In an act of desperation, the Sewanhaka High School math department announced on Thursday that it would no longer be using the numbers “6” or “7.” The move comes as teachers are increasingly frustrated with the amount of time students spend in class repeating the brainrot that gained prominence on TikTok in early 2025, reaching new heights at the beginning of this school year. The words and associated hand gesture have detracted from classes in all subjects, but have hit the math department particularly hard given the nature of the curriculum and its relationship with numbers. Sewanhaka Math Chairperson, Carla Pimentel said of the change, “It’s unfortunate that, despite significant efforts, we haven’t found a way to use these numbers to our advantage. Motivating and inspiring students to add and subtract.”
Beginning in April, Sewanhaka teachers will no longer be using the numbers 6 or 7 when writing equations. Instead, math problems that used to look like “12 + 6” will instead look like “12 + 3 + 3” and “6 * 7” will instead be written as “21 * 2.” Although re-writing these problems may create extra work for the teachers, they are sure that the time saved in class will more than make up for it.
In early September, math teachers tried to use the meme to help make math fun, sprinkling in the numbers as addends and factors – and on special occasions even the solution. 7th grade math teacher Ms. Rampulla was hit particularly hard, as the brainrot’s allure was particularly appealing to impressionable middle schoolers. Through tears, Ms. Rampulla said, “I thought it would be fun to have an entire worksheet where every answer was 67. I was wrong, though – and the entire 43 minutes became a chorus of twenty students repeating 67 at each other. And they couldn’t stop. It was as if they were hypnotized.” When asked about this incident, a local 7th grader replied, “Six-sevennnn.”
