Parents are stumped over first grader’s math question - can you solve it?

‘The question sets them up to fail,’ says Facebook user

Math curriculums have been changing in the school system over the last few years, with many parents claiming that “new” math is too difficult.

A mother named Tiesha Sanders recently took to Facebook to share her first-grader’s homework problem that she had no idea how to solve. “The new Math is NOT IT!” her post’s caption began, next to a photo of the problem and a note that she wrote to the teacher.

“Disclaimer: I am not upset with the teacher, she’s just teaching what she’s supposed to. And #2, don’t come here like we’re the dumb ones, I taught elementary for the last six years, this question ain’t it! Also, this is 1st grade math,” the caption read.

The problem required the student to split the number 27 into tens and ones and then just into ones. Her daughter, Summer, wrote that there were two tens and seven ones, so she had assumed when she was asked for the ones again that it was still seven. After getting the question marked wrong, Sanders left a note for the teacher asking for the right answer to help her child next time.

“Hello!” the note began. “I just wanted to ask how Summer got #3 wrong? Her father and I were going over her mistakes and wanted to be sure we were on the right track.”

Her daughter’s teacher responded to the note, writing: “Hello! This is the new math they have us teaching.”

“It is 27 ones. It wants her to know that having two tens and seven ones is the same as 27 ones. If you have any other questions you can call or text me.”

After posting, many people took to the comments where they agreed with Sanders that the question was confusing.

“If they wanted her to decompose the number and show the ways in which the number can be logically made... why NOT = signs? The arrows make sense to who?” one comment read.

Another commenter agreed, writing: “I wonder why they wouldn’t word it differently? Like maybe what does the tens place + the ones place = that threw me for a loop because it’s really unclear.”

Others called out the flawed structure of the question, saying: “But if they have the box that labels ‘tens’ and ‘ones’ then only ask for the ‘ones’, how in the entire world is this math, mathing?”

Someone agreed, adding: “The question sets them up to fail.”

This isn’t the first time a parent has publicly voiced their confusion over an elementary school homework question. Back in December, one mother in Buckinghamshire, England, had become so confused helping her six-year-old with a worksheet that she posted the question in a private Facebook group. 

“At first I thought I was losing my mind. I was like, ‘What am I missing here?’” So I posted in a group with loads of moms hoping they would have the answer,” Laura Rathbone said in an interview with Today.

Rathbone’s daughter, Lilly-Mo, was asked on the worksheet to pick the odd item out based on the five items she was given. The items listed were: friend, toothbrush, desk, silver, and egg.

“So… my six-year-old daughter who’s in year one got this homework question,” her Facebook post read. “It’s confusing in my opinion, to say the least, especially considering the age it’s aimed at… but I’d love to hear your answers!”

She added: “I think it’s something you’d find in a Puzzler magazine personally but let me know your thoughts.”