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In the same way, kids are literally being told not to memorize multiplication facts. And we wonder why we have a math education crisis in this country.

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Niels Hoven

@NielsHoven

Nov 17

Replying to @NielsHoven

Kids are literally being told not to sound out words And we wonder why we have a literacy crisis in this country x.com/weidlergroff/s…

4:34 PM · Nov 17, 2025

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David Watson 🥑

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I sent my daughter to private school where they did drill multiplication facts and do timed tests. In middle school, they memorized powers of 2, 1-25 squared, and 1-10 cubed. And if she didn't have that in school, we would've done it on our own.

My kids were required to memorize their multiplication tables in 3rd grade in a TN public school. How common or uncommon is that?

I don't have data on how common it is not to quiz kids on their multiplication facts, but it definitely seems to be one of those education trends that caught on in a lot of states and school districts over the past 20 years.

What does "to think about numbers creatively, to build them up and break them down" even mean? If it means factoring, that requires familiarity with multiplication tables. I have no idea what it could mean otherwise.

It doesn't mean factoring. It means things like visualizing math facts with various physical and mental models and a lot of other gobbledygook that results in high schoolers who need a calculator for everything.

𝚆𝚊𝚛 𝙾𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎𝚛

Memorizing improves working memory, like adding RAM to your brain, allowing it to solve problems faster.

Exactly!

I would love to see the math equivalent of "Sold a Story"

Me too!

Scattered Pieces 8

I teach math at the college level. The one factor I see across the board in my students who struggle is they do not know their basic math facts. When you have to think too much to do 4x9, you can’t expect to easily learn harder concepts.

I see this too in high schoolers that I tutor.

David R Campbell

@DavidRCampbell6

It is true that lower level students rely on memorizing steps to solve problems. Memory is helpful for multiplication but not so useful beyond.

Memory of multiplication facts is critical for algebra and advanced math.

quit-social-media

Memorization only gets you so far.

But without it, higher math is much more difficult.

@ToddTruitt76508

Boaler wrote Fluency without Fear in 2014. Instead of "students turning away from math" in England as she predicted, England went from 25th place on the PISA in 2012 to 11th place in 2022. And the CCSSM co-author rebuked her, saying it did require math fact automaticity

Vibe multiplication?

We memorized multiplication tables in the early 90s. Single digit ones. Turns out they are the building blocks of higher level math and mental math. Know 6x7=42 without having to think about creatively is a good skill to have.

Laissez Voltaire

@LaissezVoltaire

How did people with these obviously horrible ideas get in positions of authority? When my kids were in elementary school, I discussed this very thing with a math teacher acquaintance. She said kids have calculators and math facts just aren’t needed as much anymore. And then she

Every day my child would come home and protest that teachers said not to this. Every day we did it anyway. He left that school as the captain of the math team :)

Maybe it is true that, for a tiny minority, they learn to think of math creatively using common core. But most just don't seem to learn at all.

Newsom Myālgía MD, PhD (formerly Virál Myālgía)

@contrarian4data

Boaler is a fraud who peddles wish-casting her belief system as "settled science" while also claiming she is a professor of mathematics ... which she is definitely not. To top it off, she is serially wrong and charges $20,000+ for consulting with school districts.

👨‍🏫

@PhillipJCoulson

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Phil

👨‍🏫

@PhillipJCoulson

Nov 9

Replying to @eduleadership

I'm having this conversation with one of my co-teachers about math facts. She insists that students can't memorize because of tRaUmA. I watched her calculate 14-6=8 because she didn't know it with ANY level of automaticity. I hate seeing kids not learn!

In these areas, it's okay if they need a break from memorizing. It's not going to contribute to improvement. Multiplication proficiency is from memorizing multiplication tables. Reading proficiency is from memorizing sounds of letters and meanings and pronunciations of text.

Rote memorization is a necessary building block for higher learning for the same reason that strength training is valuable for playing sports. You have to have some level of raw horsepower in order to perform more complex maneuvers.

