PLATFORM : Motivation’s the Key

Public-school students don’t perform well enough in math because the educational system does not challenge them and because teachers don’t provide enough motivation. Students should be encouraged to take more advanced math in elementary school and junior high.

Students can handle more difficult forms of math if they are motivated and if the teacher makes the subject interesting.

I hope more teachers follow the example of Mr. Escalante. He brought in (props) to help us visualize and showed us that math was more than numbers. Instead of just concentrating on theory, he showed how the knowledge can be applied.

He convinced us that we were capable of doing any kind of math--that we could accomplish anything. By believing in us, he gave students confidence.