The Mismatch Of Primary School Maths And Gen X parents

If you hear the Generation X parents, like me, complaining why today's primary school maths was so different then, or we were never such methods or asked such questions, the answer is very simple.

While doing some research on Birds and Sheeps problem, I found out that today's primary school maths is based on the maths modelling/heuristics approach that started in 1990s.

So it make sense, Generation X parents were born from 1961 – 1981. Even for those born in 1981, they would be seven and in Primary 1 by 1988, meant that they were not even introduced to the modelling heuristics method.

However, Generation X parents today have the luxury of the Internet. Just google and practically someone has done a video or written in layman terms on how to solve these primary school maths question.

On the other hand, for some, the Internet is still an alien technology and looking for answers on Google isn't an option.

When Parents can't teach their children, what to they do in Singapore? They send them to tuition centers and this tuition spirals continue till those who attended Primary 1 in 1990s are able to remember what they learn and teach their children the modelling heuristics method.

For me, it would be another night of Google search.

Comments

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