I absolutely agree with the part about rote learning. I know you guys call it "drill and kill", but it boggles my mind that the prevailing sentiment is against memorization of basic math facts. We learned our multiplication tables up to 12 when I was a kid, and it's mostly all still in my head -- there are a few rogue ones I have to think about, these days, but that's old age for you. It isn't doing kids any favor to skip that step on the way to higher learning.