Last Saturday, IFI posted a video from a news program that purported to demonstrate teaching math the Common Core way. This video had been and continues to be widely circulated on conservative websites like Daily Caller and shown on television programs like John Stossel’s program Stossel and Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld.
We received a few critical email messages from IFI subscribers who either misunderstood our motives for posting it or perhaps are unamused by satire (including inadvertent satire). So, I would like to clarify why we posted it, what the video demonstrates about Common Core that we believe warrants criticism, and what we are not criticizing:
1. The reason we posted it is the same reason it is circulating: It is—to many viewers—funny. It is funny because it is (inadvertently) satirical. Satire mocks phenomenon—not because the phenomenon is wholly flawed—but because some aspect of it is flawed.
2. The video is funny because it draws attention to two common criticisms of Common Core. It draws attention to the criticism that Common Core de-emphasizes memorization and that it overcomplicates the teaching of subject matter through confusing explanations and education jargon. While the method demonstrated in the video is touted as making addition problems easier, the way the teacher explained it in this particular video would be confusing to young children—and many adults.
Perhaps the teacher’s poor explanation derived from the limited time she had available or perhaps from the Common Core language (i.e., “anchoring” and “decomposing”), but nonetheless, many people find the demonstration amusing.
Two of our critics, while agreeing that the teacher’s explanation was inadequate and the language inappropriate, found nothing funny about it. I would agree that if the funny parts were taken out, it wouldn’t be funny.
Many viewers who are amused by the video are also troubled by it. They’re troubled by Common Core’s apparent de-emphasis on memorization of facts (and not just in math), which this video reinforces. Even the interviewer’s introduction reinforces the public’s concern with Common Core’s de-emphasis on memorization.
Click here to see an even funnier video of a Grayslake, Illinois math teacher making that point explicitly. Just to be clear, my posting of this video should not be interpreted as a criticism of requiring students to explain their reasoning. It is a criticism of an apparent de-emphasis on math facts—which many students learn, develop facility with, and retain through memorization.
3. The reason IFI posted the video on Saturday is not that we find the strategy the teacher is using inherently problematic. Nor do we oppose the teaching of base 10, or the teaching of mathematical concepts, principles, and strategies that facilitate both comprehension and computation. IFI heartily and unequivocally endorses the teaching of math concepts, principles, strategies, facts—and satire (including inadvertent satire).
Those of you who enjoy a dollop of lighthearted satire following a more substantive meal of propositional argumentation (heavy on nutritional evidence), pick up your dessert spoon and taste this: “Ten Dumbest Common Core Problems.”
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