Hilary Duff Left Scratching Her Head After Son Attempts Primary 2 ‘Singapore Math’ Question

Maths was never my strongest subject in Primary school. But at least back then it was designed to test the mathematical aptitude of primary school children, not nuclear physicists.

I remember getting questions like these:

If Ali had 76 marbles and Gopal had 10 marbles, how many marbles would Gopal have to give Ali so that Ali had 85 marbles?

Now, that seems simple enough, doesn’t it? I mean, I did wonder why the hell Ali had so many marbles and Gopal, who already had a lack of marbles, had to give most of his marbles to Ali.

But the fact remains, it was a simple question.

Nowadays, primary school students in Singapore get questions like this:

I could never eat egg tarts again after seeing this horrifying question.

Maths in Singapore has seemingly become more difficult over the years, and it’s not just Singaporeans who are struggling with it.

Hilary Duff Left Scratching Her Head After Son Attempts Primary 2 “Singapore Math” Question

You might know Hilary Duff from the hit Disney show Lizzie Mcguire. 

Well, she’s all grown up now and has a son.

A son who does “Singapore Math”.

In a post on Instagram, Duff talked about her son’s schoolwork and shared her struggles with it.

She also called “Singapore Math” the shit. Here’s the post:

View this post on Instagram

This guy with his spirit and kindness💔Homework is already no joke in 2nd grade. I stopped going to “real” school in 3rd grade so I’m actually doomed… I am left scratching my head alll the time looking at his homework and I’m terrified for next year! Although Singapore math is the shit….also learned a lot about tick birds this week. #rhinosbegrateful

A post shared by Hilary Duff (@hilaryduff) on Oct 19, 2019 at 7:09pm PDT

So, why is an American actress talking about “Singapore Math”?

(P.S. Just some info, American English uses “math” while British English uses “maths”. Singapore English uses “hell-subject”)

Singapore Math, the company

Well, it turns out that Singapore maths was so next level that there’s actually an established company in the United States with that very name.

The co-founders, Jeffrey and Dawn Thomas explained that they moved from Singapore to the U.S in 1998 and found the American public school maths program lacking.

So, they created a supplementary maths curriculum used in Singapore schools. Unlike students here, it turns out that Americans really like Singapore Math, so they expanded their business and started selling their Singapore Math program from their house.

They now distribute textbooks to several thousand schools in the US and Canada.

Everyone loves Singapore Math

And, according to The Straits Times, A total of 10 countries – including South Africa, Brunei, and the Netherlands – are using textbooks based on Singapore Math.

For reasons we can’t fathom, the world seems to love our maths.

Well, we suggest they take our maths far, far away and never bring it back, because our poor minds need a rest.