These conversation and facilitation skills among kids are really great, and I agree the teacher should be encouraging them, but I have some serious questions as to whether this teacher and I have the same definition of "math".

To me, math is a skill involving the manipulation of abstract symbols. It doesn't involve sharing, being nice to other kids, helping each other out, or any of that. Those things are great, but they ain't math.

Now "teaching math in a primary school setting" may involve the combination of all of those things, and that's fine. So I guess we agree. But this essay was terrible. If this teacher came to me with this definition of math as an answer on a test, I'd fail them.