The Importance of Mathematics.

  I love challenging my students when they tell me there is no real reason to learn math because they'll never use it.  I ask them to name one profession that does not use math.

I'd get guesses from rock star to grave digger.  For every job, I'd point out the math needed.  I pointed out to the guy who wanted to be a rock star that he needed to know math so he could make sure his manager was not ripping him off.  To the grave digger suggestion, I pointed out that graves had to be dug to a certain depth, have a certain length and width so the coffins could fit in.  One young person finally commented that he thought the only way you could escape math was to be dead.

There are so many reasons one needs math in life.  Its been found that high school students who take demanding classes in high school including math courses beyond Algebra II had a much better chance of graduating from college.

In addition, math is good for the development of the brain.  Certain studies indicate that students who know math are able to access certain areas of the brain more reliably and those areas have more gray matter.  These same areas appear to be associated with decision making and visual attention.

Although digital time pieces are on the rise, there are still quite a few analog clocks around.  My school is filled with them but studies have found that more and more children are unable to read the time on analog clocks.  Analog clocks use fractions as part of the process of reading them because you have quarter hours, half hours, and whole hours.

Unfortunately with the rise of credit card use, so many students do not get the opportunity to learn about finances. They don't know the math involved in paying down or paying off a credit card, versus the deposits made into a bank account.  They don't know how to plan a budget, figure out how much they've spent on things, etc.  Last semester, several students took a basic finance class which included students learning to balance a check book with deposits, service charges, etc and they struggled because most come from homes where people cash checks as soon as they get them and use cash around the village.

On the other hand, if you know math, you can expand or cut recipes easily so the final product turns out well. Its not easy for many students to half or double 1 2/3 cup or 1 tblsp.   In addition, math helps us with problem solving because it helps us learn to think analytically and improves our reasoning.  All those "stupid" word problems (I'm quoting my kids) actually do help people identify known and unknown while applying strategies to solving problems or situations.

As stated above, you'll find math in every job out there from stocking shelves, calculating taxes, to commission, to everything.  There are jobs out there that require people to take basic math tests and certain long term care insurance policies that test you on your mathematical ability as part of testing prospective insurees.

In addition, when NASA launched space craft to outer space looking for life, the language they chose was mathematics because it's considered a universal language.  After all, the process and written format is the same no matter the language spoken.

Its always nice to explain why math is important to students who only see it as drudgery.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.