Observations of High School Math Students


While working through my Masters I have had to spend lots of time in libraries, Starbucks and places where people are studying. Working on a Masters of education makes me slightly more curious about what and how the people around me are working. It has been fun to hear the discussions around me such as the group of teachers working on their education degree talking about the innovative practice that they were implementing, only to end up settling on a traditional worksheet, or the wonderful new friends I have met at the library who set up there to work. Of course, the energy in libraries these days is quite electric, and there are always wonderful interactions happening all around me. 

One observation that I have found interesting is the number of high school-aged students spending their time in the library or other spaces studying and doing homework. I think it is amazing to see these students gathering in safe public spaces to do work.

What really has made me question our priorities in education though is the vast number of students working on Math problems. At first I had thought that it was close to exam time or mid-terms, yet it has been consistently every visit anywhere from 5-20 students working on math. I find myself craving to hearing a student ask another student a question that isn’t about math!  

I am really struggling as to whether this is a good or a bad thing. I appreciate the community that these students are building by coming together, asking each other questions, complaining, and even laughing about different problems. I have even heard students from completely different schools introduce each other upon recognizing they were working on similar problems. These students are working out ways to learn by collaborating. This is a prime example of what the workforce of tomorrow will require, many of the technical problem-solving skills that math provides, as well as 

I would like to suggest that although the skills math provides will be necessary for some students, many of the mathematical problem-solving skills will be, and are already, solvable by computers. These skills that they are learning seem very outdated, and the ongoing complaints about school and specifically the challenges of math class are never-ending. If we want students to be lifelong learners, why are they feeling the need to work so hard on one specific subject, and burning out on such topics. Hearing students defeated by school because of math, which actually can be an amazing subject if taught well, really breaks my heart as an educator. 

I’m asking for us to reflect on the way we teach math. The way it was taught for those of us who graduated as early as 10 years ago is completely outdated compared to how the world has changed around us. It is time to rethink and innovate our math assessments. Students should be excited about the possibilities that math provides. They should be working collaboratively solving problems in class the same way they demonstrate in the library, they need to be looking and inquiring into math to help solve problems.  

I hope one day I can come to a library and hear students talk about a social studies challenge, or a language arts problem, see them looking up information about a science idea. I hope even one day they will be combining all of those subjects into larger projects as they work to solve problems. 

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