this post was submitted on 22 May 2025
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ADHD
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I'm sort of like this especially when it comes to math, but mostly because my memory is shit.
I can't just memorize a formula, I need to know how something works and then I can work out what i need to do. The "understanding" is what triggers the memory to stick, not the need to remember "you need to use x+y-65bm(y+ba)/gap+5-13 when you have a problem involving bears." I'll never just remember that. I basically always barely passed my math classes in highschool...
So I never studied science and never followed my passions and am now in a factory lol stupid memory...
This is actually the goal of newer math classes, and is why so many parents have been complaining about “new math”. The new goal is to teach students the core components, then show them how to break larger problems down into those core components.
7x12 may be difficult to do in your head (at least without memorizing your times tables or counting by 7’s) but (7x10)+(7x2) is fairly easy. The goal is to move away from rote memorization like times tables, because educators realized that the best students didn’t actually rely on rote memorization. Instead, they relied on mental shortcuts derived from actual understanding. Plus, rote memorization only works up to a certain point. You don’t need to memorize what 15x13 is, when you can break it down into a series of smaller and easier (15x10)+(15x3)=150+45=195 style problems.
Personally, I haven’t had any issues with new math, because that’s how I always did math. I was one of those students who got bored with rote memorization and started devising shortcuts for math problems. And now they’re teaching those very shortcuts as part of the curriculum, because they realized that it gives a much deeper understanding of how and why the math works.
That's the "new math"? That's just how I always have done it. I've kicked ass at math because things were a logical progression and order of operations. I could always transform something down to simpler to calculate pieces.
Yeah, all of the former straight-A students (who excelled at rote memorization, without learning why the math worked) are now parents, struggling to help their kids with the “new” math.
That's actually really good to hear! Hopefully less people are left behind because of the dumb way we would teach things.