Talking About Math
As the “bad boy” of academe math has the power to impact career choices like no other academic subject. What makes this fact even more complicated is that in American academic culture, math is probably fraught with the some of the most problematic beliefs. Among these is that “everyone is not sufficiently gifted to ‘get math.’ In other words, the false paradigm that math is not for everybody. With this going on in the minds of many Americans, it is no wonder that so many people struggle with the subject. It is my belief that not only can everyone ‘get it.’ But they can also excel at it, if given the right circumstances and the right teachers.
Let me share a personal experience with you. A few years ago when I was scrolling around on Facebook, I happened to see a post put up by a stranger. He was an overweight middle-aged man, unprofessional looking, but writing about something he knew little about. He was writing about math. In his post he said something like the following. “Algebra ( or algebra I) is what causes minority students (or boys) to drop out of school.” The implication being, black/brown students should not take it. I was personally offended by this comment. As a retired college professor and high school math teacher; as a SAT prep course designer and instructor; as the former GED math test editor with ACE - The American Council on Education; and as the author of The Book for Math Empowerment —- I was livid!!!! I looked at his picture and thought, “What does he know about math? Who the heck is he? And what right has he to make such a biased claim?”
That is the quintessential problem that America has with math. Collectively, America is a “snob” about who is smart; who can do math; who should be given the opportunity to move forward with the career path of his/her dreams. And in addition, many teachers have unfortunately bought into this false belief system. Here are some of my personal experiences. Case 1 in point: Our son, who has a Ph.D in physics and is a very successful executive coach, was questioned at age 14 by a geometry teacher as to whether he belonged in her class as a 9th grader, because her class was for accelerated students. Case 2 in point: Another math teacher wanted our daughter to repeat pre-algebra because she had only gotten a B+ in it when she took it as a 7th grader. (In indignation, I said to her teacher, “I didn’t know that ‘A’ was passing!”). She went on to take algebra 1 as an 8th grader, and got an A, as she did in everything else. Case 3 in point. When I was a senior in high school, the guidance counselor I worked for told me my SAT scores were not high enough for me to go to Barnard College. (Barnard College is an affiliate of Columbia University in NYC.). Because I worked for her I got to see what the SAT scores and GPAs were of all of my fellow high school graduates, along with what colleges they were accepted into. I recall at that time another student, not African American, with comparable SAT scores as mine, who got accepted into Barnard. (Her GPA was a tad bit higher. But she was not dissuaded from applying because of less than stellar SAT scores.). My point is that the nonsense should stop. People need to stop judging the intellect and potential of a student based on what ethnic group s/he is a member of.
I suppose the irony of that latter experience is that my husband and I (both math teachers) along with a phenomenal English teacher, went on to form one of most successful SAT prep companies in the Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland areas. (Some of our outstanding SAT outcomes are posted on his website, manigaultinstitute.com.
But back to algebra - because it is essential to all things STEM; because it is doable for anyone with the fortitude to learn tech stuff and read; because it only requires patience, practice, and precision, it should be prepared for and taken by everyone no later than grade 9. And frankly, grade 9 is late, with millions of students taking algebra 1 as early as grade 7.(In fact, our grandson - whose dad has the PhD in physics - will have completed algebra 1 by the end of grade 6.)
One more point - I never paid much attention to what is required to play football or basketball until recently, as I watched the same grandson (at age 11) shine on the basketball court. Anyone with the mind to learn all those “plays,” navigate the position of his body on a field or court in conjunction with what others are doing — can learn how to do algebra. AND any girl who can learn ballet, pointe, and jazz choreography and memorize 5 to 8 dance compositions for a single concert/recital, can do algebra as well. So America - let’s stop with the nonsense and biases and false assumptions, and get down to the business of encouraging students to stretch their “left brains” and do mathematics as well as they do everything else they want to do. And let’s stop telling them that “math is hard.” And if some of it is - so what! Understanding math is about understanding concepts. And that is something that can be and should be taught! And by the way, I have another book coming which should make learning algebra easier, given that textbooks are hard to come by.
#STEM #AlgebraforAll. #Ontocollege #BrightStudents. #LearningMath. #AllAboutAlgebra. #SmartKids