Suzanne's Column
October 1999
It's been an eventful few months here at Newton's Window. The lawsuit against us drew the attention of ABC News 20/20, and the teacher who brought the suit dropped out as his testimony was about to be recorded for a national audience. Much was made public in the ordeal, and we have made it available to the State's Attorney in Montgomery County to assist him in bringing action. We have also made the information available here on our site to assist the many parents who have written to us wanting to help protect their own children. The complete trial transcript will be posted here later this month, and developments are posted frequently, so bookmark the pages.
These past months have also brought us to different regions of the country, and enabled us to see the struggles and successes of many students. Many discouraging news stories, and the internal school documents released in the lawsuit, paint a bleak picture of math education in our country. But recently we had occasion to observe something else.
We saw it working.
Recently I was invited to attend a conference at Northwestern Universtiy in Evanston, Illinois. Crimson ivy and golden maples backlit Gothic stone, and Lake Michigan stretched toward the sky making the conference attendees reluctant to leave, despite the wind and rain.
And there in the midst of the all that beauty was, to me, another kind of beauty. Students engaged in the process of learning math.
Now, admittedly, Northwestern students are a fine bunch, as befits one of the nation's leading universities, but as we learn more about our sports watching Olympians, perhaps we can learn something from these students.
In one of the many studies compiled for high school students searching for a college to call home, Northwestern students ranked second happiest in the nation.
One of the ingredients in this happiness seems, quite clearly, to be study. They do it. They expect to do it. Their peers do it. It's part of the package - a chosen part, and a welcome part.
And these kids are not 'nerds.' They are spared the painful choice of studying or fun. They can, and do, choose both.
And when they study math, they engage it. They dig in, and groan, and stare, inching forward; they study together and study alone, struggling with tough concepts.
Engagement in math is a rare thing. Students too often want it easy, and too often, we've led them into believing it can be. Too often they expect it to come easily, and when it doesn't, they panic, or flee, convinced they don't belong. Too often we bemoan the labor, as if it isn't supposed to be there. It is.
Newton's Window will be expanding in the coming weeks, with an explosion of new offerings. We're going to help guide your children to some of the joys inherent in learning this difficult and lovely subject, and offer ideas for helping students engage in it, increasing their success and their joy in it.
