Common core is by no means happily accepted by all educators. In fact, quite to the contrary, it is a hotly contested issue that has parents and educators up in arms. It seems like a week hardly goes by that we don’t see a news post about how ridiculous common core math is. Instead of simply adding 2 + 2, students seem to be forced to go through a needlessly complex series of steps that appear to introduce them to calculus. When did it become unacceptable for a 5 year old to use his fingers to count? The kid is 5. If he was 15 and using his fingers we might have cause to worry, but 5?