> BUT people are always afraid of anything past 4th grade math! The problem is that elementary and middle school math teachers can't teach except out of a book

> BUT people are always afraid of anything past 4th grade math! The problem is that elementary and middle school math teachers can't teach except out of a book. Your child's math teacher isn't teaching your child math, she is just the proctor for their math textbook, which isn't teaching them anything at all really. This is not a dig on (all) teachers. These workbook-driven curriculum are a band-aid for bad teachers, and all they really do is harm good teachers and students.