Blogs on Math

During my first year of teaching, I assigned students homework over the holidays. The week before we left for break, I handed out a packet on thermodynamics. It was due three weeks later. Some of my students left the room singing, "You're a mean one, Mr. B."

At a small school district, I faced the challenge as an administrator of diminishing the achievement gap in the student scores, especially in math and science. For example, we noticed that in science there was a 40-point gap between Hispanic students passing the test versus the number of white students passing. Having been in the classrooms and having observed teachers teaching, I knew that they were not treating Hispanic students any differently than the white students. So why was there an achievement gap?

If you have followed the news lately, you have likely read about the looming college debt crisis. In October, the Economist published The Next Big Credit Bubble, and soon thereafter TIME Magazine published College Graduates Face Record-High Debt In the Age of Record-High Unemployment which is essentially saying the same thing. Some high school students are getting the message, and we need to make sure they react appropriately. College is an investment in yourself, and like any investment, you should spend the appropriate amount of money for the anticipated return on your investment. In other words, do not go $200,000 into debt majoring in French poetry.

Most schools do not have the luxury of offering a stand-alone Personal Finance course in middle school. We are fortunate at Reading Community City Schools to have a district committed to financial literacy.