David Bland’s Post

The student has the correct answer. That’s the fundamental definition of multiplication. 

Interestingly, the most natural answer depends on the language in which you think. In English "3x4 = 3 times 4" means 4+4+4 In French "3x4 = 3 fois 4" means 4+4+4 In Italian "3x4 = 3 per 4" (volte) means 3+3+3+3 Of course in math both are true, and of course the teacher is unfit, regardless

America has a competence problem in almost all of its professional fields. Education, medicine, tech, politics...

The ordinary multiplication is commutative, therefore 4 x 3 is equal 3 x 4. We should not distract the poor kid. If it was matrix multiplication where a x b is not the same as b x a, the correction would matter. Of course in matrix algebra the multiplication is much more difficult to reduce to a series of additions if it is possible at all. It is possible in index notation, because any element of the product matrix is a combination of the row of the first matrix and a column of the second one:D We can wait a bit with noncommutative algebra, which is university topic:D

This is a cultural issue. Are we dealing with infix, postfix, or prefix interpretation. Do we want 3 fours or 3 written 4 times. It's really bad to mark questions correct or not based on interpretaion not accuracy.

Well 3×4=12 is read as 'Three fours are twelve' So technically the teacher is right here. P.S.: The teacher being technically right does not mean the teacher is absolutely right or morally right.

I'd say it's parents as well or more. And, ironically, the reason is that parents always look to make the kid wrong when something goes wrong. Then, as adults, we don't learn that it's the system that's causing the problem and when something goes wrong we've learned to blame others.

If you look closely, the child is actually wrong. While it is true that 3+3+3+3 = 12, the assignment was to determine what number multiplied by 4 equals 12, and that equation could only be written out in addition form as 4+4+4 = 12

The teacher and child's answers are correct. The teacher is incorrect for marking the solution as wrong. I had such a difficult time when my kids went through school, especially with math. The teachers are never math experts any longer and they teach a form of math that never existed before recent times...an overly complicated, drawn out version, that for those who have an easy time with math is terrible. I think parents learned a valuable lesson during the lockdowns that both education in large part and teaching approach to another part have gone down some unrecognizable path that has not improved outcomes. If one takes a look at outcomes, they continue to go down, not up. The more overhead they add, the worse it gets...the more they change how teaching happens, the worse it gets...the more they change incentives, the worse it gets. If public education was a business, it would not last long. If you take a look at education that is run like a business (such as Florida Virtual) where children and parents are treated as the customer, you see massive improvements in outcomes.

Three times four, that is different than four times three. The result is the same, but the procedure is not. Think of a practical example and you will see the difference.