WHS-PA

Learning the “multiplication tables” is one of the first traumas that children usually face when learning arithmetic. Ask ten elementary-school kids to tell you what, say, eight times seven is. Watch as they look up and to their left (or right) and go into, “let’s-see” mode. Often you’ll hear them say, “Um, ah…” before give you the answer. Generally, there’s a lot of hesitation. Only then, do they actually give you the answer. Sometimes it’s even correct. I know, I was one of them. Maybe you were, too. Most children are victimized by the thoughtless, authoritarian, wrong way to teach the “multiplication facts” (what a stupid term!) Why are “the tables” the wrong way to learn? Maybe I can illustrate it best by analogy. Imagine that you wanted your children to learn the names of all their cousins, aunts and uncles. But gold silver you never actually let them meet or play with them. You just showed them pictures of them, and told them to memorize their names. Each day you’d have them recite the names, over and over again. You’d say, “OK, this is a picture of your great-aunt Beatrice. Her husband was your great-uncle Earnie. They had three children, your uncles Harpo, Zeppo, and Gummo. Harpo married your aunt Leonie…yadda, yadda, yadda.Boring! But what if you had them all over for the weekend, and you found out Earnie did magic tricks, Beatrice had been a rodeo queen, Zeppo always wore mismatching socks, Harpo played the, well, you know, Gummo picked his nose and wiped it on his tie, and Leonie could sing like an angel? Well, then you’d have some relationship with them, wouldn’t you? The next time you saw Earnie, you’d ask him to show you a trick.