Overheard a math teacher say "kids don't need to memorize times tables anymore" and I had to bite my tongue

2 comments

2 Comments

Did you say anything or just let it slide? lol I had a similar thing happen with my nephew's teacher last year. I kept my mouth shut but honestly I think times tables are one of those things that build a real foundation for math. Like yeah you could pull out a calculator for everything but it slows you down so much when you're trying to work through a problem. I told my nephew to practice them on his own anyway and now he's way faster than his friends in class. Some things just need to be drilled in no matter what the new teaching trends say.

miaa4113d ago

Oh man, YES! Totally agree with you on this. Times tables are like the ABCs of math, you just gotta know them cold. I think it's wild that some teachers are acting like memorization is bad now when it actually frees up your brain to do harder stuff. If my kid is spending all his mental energy figuring out what 7x8 is, he's gonna get stuck on every single problem. That foundation is everything. I would have said something to the teacher, but I get why you kept quiet haha. At least your nephew is crushing it now though!