Let me also be clear that the above applies to mathematics BEYOND rote memorization.

Because let's face it-- anything my daughter is asked to "explain" better not EVER be something that she is supposed to just "memorize."

Explaining a general algorithm is one thing (I move the things from all groups together and count all of them as one new group = "addition" for example) but that's quite different than explaining a particular calculation.

Bleh.

Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.