They do it so that when the kid gets the wrong answer, a reviewer can pin-point why they got it wrong and tell them how to correct it. "You flipped the sign on line 5" is significantly more useful than "you fucked up somewhere, IDK."
It's only a waste of time when you get the correct answer. Which is why I too considered it a waste for many years but first time you have to teach someone else, you get the point quickly. Though... I do doubt most teachers bother checking the work anyway.
It's only a waste of time when you get the correct answer.
Which is the point I was at. If I consistently got it wrong, then I would obviously need to step back and do things in more long form.
But if I'm clearly able to consistently get it right and just toss the answer out in 2 seconds, then the "work" is obviously unnecessary as I am showing mastery of the equation and concept. Which makes the "removing 50% of your grade for not putting an illegible left hand scrubbed mess on the paper" lack any principle behind it.
Which feeds into the bigger point of "intentionally gimping gifted kids into a schema meant for the drooling retards in their class" that plagues all education.
A sane world would give partial marks for correct working-out, in the event that the answer was wrong, not make full marks dependant on showing all working-out.
Which feeds into the bigger point of "intentionally gimping gifted kids into a schema meant for the drooling retards in their class" that plagues all education.
It really is abominable. Kills their passion, makes them lazy, robs them of ability to pay attention...
You knowing to step back means you're self-directed when it comes to learning. Most kids weren't. Most adults still aren't. You've correctly identified that schools are designed for the lowest common denominator. .
If you were fortunate enough to be in a school that actually rose to meet your level, the questions would become challenging enough that you you'd need to show your work for your own review.
"Show your work" itself wasn't the bad policy. The level of the work you were assigned was. The grading (which I agree is bad) is because it's the only tool they have to push the policy. At a good school they wouldn't need grading threats because, "I can't help you fix this unless you show me what you did," and your desire to understand the material is sufficient reason to show work.
You knowing to step back means you're self-directed when it comes to learning
Even if I wasn't, its not an unreasonable ask for a teacher to be able to identify if mistakes are being made in consistent areas and that that is where the focus needs to be on. And if they have "too many students and work" to have that level of individual care, then adding additional grading and disciplinary effort undermines that claim.
The grading is the largest issue, but there is always the problem of assuming there is only one method that is "best" that needs to be taught. I do math using what would later get formed into Common Core, because that works naturally for me. But the fact that its a hugely controversial policy shows how much it doesn't work for most people. Its an absurd method that requires your brain to be able to quickly and instantly solve dozens of small problems, often times at a rate that makes explaining it quite difficult if not impossible because you didn't consciously think of it.
Which is likely why as a young lad I didn't enjoy "showing work" but couldn't explain why. Because saying that you used Subtraction to solve 27+15 even confuses teachers. But it makes a lot more sense to subtract 3 from 15, add it to 27 and then just add 12 to 30 in your head than whatever dumb shit method they teach you to use when you "write it out."
I always thought it was to prevent cheating. In my math classes we had the actual answers in the back of the book, so anyone could have copied those. The homework was testing our knowledge of the methods.
They do it so that when the kid gets the wrong answer, a reviewer can pin-point why they got it wrong and tell them how to correct it. "You flipped the sign on line 5" is significantly more useful than "you fucked up somewhere, IDK."
It's only a waste of time when you get the correct answer. Which is why I too considered it a waste for many years but first time you have to teach someone else, you get the point quickly. Though... I do doubt most teachers bother checking the work anyway.
Which is the point I was at. If I consistently got it wrong, then I would obviously need to step back and do things in more long form.
But if I'm clearly able to consistently get it right and just toss the answer out in 2 seconds, then the "work" is obviously unnecessary as I am showing mastery of the equation and concept. Which makes the "removing 50% of your grade for not putting an illegible left hand scrubbed mess on the paper" lack any principle behind it.
Which feeds into the bigger point of "intentionally gimping gifted kids into a schema meant for the drooling retards in their class" that plagues all education.
A sane world would give partial marks for correct working-out, in the event that the answer was wrong, not make full marks dependant on showing all working-out.
It really is abominable. Kills their passion, makes them lazy, robs them of ability to pay attention...
You knowing to step back means you're self-directed when it comes to learning. Most kids weren't. Most adults still aren't. You've correctly identified that schools are designed for the lowest common denominator. .
If you were fortunate enough to be in a school that actually rose to meet your level, the questions would become challenging enough that you you'd need to show your work for your own review.
"Show your work" itself wasn't the bad policy. The level of the work you were assigned was. The grading (which I agree is bad) is because it's the only tool they have to push the policy. At a good school they wouldn't need grading threats because, "I can't help you fix this unless you show me what you did," and your desire to understand the material is sufficient reason to show work.
Even if I wasn't, its not an unreasonable ask for a teacher to be able to identify if mistakes are being made in consistent areas and that that is where the focus needs to be on. And if they have "too many students and work" to have that level of individual care, then adding additional grading and disciplinary effort undermines that claim.
The grading is the largest issue, but there is always the problem of assuming there is only one method that is "best" that needs to be taught. I do math using what would later get formed into Common Core, because that works naturally for me. But the fact that its a hugely controversial policy shows how much it doesn't work for most people. Its an absurd method that requires your brain to be able to quickly and instantly solve dozens of small problems, often times at a rate that makes explaining it quite difficult if not impossible because you didn't consciously think of it.
Which is likely why as a young lad I didn't enjoy "showing work" but couldn't explain why. Because saying that you used Subtraction to solve 27+15 even confuses teachers. But it makes a lot more sense to subtract 3 from 15, add it to 27 and then just add 12 to 30 in your head than whatever dumb shit method they teach you to use when you "write it out."
It's also useful for proving that you're not cheating.
I always thought it was to prevent cheating. In my math classes we had the actual answers in the back of the book, so anyone could have copied those. The homework was testing our knowledge of the methods.
I remember our textbooks having solutions to only even or only odd questions. You'd get assigned from the set without answers as graded work.
Of course PDFs of the teacher's guide with all the solutions weren't hard to come by either.