Math Madness

By: Stephanie Angela Lane
Posted In: News

Alison Marchetti, 19, is sitting in her college dorm working on some math homework. It is an ordinary Monday night for Alison – she is hoping to get her homework done at a reasonable time in order to get a good night’s sleep.

While Marchetti’s course load as a major in math and a minor in secondary education is extremely challenging – it is not impossible. This is due in part to Marchetti’s high school preparation when she attended West Warwick High School. During high school Marchetti took Geometry, Algebra II, Pre Calculus, and EEP Calculus which is similar to an Advanced Placement course except you do not need a test to get college credits.

Marchetti had graduated from a small math department in high school consisting of 10 teachers to join a larger math department at PC consisting of 18 professors. College level math courses are undoubtedly more difficult than high school level courses, but Marchetti is able to keep up with the work and has a strong GPA as a result. Marchetti is indisputably a hard worker – but she also gives credit of her success to her high school teachers.

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings told a Senate committee in February that she is concerned as to how prepared high school students are for college level math courses.

Spellings expressed apprehension as to how successful high school teachers are when it comes to instructing the future college students. She believes a student’s success is related to the experience they receive from their high school teachers.

Marchetti is fortunate she had teachers she believes prepared her for college. “Both my Calc teachers in high school were awesome,” said Marchetti. She went on to explain it is because of her Pre Calculus teacher in high school she decided to be a math major with a minor in secondary education.

Marchetti said the reason she was so prepared for college courses is not, however, due to school resources in high school, “unless you count a book and a black board it was definitely the teachers that prepared me,” said Marchetti.

Brian Sullivan has been the head of the math department at Rogers High School in Newport for two years. After being a math teacher for 25 years, Sullivan believes he has figured out the origin of difficulties for math students.

“We need to get more students to believe they can be successful,” said Sullivan. He believes students lack confidence in math because they find it difficult and kids get it into their heads they are not good at math and will never be good at it.

“Kids think they can get better at everything-except math. It just takes a lot of work,” Sullivan said. Sullivan also believes “too many students are grade conscious – just concentrate on learning and thinking and the grades will take care of themselves.”

Sullivan, as the head of the math department, is working hard to ensure students overcome these problems and are prepared for college by providing the students with adequate teachers. When looking to hire someone, Sullivan wants “someone who wants to learn and wants to get better, someone who has a similar philosophy to what Rodgers does and someone who can relate to kids.”

Sullivan strongly believes it is the teacher who is able to encourage students to succeed.

Sullivan feels what he provides his students in high school carries over into college with them. His “top math students always go to great schools.Duke.Brown. all are doing very well,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan hopes when his students go to college that they attend their math classes. “Everyone is going to tell you time management is most important,” Sullivan said. “With math and science if you don’t go to class you will fall behind and it will create a snowball effect.” Sullivan also suggests if a college student does fall behind, “don’t wait to get help, you can not wait to address it!”

Ernest Rothman has been the associate professor chair at Salve Regina for four years and has been teaching for 13 years. He believes the courses provided for college students at Salve Regina are strong courses. “We have solid math majors and we are proud.” Rothman said, “It is not too common, to hear complaints from students about being prepared in high school, but occasionally I have heard it and sometimes I have come to that conclusion myself.”

Rothman believes students need to learn more fundamental math at a younger age and throughout high school in order to be better prepared for college. “Memorization within every subject is important to understand the subject,” Rothman also said. “If you don’t commit to memory you don’t know it and if you don’t know it you don’t understand. Memorization of certain basic facts is still very important.”

Rothman believes high school courses do not call for memorization as much as they should.

Another aspect of math that is extremely important is repetition. “High school students don’t get as much homework as they use to. ‘Weekly projects’ don’t cover the needs,” said Rothman.

He believes students should partake in math homework every night, “not six hours but at least one hour,” during high school in order to be prepared. Rothman also said, “high school teachers need to keep their enthusiasm,” in order to prepare students fully.

Rothman believes it is up to college students to seek out help on their own whether as a result of being unprepared in high school or simply beginning to fall behind. At Salve, there are many outlets to seek help in math; there is the Academic Development Center for tutoring, all professors have office hours, and if a student can’t make the professors’ office hours they can make an appointment.

Rothman also provides students with the option of reaching him at home. “I provide consulting by instant messaging if they can’t make office hours,” Rothman said. “In the evening I am doing other work, but I always keep a window open in case students have a question. There is actually quite a lot of availability.”

Rothman’s greatest advice for college students is simply, “don’t allow falling behind to happen. Keep up with material, work on it everyday, and don’t let it go until the last night.”