I had hoped to post more tonight on Volatility-Based Allocation, but instead was stymied when I began working with my 6th grade son on his math homework. He is in advanced math, which probably means nothing, these days.
He was working on solving one step equations. A few of the problems on his homework required that he solve a one step equation with a fraction. An example of such an equation is this: -¼x = 7. He was having a hard time with this type of equation.
It might be an easy jump to think with all my focus on statistics that I was good in math, growing up. I wasn’t. I hated it. I actually learned math for real real when I began learning how to code. I learned math in a way that worked for me, but that doesn’t mean I can teach it in a way that makes sense to my son.
With this deficiency in mind, I asked my son the default question which has no doubt been uttered by millions of parents, several times a week…
Where are your notes?
I kid you not, the following pictures are his actual notes. Click on the pictures to make them larger.
These were evidently teacher-directed, meaning she was demonstrating on the board how to fill in these sheets, and these were absolutely the only notes the teacher provided.
No wonder he is so confused. I guess this is the New Math where schools demonstrate their understanding of different learning styles by teaching math in a way that no one understands. This way it is all equal. No student understands it more than any other one.