Not Much to See Here, Dept.

When I read the headline “A Passion for Making Math Make Sense to Kids” I thought it was another of those “students need to understand not memorize” type of articles, with homages to growth-mindsets, memorization is bad, and traditional-math-never-worked-because-it’s-taught-as-rote memorization-and-a-bunch-of-tricks-and-look-at-all-the-adults-who-say-they-don’t-like-math.

But no. It was about Susri Anuradha, a woman with an engineering degree who opened up a Mathnasium franchise. Mathnasium is one of many of the learning centers to which parents send their kids to learn the math that isn’t being taught in schools, in the manner held in disdain by math reformers of all stripes.

“In 2015, she opened her first “Mathnasium”, a math learning center for children ages 5 to 18, in Acton, MA. Earlier this month, she opened opened her second franchise location in Burlington, MA. Anuradha holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a M.S. in Information Management Systems from Harvard University. After a rewarding career in Information Technology, Anuradha followed her passion of “Making Math Make Sense to the kids” and opened Mathnasium of Acton. Her decision to open and expand Mathnasium is driven by her desire to help children build confidence and excel in the subject she enjoys most – math.”

Of note was this quote from Ms Anuradha: “I love it when I meet my students in social gatherings and they come and hug me. I love to see kids getting empowered by the gift of education.”

I have to say I love it too. For the record I teach math in a traditional manner. Not to brag too much, but I just received a card from the mother of one of my students during teacher appreciation week. The card said “Thanks for bringing math back.”

Advertisement