MiP’s Blog

“For most kids, algebra is an unbreakable wall of nonsensical problems and strange symbols. For me, a decidedly right-brained person with all my strengths in creativity, math is near impossible. However, I have learned it all depends on the teacher. A great teacher can make seemingly impossible problems easy and a bad teacher can make every variable and signs vanish in a fog that obscures even the easiest problems. My math teacher, who has taught me in both seventh and eighth grade, has a reputation for being one of the “impenetrable fog” teachers, so throughout the first semester of seventh grade, I struggled with math class.

About halfway through the year, my parents signed me up for math tutoring at a tutoring place called Score! Naturally, I hated the idea of having to do more math than I already did, so I went in with very low expectations. However, Score! turned out to be a huge help and over the next few months, I saw my math grades steadily rise. The people there were actual people with personalities who weren’t cold-hearted math robots, and they understood my troubles and helped me. I soon realized that I had been marginally proficient in math all along, all I needed was people who taught in a different way then just spitting facts out and having you memorize them.”

—Henry, an 8th grader