teaching techniques (especially around math), I have looked over the common core techniques and concepts and can see how it makes sense as it attempts to approach math as a computer does.

where common core has fallen flat is because the methods are dumped on students and parents and

1) students are expected to become proficient at it very quickly when they have been taught the "old" way up to that point

2) the schools, administrators and common core proponents have not done a good job in explaining/selling the "why" this methodology is being taught over the old methods.

The latter issue may be caused by a mindset that I have seen from some educators, namely that they are teachers/educators so parents and students should just blindly accept what is being presented to them because teachers and educators are the experts, not the parents.

learning, but parents are often confused, since the methods, etc., aren't what they learned. So, they get upset. That's what I'm seeing, anyhow in objections to what people think "common core" is. Since I have no children in the school system, I don't know exactly how teaching is done, nor do I know whether all schools and all teachers are competent, but that was true even when I was in school.

Perhaps parents need an introductory course in how their children are being taught, or need to read the school materials their children are learning from. I'm pretty sure, though, that most parents will neither take a course nor read their children's materials. If they don't understand their children's homework, I'm sure that's very frustrating, but there is a remedy, if parents will take it.

I suspect that children are doing better at this than their parents are. A Google shopping search for "Common Core Math for Parents" turns up a bunch of materials to help parents understand the current math teaching methods. If I were a parent, I'd have one of these books or other media to help me understand so I could help my kids. Maybe schools could make these materials available to interested parents or parents could find them in their local library.

Simply railing against change does no good at all, really. A better plan is to learn to understand what is going on and why.

Math has always been a problem in nearly every grade of school. When I was a kid in the 1960s, there were no alternative methods of instruction for students who didn't get it from the standard pedagogy. My friends' kids are learning math about three different ways, and I guess the idea is a sort of shotgun approach, blasting the kids with different methods to see which one works for different individuals.

This is very different from the earlier goal of making sure everybody learned in the same way, at the same pace, with the same methods and instructional materials. When I started Kindergarten, my parents were called in to meet with the teacher and the principal. They sat my parents down and told them, in a very accusatory way, "Your child can read!" This was double plus ungood, as Orwell would put it. They were violently opposed to children who thought they were better or special by learning to read before the other children. This is so funny, because now they would be concerned if a kid showed up at Kindergarten and could not read.

leaves many without learning.

Like you, I could read very well already when I went to Kindergarten. The teacher didn't scold my parents, though. She gave me books to read while the other kids were learning pre-reading skills. Then, in first grade, my teacher gave me more books during the "Dick and Jane" lessons and I sat at the back of the class.

They were excited that I could read and encouraged me to do as much of it as I liked. So, I did. I learned way more from my reading than I ever learned in a classroom, throughout my education. Fortunately, my school system back in the 50s and 60s not only let me find my own speed, but encouraged me to do that.

The long-running debate about phonetic methods (phonics) versus whole word methods. I learned to read by the whole word method, but phonics was the exclusive method at the time, and it was OK with me because it appealed to my sense of logic. I seem to recall the battle reached its zenith in the 1990s, with teachers expected to choose a side and vow to fight to the death. My neighbor was a grade school teacher, and she reported that teaching careers were made or lost depending on which side of that battle you chose. I think now they use a combination of both methods.

My father said, "sound it out" when I'd stumble on a word. That was in about 1949, long before "phonics" became a thing. I already knew the alphabet, of course, so I'd "sound it out" until I found a recognizable word. It wasn't long, though, before I was reading using the whole word method. Somewhat later, in 6th grade, I got to take a speed reading class during the summer, and reading changed for me forever. From whole word reading, I learned to take in text in larger and larger blocks. It was a method made for me, it seemed, and I surprised everyone with my progress. It's not for everyone, though. I'm not sure what makes it work, but if it does, it's a life-changer, for sure.

Like math, everyone learns language skills differently. Lucky kids have parents who work with them to find the right combination. Schools can't always do that, especially when there are 30 kids in a class, all trying to learn as best they can. Parents can fill the gap, but have to be engaged and have the time and talent to help. That combination doesn't always exist, sadly.

We lived in the resort town of Chetek, WI. You probably know where it is, about 50 miles north of Eau Claire on Hwy 53. At that time, the highway was a two lane affair, and there were billboards everywhere for bars, cabins by the lake, etc. And Burma Shave signs! Can't forget those. As we rode along the highway, I would demand to know, "What's that sign say? What does that one say?" The whole word method at its most basic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia

You can think of it as dyslexia for math.

In people with dyscalculia, the "old way" of teaching math just does not work at all. If you ask me "What's 5 + 7?", I have to think about it. As a result, I was always in remedial math.

Until they let us use calculators. Then I was suddenly put on the advanced math track. I could do algebra, trigonometry and calculus easily in junior high/high school. But when I got those problems to the point of actually adding or multiplying the resulting numbers, I could not (and still can't) do it well and relied on calculators to do the basic math.

From the little I've seen of the "new" way of teaching math, it make a lot more sense in my screwed-up brain than the rote memorization from my school days.

At one time, I could manually find the square root of any number. Damned if I can remember the method now, though. By the time I was in college, the first calculators with a sqrt function were available, so there was no need for that manual method. Before too long, the slide rule also went into the garbage, once scientific calculators were available. I dropped out of college for four years in 1964. By the time I returned, the slide rule was history.

I still have my old book of logarithm tables. Not much use for that any more.

Math has become more theoretical, even in elementary school. It's taught more in a way that helps people understand concepts, rather than simply calculation methods. That's how life operates today. Nobody needs to know calculation methods really any more. They can be useful, to be sure, but there's a calculator on every device I own, even my old flip phone cell device.

I still use the old methods when I need to get a quick view of something, usually in my head, as an estimate, but if I do actual calculations, I use a calculator or enter the numbers in Excel if I have a long list of numbers to add or do other operations on. I enter the formula and Excel does the calculations, including some very complex ones that would take me hours to complete.

I like modern technology.

is that I've seen people just put whatever the display shows after hitting the = key. I at least have some idea of what order of magnitude the answer should be in.
Saw a kid add up 9 two digit numbers on the calculator and get a 4 digit answer. He couldn't understand why I said that answer was wrong and he made a mistake somewhere.

I think that's what they're teaching - basic math. They're trying to teach kids to understand what it is they're doing and why. That's confusing to adults who learned another way.

I learned the old way, and am very good at estimating results, as you mention. But, I also did enough math in college to understand what is underneath the calculation algorithms we use. I was lucky to have started out as an engineering major.

This was in the mid 1970s, when calculators were considered unreliable. I never did master the slide rule, and using it was harder than the math itself.

open arms. I gained more precision and much more speed. I don't even like to think about how much my first TI scientific calculator cost in real dollars. It was an SR-50, with tiny little red LED display. If I remember correctly, I paid about $180 for it. What a marvel!

I bought a much more recent one the other day at Goodwill for $5 that even had graphing features. $5.