Roughly Draft

In our society, I have observed and taken part in something I like to call, "The Quick Fix." What is the quick fix? It's exactly what you probably think it is- a fast and easy solution. We want these every day. I like to just heat up a Trader Joe's dinner. Others like asking Siri for a good fro-yo shop. Some look everything up on Google. In the most popular TV series, such as Two and a Half Men or Modern Family, we see an easy solution in the end of each episode. We are seeking fast and easy answers.

That has turned us into what I have labeled as, "A Compromised Society." We are always looking for the easiest solution. This practice has seemed into our school systems, creating more students that want simple answers. No one is angry when a formula is given to them in math class. All you have to do is just keep plugging numbers in, straight through to the test. Then, when the final exam rolls around, students receive a blank note card. Students are allowed to write all the formulas they couldn't memorize onto this note card in order to continue to plug in numbers on their final.

Through my experience, I do not have the time or the chance to even ponder the formula. I do not understand why this formula is important. I have no idea what the variables even mean or where they came from. This is all because, my class and I did not derive the formula. Deriving formulas, from experience, is a torturous and malicious time in the classroom for everyone involved. Students are confused. My solution was to not even bother thinking about it, not even fight with the teacher on dragging out this tedious time, but I just shut up. I kept my mouth shut and waited until someone arbitrarily guessed the right formula.

I would get my formula and then as I am told to, I plug-n-chug, I am figuring out what each variable means and what it stands for. That is how I stayed afloat through my lovely thirteen years in the Newton Public Schools. If anyone gave me a sheet of paper with any algebra or geometry problem from the past four years, I would only be able to solve the computation problems. The factoring and quadratics. This type of math as Dan Meyer put is, "really easy to relearn provided you have a really strong grounding in reasoning..."

In my experience, when I start a new unit, the teacher shows us one sample problem. We go through the problem step by step, and then we reach a solution. After that, we are given a problem to try on our own. Half the class’ hands shoot up and the teacher is left with a long waiting list of students. Then, the teacher goes over the problem with a student reciting the steps, and the cycle continues on until the final exam review.

The big missing ingredient is the process of reaching a solution. This method of problem solving gives a notion of simplicity and that we can always reach a nice convenient number. As Albert Einstein said, “The formulation of a problem is far more often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.” In classrooms that I have been in, we are not thinking about the formulation of a problem, we are just thinking about the problem and its solution. To really understand a problem, reasoning is required.

Reasoning requires thinking. It is the part of mathematics that is crucial to the understanding of the world around us. A common complaint coming from students is, "how will I use this in my life?" Reasoning answers that question very simply because it is giving us practice in analytical thinking. If we are not trained for analytical thinking, we end up using Siri for everything.

Our job market is changing. As Ilya Rifkin states, "there is a stark demand for someone that can genuinely think." We need reasoning more than ever. We are outdated. This is not the Industrial Revolution and all you need is a good pair of hands trained for the factory. We need minds that are trained to be constantly reasoning and thinking, preparing us for the exceedingly difficult job market. I hope this is no surprise to anyone, but the world is a big place full of problems that we take on as our job to solve. Our math education is essential for preparing us to be better equipped for the world that we will emerge into.

So if I go to the 12th best public school in Massachusetts, why is there a math enrichment program down the street that has close 2,000 kids enrolled in the Newton branch, and has seven other locations in Massachusetts and two others in California? What do these programs have that the best public school systems do not have to offer?