ADHD memes

That's the sort of thing "new math" was trying to teach. Those sorts of breakdowns are exactly what the kids who were good at math were always doing, and teaching methods eventually caught up and realized they should just teach the tricks.

Then a bunch of parents who were bad at math asked "new math? How can math change?" The fact that they even asked that question showed how their math education was lacking, but they seem to have won.