'You figure it out!' Dad fed up with his son's Common Core homework makes out a school check using the controversial math

  • Doug Herrmann wrote the check for his son's school in Plainesville, Ohio 
  • He was frustrated with not being able to help out with his son's homework
  • The photo of the check quickly went viral, with other parents agreeing
  • Common Core has now been adopted by 44 states 

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 22:47 EST, 23 September 2015 | Updated: 07:07 EST, 24 September 2015

Fed up with Common Core, Doug Herrmann went for common sense.

The Ohio dad was sick and tired of not being able to help his son - who is in the second grade - do his homework, after his school adopted the controversial Common Core standard.

In order to make his point, Herrmann wrote a check to Milridge Elementary School in Plainesville, using Common Core numbers -  a chart with x's and 0's - in order to show just how confusing the technique is.

But while Herrmann made out the check as a joke, posting a photo to Facebook, it obviously resonated with other parents feeling the same as him, who shared the sarcastic shot thousands of times and sent it viral. 

Scroll down for video 

Can you figure it out?: Frustrated Ohio father Doug Herrmann jokingly made out this check to his son's school in Ohio as a way of showing how confusing and hard it is for him to try and help out with Common Core math

Can you figure it out?: Frustrated Ohio father Doug Herrmann jokingly made out this check to his son's school in Ohio as a way of showing how confusing and hard it is for him to try and help out with Common Core math

Going viral: Herrmann, seen here with his son, said he wrote the check as a joke, but it quickly spread online

Going viral: Herrmann, seen here with his son, said he wrote the check as a joke, but it quickly spread online

'You figure it out,' Herrmann wrote with the photo. 

As of Wednesday night, that photo of the check had been shared over 27,000 times.

SO WHAT IS COMMON CORE?

A new set of national academic standards - now been adopted by 44 states - developed as an attempt to increase the country's declining testing scores in Math and English compared with the rest of the world.

The questions are based around not just the answer but students explaining how they found it, and often involves illustrations and other complex requirements.

Herrmann vented his frustration with the system the day before posting the photo of the check by sharing a photo of his son trying to tackle his school work, Newsday reported.

'It's sad when I can't help my second-grader do his math homework,' Herrmann wrote in the post.

'Mental math and ten-frame cards? Common core sucks!'

Common Core is a set of national benchmarks based on the premise that students should not only be able to solve a problem but explain how they got to the answer.

It is thus a much different system to the one that their parents were taught at school.  

Confusing: Common Core is a set of national benchmarks based on the premise that students should not only be able to solve a problem but explain how they got to the answer. Herrmann posted this photo of his son trying to do his homework the day before posting the check

Confusing: Common Core is a set of national benchmarks based on the premise that students should not only be able to solve a problem but explain how they got to the answer. Herrmann posted this photo of his son trying to do his homework the day before posting the check

You try: This is a sample question from New York's Common Core exam for the third grade. Herrmann's son is in the second grade and attends school in Ohio 

You try: This is a sample question from New York's Common Core exam for the third grade. Herrmann's son is in the second grade and attends school in Ohio 

Herrmann did not reveal how much money his check was actually made out for - or whether he really actually knew.

After going viral, he admitted the check and the photo was just him 'making a funny'.

He said he ripped the check up after putting it online. 

The set of academic standards has now been adopted by 44 states in the past few years.

It was developed as an attempt to increase the country's declining testing scores in math and English compared with the rest of the world.

But the complex methods and phrasings - such as math problems requiring illustrations - are proving difficult not just for the students but the parents trying to help them.

Often in math, basic arithmetic does not apply.  

Stacey Jacobson-Francis, 41, of Berkeley, California, told NBC this week that her daughter's homework requires her to know four different ways to add.

'That is way too much to ask of a first grader,'' she said. 

'She can't remember them all, and I don't know them all, so we just do the best that we can.''

ARE YOU SMARTER THAN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT?

Under Common Core, parents are likely to see some unfamiliar terms on their children's elementary-school math homework. Here are some examples drawn from New York state's math curriculum:

SECOND GRADE

Addition: Solve using your place value chart and number disks, composing a 10 when necessary: 53 + 19

Subtraction: Craig checked out 28 books at the library. He read and returned some books. He still has 19 books checked out. How many books did Craig return? Draw a tape diagram or number bond to solve.

Are these comparisons true or false?
A) 2 hundreds + 3 ones > 5 tens + 9 ones ______
B) 9 tens + 2 hundreds + 4 ones < 924 ______
C) 456 < 5 hundreds ______

THIRD GRADE:

What is another way of expressing 8 ×12?

A. (8 ×10) + (8 × 2)

B. (8 ×1) + (8 × 2)
C. (8 ×10) + 2D. 8 + (10 × 2)

The number of objects described in which situation can be represented by 24 ÷ 4?
A. There are 24 boxes with 4 pencils in each box.
B. There are 24 people on a bus, and 4 people get off the bus.
C. There are 24 marbles that need to be sorted into 4 equal groups.D. There are 24 books on a shelf, and 4 more books are put on the shelf.

What number sentence is another way to represent the missing number in the equation 36 ÷ 4 = ?
A. ? × 4 = 36
B. 36 × 4 = ?
C. 36 + 4 = ?
D. ? ÷ 4 = 36

FOURTH GRADE

Multiplication: Represent the following expressions with disks, regrouping as necessary, writing a matching expression, and recording the partial products vertically: 3 x 24

Word problem: Cindy says she found a shortcut for doing multiplication problems. When she multiplies 3 × 24, she says, '3 × 4 is 12 ones, or 1 ten and 2 ones. Then there's just 2 tens left in 24, so add it up and you get 3 tens and 2 ones.' Do you think Cindy's shortcut works? Explain your thinking in words and justify your response using a model or partial products.

Which number is sixteen thousand four hundred seventy-two in standard form?
A. 16,472
B. 16,702
C. 160,472

D. 164,702

There are 5,280 feet in a mile. What is the total number of feet in 6 miles?
A. 31,280
B. 31,680
C. 33,680D. 35,280

Rosa wrote a pattern using the rule 'subtract 7.' The first two numbers in her pattern were 83 and 76. Which number below is part of Rosa's pattern?
A. 41
B. 49
C. 57

D. 61

FIFTH GRADE

What is the value of the expression below?

24.5 − 15.75

A. 8.75
B. 8.85
C. 9.25

D. 9.75

Which term can be put in the blank to make the statement below true?
3,000,000 = 30

A. thousands
B. ten-thousands
C. hundred-thousands

D. millions

What is the value of the expression below?
738 ÷ 18

A. 40
B. 41
C. 401

D. 410

Rich's fish tank is in the shape of a right rectangular prism. It has a length of 6 feet, a width of 2 feet, and a height of 4 feet. What is the volume, in cubic feet, of Rich's fish tank?

A. 12
B. 32
C. 36

D. 48

Penelope made a paper chain that was 6 feet 10 inches long. What was the length, ininches, of the paper chain?

A. 82
B. 72
C. 60

D. 28


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