Teacher's Union President can't do 6th grade math

Talk about a high-stakes test.

The radio audience was live and the question for teachers union
president Randi Weingarten involved sixth-grade math: "What's 1/3rd plus
1/4th?"

He couldn't do it. ::snicker:: But could you? Is this something you use in everyday life to be able to practice and remember it? I know I use this type of math in cooking. Maybe she doesn't cook. Maybe she needs more hands on learning so that she can remember. ::grin::

"I do it the old-fashioned way," she said. "You take your paper, your pen, you add it up and get the fractional whatever."

"And you show your work," Pesca offered.

"And you show your work," Weingarten agreed. "A good teacher will look at it and talk to you about what went right and what went wrong, like they do in Singapore."

I believe that they do more mental math in Singapore. That is one of the things Singapore Math is known for--and Singapore Math (the one we are using for elementary) is actually the program that was used in Singapore when they came first in the world in 1995, 1999, and 2003 for 4th and 8th grade Math and Science.