Ah yes the new math.

Actually the new math in the video is from the

From an article discussing a book Old Dogs, New Math to help parents deal with helping their kids with their math homework:

Put succinctly: Remember how important it was to "show your work," as math teachers would say? Math Expressions is an extension of just that.

For example, multiply the numbers 32 X 67. The old method would mean simply multiplying the two numbers together for an answer of 2,144. Math Expressions, though, requires that students work through the process. One method is to decompose the numbers to 60 plus 7 and 30 plus 2. Then multiply 60 times 30, which equals 1,800. Then multiply 60 and 2 for 120. Then multiply 7 and 30 for 210 followed by 7 and 2 for 14. Add the answers together -- 1,800, 120, 210, and 14 -- for the final total of 2,144.

It's an admittedly long way to reach the same answer, said Susan MacMillan, director of math and gifted education for Toledo (Ohio) Public Schools, who acknowledges that she hears from parents all the time who want to know why schools are making math even more difficult and cumbersome.

The simple answer: It's for the students.

"What we're noticing in fourth and fifth grade is our kids start losing their math abilities," MacMillan said.

In third grade, perhaps a student is asked to learn 20 elements of mathematics. The next year, the student is expected to retain that information and add, say, another 40 new elements on top of it. It's the same for fifth grade and up, all of which can lead to confusion and math anxiety for many students.

"Kids don't understand what they're doing, then all the procedures get mixed up together in their heads. They don't remember, 'Do I add now or add later?' " MacMillan said.

The more cumbersome method, she said, helps to eliminate those issues by reinforcing the full process in an equation.

"They really develop a number sense," MacMillan said. "They start to think like mathematicians. Their thinking reflects their understanding of the concepts and not just rote memorization of the procedures.

"The research on learning math is pretty clear. If you introduce a process or a procedure before the kids are familiar with the concepts behind it, then they don't care to learn the concepts. They just want the shortcut. That's part of the problem ..."

Sounds like there is some logic behind this approach.  I would speculate, however, that too many of the elementary teachers are not equipped to adequately teach this method.

The article goes on.

While such a method may seem radical, new and improved ways of doing math certainly aren't new. "When I brought math home my mom would say, 'Well, this is not the way we did it,' " said Mike Shaughnessy, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. "I don't think this is a new phenomenon at all."

There have been many movements in education over the past decades. The song in C's video was written in the 1960s by Tom Lehrer in response to the New Math movement that losing it popularity at that time. From wiki:

Lehrer's explanation of the two calculations is entirely correct, but presented at rapid speed, with minimal visual aids, and with snide remarks thrown in, making it difficult for most audience members to follow the otherwise simple calculations being performed. This is intended to poke fun at the kind of bafflement the New Math approach often evoked when apparently simple calculations were presented in a very general manner. While such calculations were mathematically correct, and arguably trivial for mathematicians, presenting them so generally was likely very confusing to absolute beginners, and even contemporary adult audiences.

Which kind of goes back to the ability of the teachers teaching the approach.

Read it and weep.  I did.

Lis,

Just take a look at this chart

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2010/12/07/education/07education_graph/07education_graph-popup.jpg

from this front page NYT article today:

Top Test Scores From Shanghai Stun Educators

You will see the U.S. doing just fine, in the middle of the list, for the first two columns, both Science and Reading. But in the third column, Math, we are way down at the bottom!

So there! You and your relatives are right to be skeptical about how math is being taught in this country!

Something's wrong there! I'm sure people can make all kinds of argument about how this test is not a correct or accurate measure of education or what we want to educate or whatevah, but you can't explain such a difference of our results on one single discipline, especially within the context of so many educational systems.

Hell we had the 'new math' in the 60's.

But damn we did the arithmetic tables and then the multiplication tables in the third and then fourth grades if I recall correctly.

1 X 1 thru 12 X 12

And then it was over. Never forgot.

Calculators that worked did not come to the fore really until the 70's. I mean the real calculators giving you Pi to the 60th decimal point.

But with parents teaching their kids that the earth is ten thousand years old, I am at a loss.

Making test scores the bases for a teacher's raise or merit pay is unfair.   It seems to be the political thing to do these days.  It creates more worry then actually improve education.  Teachers end up teaching how to pass the test. 

My grandkids are doing well in school.   I can't find any fault in the way they are taught math.  In fact I think it is better then the way I was taught.  

My mother was taught to learn by memorizing everything.  She was a very good student.  I was told over and over how she always brought home A's.   When ever I asked my mother a question about history or something else I was learning in school,  she could not give me much of a answer or where to look for the information.  She never was taught how to learn and think.  I like that kids are asked to think and solve problems.  It will serve them well through their life.      

Oh I just found this:

Chinese schoolchildren have trounced students from other countries on an international education test, reports the New York Times. The 5,100 15-year-olds from Shanghai, who were chosen to give an accurate representation of students across the city, came out on top against other nations in science, reading, and math. The United States, by contrast, placed 23^rd in science, 17^th in reading, and 31^st in math. The test, called the Program for International Student Assessment, is administered to students in 65 countries across the globe by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. While students from Shanghai were No. 1 in the world, students from Hong Kong also performed strongly, placing 3^rd in science and math and 4^th in reading. An education official who served under Ronald Reagan, Chester Finn Jr., likened the performance to "Sputnik" saying: "I've seen how relentless the Chinese are at accomplishing goals, and if they can do this in Shanghai in 2009, they can do it in 10 cities in 2019, and in 50 cities by 2029." Current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, "We have to see this as a wake-up call." He added: "We can quibble, or we can face the brutal truth that we're being out-educated."

The New York Times