Problem Solving

Here it is! My annual reminder, rant, or argument for using a challenging mathematics curriculum like the Art of Problem Solving. 

Let’s start at the begin­ning... What’s your num­ber one pur­pose for hav­ing your chil­dren study and learn the branch of mathematics? 

Is it to be accept­ed into a decent col­lege pro­gram? Is it to com­plete the high school tran­script for grad­u­a­tion? Is it to impress the relatives? 

Or

Is it to learn to appre­ci­ate hard work? Is it to learn to think and process infor­ma­tion? Is it to see the pat­terns in nature and study the lan­guage of the God who cre­at­ed it? 

While being accept­ed into a great school is a good goal, it’s not a vision. My vision of math­e­mat­ics edu­ca­tion for your child and mine is that they would see the infi­nite in the finite. They would wres­tle with the ideas the infi­nite presents and in the process be cement­ed in their faith of the one God. This is a big deal. Whit­tling the study of math­e­mat­ics down to sim­ple cal­cu­la­tions and process­es is a dis­ser­vice to our chil­dren and dis­re­spect­ful of the God who placed that order there for us to dis­cov­er. This is why I encour­age my chil­dren to study math­e­mat­ics with a chal­leng­ing curriculum. 

The chal­leng­ing course­work in the AOPS texts forces our chil­dren to work hard, wres­tle, and often fail. Through this fail­ure they devel­op incred­i­ble think­ing skills and sta­mi­na. I would rather my child fail a hard course than excel at a basic cal­cu­la­tions course. 

Has your child com­plet­ed pre alge­bra? The Art of Prob­lem Solv­ing pre alge­bra text is the best pre alge­bra book avail­able! Math Mas­ters meet week­ly to go over the mate­r­i­al cov­ered in the book and help our stu­dents suc­ceed with this chal­leng­ing text.