Algorithms

I am currently finishing up my first semester of methods courses and have been placed in a school that is very different than the one that I grew up in.  First of all, the school's student body is of a different socioeconomic status.  This means that the personality, expectations, and teachers found at this school are bound to be different. Most of the teachers have been working at the school for 10+ years, whereas where I grew up the teachers were fresh out of school.  I am not used to teachers that are stuck in the "old school" version of teaching, such as drill and kill, worksheets, and algorithms.  As a product of new math and constructivist math - I think these methods are terrible.  I have noticed that in this such school they still teach kids that they NEED TO COUNT USING THEIR FINGERS...who does this? In my personal philosophy one needs to learn how to best figure out math for his/her self.  There is no "one way" to solve the problem, and the teacher does not need to teach a way of solving it mathematically.  I am very excited to get into some math/science methods courses to learn how to remedy this fixation in schools such as this that are a mecca for algorithms and old ways.