Wednesday's Woman: Girls Can Do Math

Today’s guest blogger has a passion for running and is a refreshing voice for gender equality.  Beth at run +travel writes:

We're all runners (boys and girls alike). We speak a common language. We share inside jokes. We have the same urge to run. I look forward to sharing the road (and trails) with you.

Join Beth on her journey at run + travel, like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

Thank you, Beth!

Girls Can Do Math

by Beth

Let's rewind about 20 years. I'm sitting in a high school algebra classroom, and a teacher is walking up and down the rows of desks, handing back midterm exams. I am anxious. I know I didn't do well. Still, the big red 2 and 7 on the top of my paper is a rude awakening. Nearly three quarters of my answers are WRONG. (Random guessing would have been more efficient and more successful.)

A knot forms in the pit of my stomach, and I wonder whether or not it matters that I don't understand algebra. Maybe I'll become a famous painter, and algebra won't make a lick of difference in my life. Still, artistic career plan or not, this failure feels abysmal.

At this point, many (most) teachers would throw in the towel, write me off as a loss, and drop me down to a lower track math class the following year. (Some would not wait the year. I’d be demoted mid-stream.) After all, 27% is a completely, incomprehensibly low grade that implied I was not doing the homework, didn't it?

My math teacher, however, did not write me off as a loss.

In fact, Mrs. V., as she was known to her students, became my exceptionally talented and dedicated mentor. After the train wreck of a midterm exam, Mrs. V pulled me aside to let me know that one bad midterm would not ruin my math career (famous foreshadowing words), and that, with hard work and concentration, I would have opportunities to improve my grade.

Mrs. V. understood that students have different learning styles, so she taught every lesson three ways: the theoretical approach, the visual one (bringing charts, graphs, and what we now know of as "visualization tools," into her 1990s classroom), and what we jokingly referred to as the "brute force" approach. (Read: If you can't solve the equation using theory or a graph, plug in numbers until you find a solution that fits!)

Mrs. V. also understood that many heads are often better than one. She encouraged students to work in teams and help one another understand the concepts. She was wise enough to explain concepts clearly, but humble enough to know that sometimes a second or third teacher – even if it was another student – might illuminate subjects in a way that one alone could not.

With her ceaseless efforts, algebra (finally) started to make sense. Once the visual cues clicked for me, the theoretical underpinnings of the math problems fell into place. I passed algebra and progressed to Algebra II, and then on to advanced Calculus.

At a time when the book Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus was at the top of bestseller lists, suggesting with "science" (*cough*) that women were "good" communicators, and men were "good" in the sciences, Mrs. V. saw promise in her students - boys and girls alike. At a time when Mattel pandered to every horrible gender stereotype by releasing a talking Barbie doll who said "Math is tough!" my teacher proved that girls could do calculus, do it well, and make it look easy.

I am now a demographer and statistician, thanks in no small part to the effort of a woman who didn't believe "math is tough," and who wouldn't let her students accept that defeatism either.

This is not Mrs V., however Beth supplied this photo of Mary Blade to accompany her story.  It is fitting and very timely for Women's History Month.  

WEDNESDAY'S WOMAN IS A WEEKLY FEATURE DEDICATED TO SPOTLIGHTING WOMEN WHO ARE ROLE MODELS FOR OUR DAUGHTERS. . . AND THE WORLD.

photo credit: Aaron Escobar via photopin cc