Math Ele Teachers    Higher Math vs. Practical Math 

Topic 1

    What makes people so upset when they have to take a math course or perform math equations is because children today are being brought up thinking math is hard and math is not fun or challenging.  Once they start to feel lost in math children usually don't ask for help or when they do they feel like they are "stupid" and their the only ones having problems.  It doesn't help that many teachers don't care much for the field either which makes it harder to teach.  Students can see when a teacher doesn't care much for the lesson she is teaching. I think math should be more of a one on one teaching that gives students the motivation they need to keep going.  Once a student feels like they can do it or has a good support group behind them, they feel like they can make the steps toward success themselves and not have to have someone holding their hand the whole way.  

Topic 2

     I feel there should not be a limit to how many math course a school gives to their students.  I think having the higher math is good for the students who want to push themselves to do bigger and better things.  While many schools offer personal finance which teaches more practical everyday math to students is good.  Its not the fact that students need to know the higher math its their thought process to how they get their answer.  I feel like higher math can open the mind to a more open way of thinking and to look at the whole problem in front of them and be able to take apart the problem and put it back together.  Just like a mechanic takes a car apart and puts it back together math can put in the same way.  People just need to take a step back from the mean old math course and take it in as more or a puzzle and not just an equation.