[quote=all]Elite private schools have limited capacity and the cost is the major control mechanism. LJCDS already has all the kids they want. They would just increase the cost by whatever the value of the voucher is.
I am a bit surprised that you would argue against Common Core, FLU. Important purpose of math in school is to develop problem-solving skills and common core math is doing that. It is the path that matters, not the number at the end. My 4th-grader can solve quadratic equations, but as long as he cannot explain the solution he is just a well-trained monkey.[/quote]
The absence of common core does not mean you don’t teach problem solving skills. I think that’s the misconception when common core didn’t exist teachers didn’t teach kids problem solving skills. But what I do see is that In the quest to try to get our kids to “think” more, they are missing key fundamentals. And it’s not just about arithmetic. The biggest problem why I think math is lagging here is lack of practice.
As an experiment, I asked my kid out of the 5 different ways she learned how to solve a problem, which one she still remembers and uses. And basically, it’s the old fashion way. All the emphasis on friendly numbers etc, very seldomly used in practice in the curiculum and at home on in this country, since on a day to day usage, this concepts are never reinforced regularly. So they will be forgotten. It’s a little different in our household, because a lot of the problem solving we make my kid think everyday, and it’s this constant practice which is what I think sticks. Every trip to the grocery store is a few math problems…. What’s worse is if a kid remembers half of the strategy and not the complete strategy and ends up trying to apply a misremembered strategy.
