Is it necessary for everyone to be successful in Mathematics ?

Need for a change in school mathematics.

It is a universal truth that not many students are motivated to pursue the subject in the way that is expected of every child that enters into school.   Math class can be a traumatic experience as many a times, grades in mathematics are associated with intelligence.  People tend to think that a person who manages to score good marks in mathematics is certainly a smart child.  For any reason, if the child does not produce good results, he/she will be labeled as ‘dumb’.  This behavior is not only expressed  by the peers but also by parents and teachers as well. 

What would you say is the top reason for poor performance in the subject by many students.   Are there too many math standards? Do students not have the ability? Are teachers to be  blamed? Is math not for everyone?

I believe that math content is not the problem nor are  the students.   But rather the way it is commonly taught. Math involves logic and reasoning,. These are all things that people absolutely love to do. Give a riddle to a person and you will find that many people love trying to solve them. The human mind likes thinking, reasoning, and figuring things out.   Often, math problems are not explained in a way that allows students to thoroughly understand what they are looking for and why it is important. Other times, math is shown as a series of steps to be memorized and followed rather than understood and applied to new situations.  Students are not given enough time to create the real life situations.  The teacher is racing against time to complete the so  called the “Syllabus”.    

Though the reasons are many, it is important that there is an urgent need in the formulation of the curriculum in early stage such as class 6.  As,  many teachers are of the opinion that if the concepts are taught in two levels,  namely basic and applied, it will help all the students with different abilities to learn in their own comfort zone.  Students with little aptitude in the subject may learn the concept at basic level that is required for their day to day dealings.

Those who are blessed with logical abilities may take the subject to the higher level by pursuing the  profession that requires application of the concepts.  

The utmost priority of G.D.Goenka School, Greater Noida is to reach these extreme spectrum of learning.  We are addressing the problem of lowermost achievement in the subject by assessing their special abilities through the trained therapists.  They, in turn will refer the case to specialist in the field to assess the child’s abilities.  Appropriate steps are taken by the school to help the child cope up the situation.

We have also addressed the need of the other  extreme spectrum of  learners, I.e high achievers.  We are able to produce the result of 98.4% in 10^th class CBSE board examination which is the highest amongst all the franchisees of G.D.Goenka Schools.   Last but not the least, the persistent support and inputs from the parent body has helped us achieve the school motto ‘Higher, stronger and brighter’  to the final expression. 

By Krishna Shastri