(Thanks, S. :)

Reader Susan writes:

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

Thanks for posting this.

I was GREAT in math until the 4th grade. Intro of NEW MATH. We were suppose to think like computers. Division was done in BASE 10. 4th & 5th until they dropped it. I had a horrible time in math, and hated it.

In 6th grade math was like it was in 3rd grade. Due to proactive inhibition-- where something you learned recently keeps you from remembering something you learned prior, I was a mess in math again. I cried. My mom thought I was crazy, but she never read my 4-5th grade math books.

So I learned math again. I never ever liked math after the 4th grade. Never pursued the brainiac math--calculus and trigonometry. Dropped geometry in H.S. Bad schedule--lunch, PE--endurance swimming, then geometry. Couldn't stay awake. Teacher whispered and wrote so lightly on the board, could barely see it.
I was robbed of an opportunity.

Subbed HS honors students who couldn't write, just print; because stopped teaching cursive writing in schools. It is just now coming back to the schools.

Now if they will go back to teaching phonics, kids will be able to read and spell, not relying on a computer to do it for them.

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