I recently had a discussion with some friends about the value of some skills being memorized, particularly basic math. Is there really anything wrong with memorizing you multiplication tables?
My friend who is a teacher said in his science class not all his students can multiply. 7th grade and can't multiply? Don't you start that in 2nd grade??? How does this happen???
I remember in second and third grade going through the process of learning my multiplication tables. Boy what a pain. Everyday, the flash cards, the work sheets, reciting them aloud with the class. But with Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Brown kept us at it until we had it down.
Is there really anything wrong with that? Does every single activity in school have to be enriching? Is there really anything wrong with drilling kids to know certain things?
I know all kids learn differently, yada, yada, yada. It was drilled into us in the ed program at WMU. But isn't giving kids flash cards to they can see it, reciting it so they can hear it, and worksheets so they can practice it, meeting the needs of many different kids. Yes there is value into teaching kids that they can figure it out with grid paper or blocks, but is that practical? You know I regularly carry grid paper in pocket for those occasions when I need to multiply. Yes for certain things I'll use a calculator, but for figuring a tip for the waiter/waitress, I do that math in my head.
So MEMORIZE your multiplication tables. I did.
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