Tales of Tenth Grade

Here's a game to try. Add 8+5. Simple right? Most people can do this math almost instantly and get the correct answer of 13. Now try adding 8+5, but following these steps... Rewrite the numbers 5 and 8 Find two numbers that 5 can break into. Of the possible pairs, choose the one that can easily add with 8 to get a sum of 10. (In this case, it would be 2 and 3. You can add the 2 to 8 and get a sum of 10). Then add the remaining number that you broke from 5 to the 10 you got previously (In this case you would add 3 to 10 to get 13).  The second way is more confusing, isn't it? The second method was based on the Common Core. Today, children are learning to not only add, but multiply, divide, and much more using obscure methods like this one. Although it may seem easy enough for some people, it makes learning a great deal harder for others. For instance, one student may know how to add by counting off of their fingers or by visualizing the problem. With the Common Core, eve...