The Education Department would have had a positive impact if they just bought a nationwide license for the Saxon Math curriculum. Several sheets of practice, each day, with gradually increasing difficulty, for at least six years

Bob (Moderna #8) Kerns

Are we seriously back to these? And of all the misrepresentations of the Common Core math curriculum, I find this the worst. Anyone reading any statement about what CC says, ought to go read it themselves. Numerical fluency means fluency, but you should have the full context.

The Cultured Chemist

I'd like to hear an explanation for why students need to "think about numbers creatively". What are students supposed to learn or accomplish by doing so?

Michael D Tilton

To teach math correctly, you start by simple showing how the math works. Apple + Apple = 2 Apples. Then you show them how to count them out. Then you memorize addition without objects. Same with Multiplication. My dad taught us to do "count bys" 2 4 6 8, 3 6 9 12, 4 8 12 16 etc

You’d think they would have learned from Asian kids all over the world that rote memorization works for math in the basic level. It’s after you memorize basic math concepts that you can then substitute with algebraic unknowns XYZ and analyze and evaluate advanced math and

That's a huge miss. You need a bit of memorization to be fluid with math and calculations. More so in a STEM or Business heavy space.

D. Bruce Crawford

In 1997 CA was considering new math and language standards. I was part of a group known as Mathematically Correct that advocated for traditional math teaching methods over the pedagogical fad referred to as "fuzzy" math. I addressed the Standards Commission twice. At the second

We made memorization tables for our children. I read constantly to my children and, once my oldest realized that the symbols on the pages meant something, he was always asking me what the word for things looked like. To make it easier on myself, I wrote the words on 3x5 cards

Cindy Leuch Spencer

I have long said that people who actually know how to do math go work in math-related fields (engineering, accounting). The state of math teaching is how it is now because those willing to put up with the BS required to go into teaching don't fundamentally understand math

@CivicViewPoint

Again - Common Core fueled this travesty! And it is still codified in ESSA Federal statute! We have to get rid of it and admit it's FAILED! The evidence is overwhelming! Look at the NAEP scores!

Requiring students to learn is classic white supremacy.

The amount of destruction people like Boaler have wrought is difficult to comprehend.

My son (now 22) is very good at math. In middle school his algebra teacher penalized him for doing math problems in his head and writing down the answers without showing his work. He had memorized his math facts which made solving the problem faster and easier. But that is

My pet theory is that it's teacher boredom with routine memorisation etc that's behind much of so called modern educational ideas. Imagine foing multiplication tables for 40 years. But, nonetheless I've been eternally grateful to my primary school teacher fir teaching me

I remember being told not to play by ear, too.

It seems pretty obvious that you need both. drilling the formulas and subatizing make arithmetic easier, which is useful for life conceptual questions help kids understand the ... wait for it ... concepts and give them more insight into what mathematics is (are?)

Jay Kloppenberg

@JayKloppenberg

I find it interesting that the article uses scare-quotes around number sense, as if it doesn't really exist. This tribal combativeness is unhelpful in my view. Boaler can be wrong about fluency and right about number sense. Both things are real and important.

@js_avvamericano

Thank you for showing me the source for what has been bothering me for 3 years. Teachers want my child to “think through” 5x3 every time. Its maddeningly dumb. These kids will never be able to do high level math.

There is a middle way tho. Memorization without intuition/understanding does not generalize. Students should learn the mechanics of numbers, which facilitates the memorization of facts. Memorizing facts but not knowing how to do 11x12 is not effective.

@JoanneLeeJacobs

The old math is new again, as countries try to escape the "math doom loop."

Structured math is the new old math: Teach the basics, test mastery, move on

From joannejacobs.com

Imposed incompetence.

I don't care if it involves academics, sports or music... practice makes perfect. People need to stop making excuses for kids. Repetition works!

I've taught third grade for almost a decade and I've always encourage my students to memorize their facts. But memorization is boring, and sometimes difficult, and the trend and education for too long was entertainment over substance, which is a big part of the issue

Drill and kill worked for MANY years. We only moved away from it because some consultant said there was a better method or some clown read 1 study that said it was bad and the person who wrote the study was selling an agenda for something else. Get back to basics. It’s better

Some virus must have affected a majority of Americans brains.

