }\) ?
This is something you can't show out of the nowhere, because the formula has it's scary look. This is why I am of those teachers that stesses a lot the theorical parts of mathematics.

Oversimplifying mathematical concepts is not the way to go when teaching anything inside math, or skipping the theory because it is "confusing", I mean... Hello?... Math teachers exists to dissolve that confusion.

Answer 5

Well, there are a lot of reasons. I guess my first issue is that it is forcing developmentally inappropriate material on students in the most important grades, K-5. From the past 100 years or so of Psychological research, we know that the average child only begins to have the capabilities for abstract thought around 4th grade. The common core approach to addition for first graders, for example, requires the students to break numbers apart and then combine in many steps. This is not only beyond the mental capabilities of a 1st grader, but sets the student up for future math failure. When they teach this break down approach in first grade, they are unable to explain why students can do this because that too is over their heads. An example problem:
\[13 +17\]
What they are teaching,
\[13=3+10~and~17=7+10\]then \[10+10 ~is~ 20~~and ~~3+7~ is ~10\] so you get 3 tens which is 30.

Now, this is all fine and dandy for an adult to do or even a fifth grader, but the issue is the concepts are too abstract for that 1st grader. They also do not learn why this works. You cannot explain the commutative and associative properties to people incapable of abstract thought.

Stemming from this developmentally inappropriate content is the inability to perform basic mathematical operations without a calculator in the later grades, and a learned helplessness in math(the student thinks, math is always hard. I will always struggle at math. Due to the inaccessible content of grades K-3/4). This creates issues every step of the student's educational career.

So that is probably my biggest pet peeve, other than dumbing the students down and making it more difficult for students to be on a gifted track.

Answer 6

Interesting fact: Recent research shows that students who learn the "common core way" for addition/multiplication do not perform as well on the PSAT as students who had a traditional rote memorization approach for those topics.

Answer 7

As for teaching the theory behind things, that is fine and dandy, but it must be done at a developmentally appropriate age. Then the issue also arises that education is so devalued in the US that people just don't care. I brought up the stats for some other countries about the math they attain and was met with laughter-by other teachers- and was told it was unnecessary for the US to meet those other countries' standards by parents. What was this radical idea? All students have Algebra 1 by 8th grade. This puts them on a track to have Calculus 1 senior year. Now to put this into perspective, CCSS get a student to trig or algebra 2 at most if followed from kindergarten. Yet, in Singapore, students are required to pass Calculus 1 and Ordinary differential equations by the end of high school. In Germany, students take Probability and statistics as well as calculus 1 by our 10th grade. Not to mention, those programs include a lot of theory. US students, for the most part, are completely unprepared for those courses due to a lack of fundamentals and discipline.

Answer 8

Here are some links that can give a bit of background(at least I feel they do)
They explain teacher shortages, effects of CCSS and CCSS. There is some bias, but for the most part, articles on this are either biased or propaganda.

Start with this one : http://poorrichardsnews.com/michelle-malkin-has-the-facts-about-common-core/


https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish/videos/612554595552718/?pnref=story

https://www.facebook.com/FreedomProjectUSA/videos/10153165984599849/?pnref=story
https://www.facebook.com/FreedomProjectUSA/videos/10153166213034849/

http://www.bipps.org/new-explore-and-plan-achievement-gaps-grow-in-kentucky/

Answer 9

The person who sort of engineered the PArcc tests is now the president of the SAT, and this happens http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/07/hiding-common-cores-damage-new-sat-wont-allow-comparison-to-prior-years-scores/

Answer 10

here is another mathematician's editorial on it http://www.wsj.com/articles/marina-ratner-making-math-education-even-worse-1407283282

Answer 11

this is the recent research I was referring to http://mediarelations.uwo.ca/2013/01/03/western-neuroscience-study-reveals-new-link-between-basic-math-skills-and-psat-math-success-2/