Doug Herrmann, a father of two, wrote a check to his child’s elementary school using controversial Common Core practices. I don’t doubt that it is meant to mimic something this guy’s child did at school, but obviously whatever it was was never intended to make its way onto a personal check. If you want to fight Common Core, remember: The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
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The amount is made out in long form “common core math”.
Several websites and countless Twitter posters fell for a misleading Facebook post on Sept 16 from Doug Herrmann, of Painesville, in which he posted the above photo and the note, “Wrote a check to Melridge Elementary using common core numbers”.
In order to understand this photo of a father’s check, Common Core math is apparently a prerequisite. In a world where family chaos is increasing, which puts increasing pressure on schools to fill in for families besides their academic responsibilities, kids and society need curriculum and school structures that reinforce families and relationships – not the opposite. According to cleveland.com, the check was just a joke and never sent. “She can’t remember them all, and I don’t know them all, so we just do the best that we can”.
It’s not enough to learn basic subtraction, kids are told. But there’s a better reason to ask students to show their work, and it is that just going through the extra steps it takes to explain your thinking can help lead to genuine understanding. You can bet I will opt my kids out if the current trend continues or somehow manages to be even worse.
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Common Core is not a curriculum – that’s for states and school districts to decide.
