When I was in grade 4, we were expected to memorize our multiplication facts. Our teacher put all of our names on little cards. Above the blackboard were sections for each of the times tables, zero through 12. In November, we all started on zero and we had one minute to write out the zero times tables. Each day we were able to successfully write out the times table in under a minute, we got a sticker and our name moved to the next times table. It took me fourteen days - I stumbled over the 7s and 8s. Most of the kids finished by Christmas. A few took until March Break.

But come June, we were still at it. One child - I'll call him Kenny - was still stuck on zero. So every day, the teacher would start the stopwatch, and Kenny would start writing. And every day, he wouldn't get through all of them before the end of the minute. Every day.

She tasked me with "teaching Kenny his times tables". So Kenny and I spent some time together in the library every day. It took me all of five minutes to realize that Kenny was not at all stumped by 0x10=0. Kenny just couldn't write fast enough. So I taught him some strategies - not for math, but for writing more quickly. I think he got to 4 by the end of the year.

This is the event that stands out most for me in my educational career. I will never forget the class watching Kenny for that minute every morning. I'm sure Kenny hasn't forgotten it either.

Fast forward more years than I'll care to admit. I had a gifted student in my grade eight class. I'll call him David. David loved math. It came easily to him, and he was constantly seeking out problem solving challenges. But he didn't do any math without his calculator. 6x7? Calculator. 4x9? Calculator. And yes, even 3x4 prompted him to grab his calculator. I sat him down at recess and asked him why. He said that he had never learned his multiplication tables. He knew how to get the answer - it's not that he was incapable of multiplying - but getting out the calculator was faster than using the strategies he had for figuring them out every time. He said he wanted to know them because it would make math easier, but he didn't want to learn them. Who can blame him? It's boring. He wanted to do complex math - he didn't want to memorize.

I made him a deal. He'd come in for a few lunch breaks, and I'd guarantee that he'd know his times tables by the end of it. He agreed. And I admit it - we resorted to flat out drill. It took a few days. He got so sick of the drill and kill so quickly that he practiced them at home just to stop it. About a month later, he confessed that he enjoyed math far more once he had those times tables in his head. It was easier to do tough, fun math when the boring facts were automatic.

There has to be a happy medium.

For David, memorizing his multiplication tables was like me learning Pi to 15 digits. Annoying, tedious, but doable in a relatively short period of time. For Kenny, it would be like me trying to memorize Pi to 100 digits and then write it upside down and backwards while someone recited random numbers in my ear. For Kenny, the task, and the way it was approached, was cruel, demeaning, and not at all productive. For David, it was an annoying necessity that, ultimately, increased his enjoyment of interesting, higher level math.

So where's the middle? Is memorization of facts, for some kids in some circumstances a GOOD thing? Where's the line? Where does the calculator become a burden rather than a great tool? For the kids who enjoy math, who will move on to university level math, who are capable of making those basic math facts automatic with a tiny bit of effort - are we doing them a disservice by not encouraging them to bite the bullet and learn them?

I'm ready for the torches and pitchforks. Bring it on.