1997 saw the height of the Math Wars in California. On the one side stood educrats who advocated mushy math — or new-new math. They sought to de-emphasize math skills, such as multiplication and solving numeric equations, in favor of pushing students to write about math and how they might solve a problem. Their unofficial motto was: There is no right answer. (Even to 2 plus 2.) They were clever. They knew how to make it seem as if they were pushing for more rigor, as they dumbed down cu ...

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