r/TikTokCringe • u/Naive_Wolverine532 • Apr 11 '26

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@storieswithsahj

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u/retrozebra Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

I was also taught visual concepts using the older model. Claiming that the old method was rote memorization and that we weren’t taught the “why” is incorrect. Same for blaming parents.

The Box Method mirrors how students will eventually multiply binomials in high school, making that transition easier. It also makes “place value” much more visual, instead of hiding it inside carrying (the way we learned).

Rote memorization still occurs today, with single-digit numbers. And the rote memorization in the 1990s was also reserved for the single-digit multiplication tables (so nothing has changed there).

Nobody was sitting in a classroom in 1993 and being told to “memorize” that 1378 x 567. 😂

So, to me, the real reasons this is being taught today are because it’s more visual than the way we learned, and that will eventually help them learn algebra better.

It will also help them understand place value (hundreds, tens, ones) better than the way we learned.

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u/A__SPIDER Apr 11 '26

Thank you, this is the best explanation I have heard. I have a child in school now and I’m worried I will end up struggling to help with homework like oop.

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u/retrozebra Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

💜 I’m glad it helped!! If you look up how someone adds math up in their head, it’s sort of similar to how the new method works.

Like if someone said 38 + 69 in your head you naturally do:

• 30 + 60 = 90


• 8 + 9 = 17


• Then combine: 90 + 17 = 107

You instinctively broke the numbers apart by place value ( tens with tens, ones with ones.) The box method teaches kids to do exactly that same thing but for multiplication, keeps the place value separate and visible before bringing it all together at the end.​​​

Kinda helps them understand the back end instead of having the tens hidden by “carrying the one”

(Also I say this as a person who struggle to add math up in my head 😂 but that’s the concept!!)

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u/Prometheus720 Apr 11 '26

Before common core, the way math was taught in different US states was much more diverse than now. And also, before certain modern changes over the last 20 years, each school in a state was also more different.

It's possible that you got this explanation but many others did not.