New Hampshire, Gov. Chris Sununu signed state House Bill 170 last requiring cursive handwriting and multiplication tables to be taught in schools.

“I see these really as fundamental skills that we are bringing to our students,” said Frank Edelblut, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education.

Now when I was growing up, it was already mandatory to learn cursive and multiplication. We had cursive books that we had to trace letters and practice with. For math, we would use practice books or flashcards to exercise our memory. My foster mom would always tell us the importance of knowing how to count. “You don’t want people cheating you out of your money,” is what she would say.

How did we go so far backward? The importance of learning how to multiply is crucial — not only for your everyday life as an adult but for a child, too. No one wants to go to a grade level unprepared. 

Kids need to have the confidence to stay interested, and not having that will make a child feel as if they are less than others. It is the system that is failing the children, but we must also do our jobs as parents. It is my job just as much as it is a teacher’s job to instruct my children. 

In some cultures, math is just as important as brushing your teeth. How does the school system think not stressing the importance of multiplication is helpful?

I remember the time we had to learn our multiplication through practice and failure. There were so many times I could not go to recess because I didn’t get an 80% or above. (Thank you Mrs. Mayfield.) 

Nowadays kids can get by using technology such as calculators and cell phones. But what happens when technology fails? What happens when that calculator battery dies? What will you rely on then? 

Hopefully, you will fall back on the knowledge you learned in class and will be able to do simple mental math like 12 times 11. With enough focus on the basics, students will have been prepared for far more complex problems than these.

I graduated from my pre-apprenticeship program at Future Build Nov. 2, 2021. During that time, our math instructor stressed that we needed to know our multiplication facts. Mr. Jacobs kept mentioning that school districts are no longer stressing the importance of teaching multiplication to our children in schools. He suggested we must do our jobs as parents and teach our children ourselves. 

Mr. Jacobs knew I had a son at the time, so I felt like he was giving me some free game. Richard Jacobs is a retired certificated PUSD teacher of 22 years. He also teaches at the Pittsburg Adult Education Center.

We will fail our children if we do not prepare them for all aspects of life. Of course, we cannot prepare them for everything, but we can start with the little things. Let us continue to teach math, reading, and comprehension skills to better equip them. The kids learning today are the future generation and we must do our part in giving them the best tools possible to survive.