(Thanks, A. :)

(I think who one's teacher was may have had much to do with how easily or how well one understood math.)

Reader A. writes:

***************************************************************************

Re: Reader: 'Children Get Poor Math Scores... Blame it on NEW Math'

I would not get tied up in knots about new or old math.

I went to a poor Catholic High School between '70 and '74.
Algebra was in my Freshman year.
I could solve the equations with "Bs"and "As".
But I could not internalize and really understand what I learned.

Old Math was being phased out when I was in grade school in the '60s but I missed out on the force feeding of the new Math as I went though 8 grades in a 4 room school in rural Minnesota.

For the most part, we home schooled our children.
The resources for homeschooling were still in their infancy.
When my oldest was taking Algebra, we ordered some Manipulatives to help visualize the math.
With those manipulatives, I could visualize Quadratic equations.
I could "SEE" how they worked!

Fast forward to today and the Internet.
There are THOUSANDS of videos for learning Math, English, and History.
I even have a rough understanding of Quantum Mechanics from
Link https://www.youtube.com/@SabineHossenfelder/videos
Do not forget to watch the related videos recommended on the right side of the screen.

When we were teaching our children, I found at the book store some math books by "Barrons" that presented Math in a visual story form.
It helped to understand math and how it is needed and used to solve every day problems in running a fictitious kingdom.
I still have them.

It is time to stop complaining about Old Vs New Math.
Get the resources available on the Internet before they disappear!

I have down loaded many hundreds of videos and backed them up on 3 other hard drives double wrapped in Mylar bags and hope they retain their information for when my Grandchildren come of age.

This should be posted.

***************************************************************************