I can't speak for why anyone else would disagree, but there are plenty of people who are competent to disagree with how mathematics is taught in elementary scho

I can't speak for why anyone else would disagree, but there are plenty of people who are competent to disagree with how mathematics is taught in elementary schools in the United States whether or not they have personally taught in them. Let parents have power to shop for teachers who really meet their own children's needs, and much of the complaining will stop--but people will be seeking out the teachers who can really deliver results. An article link I was just posting in an edit in my comment in this thread[1] relates just how hard it is now to find elementary school teachers in the United States who can even give a general description of how to find the area of a rectangle knowing the lengths of the rectangle's sides. That's bad. [1] http://www.ams.org/notices/200502/fea-kenschaft.pdf http://www.ams.org/notices/200502/fea-kenschaft.pdf