I love math! Shocking, I know, although, if you have looked at this website at all, it’s probably not that big of a surprise to you. And when I tell people that I want to make a business based on my love for math, can you guess what their suggestion is? That’s right: “Oh, have you tried tutoring?”
Sigh. Ok, let’s get into it:
The problem with talking to people about math is that everybody thinks that they know what math is. After all, the majority of people in Western cultures had math in school for 8+ years, so how could they not know? But the thing is, when I tell people that I do math research, most people don’t even know what that could possibly mean. After all, it’s already known how much 66 times 172 is, or how to multiply, divide, subtract, or add any two numbers, so what even is there left to research in math?
This question actually encapsulates the problem: There is this vast realm of math out there, that people do not get to see in school, so they have no idea it even exists. Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to advocate that school children should try to attempt research, but maybe there was a way to make people aware that the school math is only an entry point to math, but far from the complete picture. It wouldn’t do to just tell schools kids that, of course, we all know that hormonal teenagers have better things to do than pay attention to the profound messages their teachers write on the blackboard. But maybe there was still a way to make them see it, feel it even. A way to let them know that, if they are struggling with math in school, that’s probably just beginner’s hiccups, but says very little about their ability to do actual math. Maybe there was a way to de-stigmatize math in people’s minds….
Now, let me be clear: It’s not that I don’t want to be a tutor because I think it’s beneath me or something like that. If anything, I’d love to be able to shape young impressionable minds to see the beauty and wonder in math, rather than endless tables of stubborn calculations. I want to show them what could be done, and the vast possibilities that are still unexplored.
However, that’s not what teaching or tutoring is in practice, right? (My inner ear heard the teachers amongst you blurt out a sarcastic “Ha, that’s how I used to be when I started out”). Trust me, I’ve become jaded too. Tutoring is less about inspiring the people of tomorrow, but often about dealing with comments like
- “No, I’m not paying that, the girl next door charges 15 Euros per hour for tutoring, and she is only one year older than little Theodor so she probably has an even better understanding of where he’s at”
or
- “I don’t care about why it works, I just need you to write down the correct answer for me, so that I can learn it by heart and write it down at the next test”.
And that is not what I want. Math is beautiful, math gave me a language to express parts of my soul where English just wouldn’t do, math allows me to explore and seek out never thought of concepts, and just let my inner child play in its wonders. This is what I want to bring across. This is how I know I can add value to this world.
I might be an idealist, hell, i am an idealist, and I will not settle for anything less. I shot for the stars when I started studying math. Math taught me to keep digging, to not settle for anything short of the goalpost but to power through. I’m not going to give up on my dream now!