DEAR EDITOR:

We have had new math, modern math and now we have common core math — none of them are working and the last one is the most ridiculous way to teach math. This is supposed to make children critical thinkers and solve world problems in the future. Having done research this is why children have anxiety and mental stress, and now I have it too!

In grade school they make boxes or blocks with numbers inside and up to 100 boxes to get an answer: 1 + 1 = 2. See how simple that was! Grades 8 and 9 take Algebra 1 and 2. Algebra 1 is easy, Algebra 2 is harder. If you do not pass Algebra 2, you have to take summer school, which costs $100 and if you still don’t pass, you have to take Algebra 2 and Geometry, which is now mandatory, so you can’t drop it. Not if everyone is going to college.

I am 75 and I have yet to use any of the above. I went into banking and made a good living. The children of today can’t even make change. So tell me, how this math is working. We have world leaders, federal, state and local government leaders, some of whom have gone to college who can not even solve the most simple problems and are not critical thinkers. Maybe if they made little boxes or blocks it would help them.

RUTH LILLEY

Niles