Exactly. The problem is that they will also start “cross multiplying” any time they see a fraction. “Okay, so what do I need to do if I want to add 3/4 + 1/3?” And then they’ll say “cross multiply”?

Just say - “hey, the way to get rid of the denominators is to multiply everything by the LCD.” Then it works in all cases. No weird “one trick” that doesn’t really teach them anything.

(But, where I live - the people teaching math don’t understand math lol.)