The technology pushed into schools today is a threat to child development
I half think that the entirety of Common Core Math is designed by lobbyists promoting the type of technology presented in the article. &quot;Carry the one&quot; is the simplest thing to explain with a pencil and a blank piece of paper. All the new Common Core techniques seem to require some kind of visual representation, either via the games sold to the schools and onward to the parents, or via the overpriced blocks sold to teach these techniques. Yeah as a parent I could draw it all out, but then you end up doing 90% drawing and 10% teaching; it&#x27;s pretty impractical. So I could see cynically that whether it ends up helping students is moot; it helps put money into a lot of lobbyists&#x27; pocketbooks and that&#x27;s all that matters.<p>NB Even when I&#x27;m trying to be positive about it, I find it a bit backwards. I think giving beginning students a dozen ways to reason about the answer only adds to the confusion. IMO the better teaching method is give them one rote mechanical way to get the answer and explain that as best you can. Once they&#x27;ve mastered that, then start looking at additional ways to reason about it (if necessary).