Can't say I've been following Common Core too closely (my kids are 3 and 1 respectively, so there'll be a bit before it affects me directly). But these example

Can't say I've been following Common Core too closely (my kids are 3 and 1 respectively, so there'll be a bit before it affects me directly). But these example questions just seem completely to be arguing with a strawman: The only difference in the elementary school question was bigger numbers. The first middle school example contains only one additional step (being able to do algebra instead of just arithmetic). The explanation for the "old way" contains the word "simple" gratuitously - you might as well say that the CC version of the problem only requires "simple algebra." For, the second middle school example, I definitely had questions that were multi-part like that in middle school. Also, each part is just applying the same formula a few different times - but the explanation given makes it seem like it's a whole new thing! The explanations for the high school example is really the worst one though. "This question is an example of solving equations as a series of mechanical steps" and "This question is an example of solving equations as a process of reasoning" mean basically the same thing, just one is put in a derogatory manner. The CC version of the question itself is also vague: can I pick any two equations that have the same solution? Should I pick equations that are the intermediate steps toward the solution? Does "y=5/3" count as one of the equations?