999

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-largest-number-you-can-represent-3-digits-nope-its-ed-trice?trk=eml-b2_content_ecosystem_digest-recommended_articles-49-null&midToken=AQFqBmC1jqjJ0g&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=0GDVXu5u6-17c1

        The above referenced article link was e-mailed to me by a friend who, I think, sees it as a denunciation of "Common Core."  A more careful reading, however, shows that even the parent who wrote this doesn't get the real basis behind either education or Common Core. It also reveals that this is a work of poor fiction, like that of most of the far rightist, rewrite history, quash critical thinking loonies.  Here's enough of a snippet to give the gist of the article:

 "This post is about my fight against "Standardized Testing" in math, and what later became "Common Core." It goes back to 2008 when my daughter was in grade school. I got a call to come to the principal's office. "Your daughter was being disruptive in class."....It was like an arrow through my heart. I looked over at her. There were tear-streaked marks all down her face. She looked down at her shoes when I shot a glance over at her. And she started sobbing again. The principal continued his monotone diatribe, while I walked over to kneel besides my daughter and hug her. "Really, Mr. Trice, that's not appropriate..." I continued to ignore him. "Are you OK?" I asked her. She looked up, nodded her head, and sniffled.  "Your daughter tried to correct her math teacher. The teacher explained why she was wrong, and she insisted that she was correct."

"What was the question?" I asked. The teacher was also present, and he spoke up. "The question was, what was the largest number that can be represented with 3 digits. I said it was 999, your daughter disagreed."

I remember thinking "Uh-oh. What the heck was she thinking?"

That's when she spoke up, anger in her voice, "Oh yeah? Tell me what 9 raised to the 9th power raised to the 9th power is then??"

        Reading the rest of the article reveals a very carefully constructed fictional account  of what is almost assuredly a non-existent event. read the responses below the article itself; they are spot on. As for the attitude reflected by the writer, see my comments below:  

       This isn't even about standardized testing or common core. If true (it isn't) , it would  simply about an asshole teacher who placed the need to be infallible over the need to teach critical and innovative thinking and an even more gaping asshole administrator who abetted them. Of course, the real irony here, is that philosophically, the teacher and principal in the article, as portrayed, are  actually far more  representative of  those who oppose common core, that is, unimaginative trolls who would bend facts to fit their pre conception, admitting no alternative  response, no matter how well reasoned. 

     The child's thought process in analyzing the question (again, if true)  is the very essence of critical thinking, a goal of Common Core, opposed by some, especially Evangelicals who fear their children may actually learn to reason.  If this were a standardized test, there would be no discussion of the question in class anyway.  The final proof of this being bovine excreta is the allegation that all this was "remedied" including changing standardized test scores nationwide, in three months, or that the child's grade couldn't have simply been corrected at the school or district level. Test scores come back to the school and are entered locally by admin staff. Any principal, even the supposed moron cited in this fairy tale, could have simply had the transcript changed. The real relevance to the child's future would never hinge on one question on a grade school test, and most teachers and any  administrator I ever worked with or for would have  smoothed this over immediately.  
     
       Finally, this blog entry was written in early 2016, and the writer asserts his daughter is now a sophomore in College. Regressing the years would have had this math genius as a 7th grade student, at the very least, at  the time of the alleged incident. The supposed question is far, below the 7th grade level, and almost assuredly would not be on any standardized test at that grade level.         

      I am always amused and sometimes saddened as well, when educators are attacked as a group by parents  whose agenda is to expiate their own demons.