@JerseyGeneral34

Jo Boaler seems to think that number sense and automaticity of math facts are distinct concepts when in fact they should be complementary (

)

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True Story Realized my daughter did not know her times table in grade 5. All homework was word problems. Bought 12x12 flash cards on a monday. First run through took 25 mins, many errors, tears. Did 1 run a day. On Friday - perfect run in 3 mins. Total learning time - 1 hr.

The new age vibe education has created a massive disservice to the kids.

This has been going on for awhile. Starting with Whole Language ending memorizing spelling words. Memorizing is essential to learning. Encouraging students not to memorize is encouraging nonlerners, which produces non thinkers which produces easily controlled humans.

Yes, and Boaler is mostly right on this point! When I focused on number sense, I gained the ability to adapt to new situations. Where I deviate from Boaler is I still believe repetition and speed are still important. But number sense should still come first.

memorization is a force multiplier provided you acquired the knowledge based on a solid understanding of why.

@CindyGr83713506

I was taught whole word. I still struggle with brain freeze at age 69 when I see a big word. RX names especially. Breaking them down and sounding them out takes conscious effort. Math? Common Core started in 2010. Classroom teachers said it would be a disaster.

This is the major reason. My kid was in elementary school when Common Core was introduced. When I expressed my concerns about math curriculum, 4th grade teacher straight up agreed they were screwed, and that she would be retired long before they would fix the curriculum. 🤷🏻‍♀️

🤷🏻‍♀️

FirstRuleOfTheMeansTest

Public schools suck.

Southern Willamette Valley Denizen

Is this due to Common Core standards?

I feel like the education performance of everyone from Gen X on older would dispute this fact...

Nothing has been more harmful to childhood numeracy & literacy than this lunacy. Good teachers are still having their students' memories, math facts, and sounding out words/phonics.

@SnakeRiverBASE

Boaler has done more to damage math education in the USA than any other single person.

@casa_roberts_tx

I have a handful of 5th graders who cannot even skip-count to solve a fractions problem bc they don’t know their math facts by heart. It’s sad to see. Such a disservice. Exactly like banning phonics.

I_believe what U do

It's painfully obvious that the goal is to produce incapable students. This is all absolutely by design. It's not shameful, it's disgusting. Here's the reality, students who can do calculus can do anything (professionally). Students who can't are permanently limited.

@NorthCountry617

Memorizing math facts is “damaging” is beyond absurd. What is damaging is a 4th grader moving on to middle school that can’t keep up with their class members because they still need to use fingers to add and can’t recall multiplication facts.

Infuriating. If you have to “think creatively” about facts you can’t do high level math.

Memorizing math facts are short cuts for further development and reduce frustration while speeding up problem solving.

And Peggy (Schuyler)

I think if I had not experienced it myself as a parent I would struggle to believe schools telling children not to memorize math facts, and yet ...

Schools are a disgrace. Kids fail. “We need more money.” If they were a private company, they’d be out of business. Deservedly so.

My 4th year Uni student daughter is increasingly frustrated with how she is being forced to intentionally “dumb down” her research papers. Why? Because by her using proper grammar, she is constantly being accused of using AI. It’s demoralizing her and it worries me for the future

John Frum Boston

@JohnFrumBoston

Every graduate education school in the country should be shut down. As a start.

@Mary4gentleness

Bowler is a complete idiot.

Why memorize when you can google it?

The core issue here seems to be equating something being boring or tedious as being "harmful". So there's this endless search for new fun and engaging ways to teach things that can really only be learned through boring, tedious memorization.

Turning simple arithmetic into language skills seems like a bad idea. Memorizing simple addition, subtraction and the multiplication tables is just fine. Doing problems is a good way to gain arithmetic skills and there might be a Eureka moment that propels the student into new

@funisnotenough

Simply interview those kids that are getting 300k offers right out of college to work on AI. Listen to those that do, not those that teach.

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