WASHINGTON — To counter the notion that math ability is inscribed in DNA, school officials and corporate executives are waging a public relations campaign for the hearts and minds of the average math student.
Their goal is to immerse more middle school students in algebra and toughen high school math requirements so graduates can compete for increasingly technical jobs. Their message: Advanced math is not only for rocket scientists.
As students progress from one math course to another, some can get deeply, darkly lost. Although it is possible to pick up virtually any chapter in a history book and learn something new, one expert said, an advanced chapter of math could read like Greek to a student unfamiliar or uncomfortable with the concepts.
The risk of frustration is high. So is the need for math teachers who can ably explain complex topics.
“We are trying to find more and more ways to get the youth of America engaged,” said William Swanson, chief executive of Raytheon.
The Massachusetts-based defense contractor gives out math and science scholarships and is designing a math-oriented attraction at Disney World’s Epcot. It also has brought professional football players to school rallies to talk about math in sports, tackling a stereotype that math is for nerds.
Celebrities also are trying to bring glamour to the quadratic formula. Danica McKellar, who played Winnie Cooper in the television series “The Wonder Years,” proved a mathematical theorem in college and has written two books, including “Math Doesn’t Suck,” to introduce math concepts to teenage girls through examples about cliques and shopping.
Math-themed contests abound. Some offer rewards for students who design robots.
To be sure, math apathy remains pervasive. “You don’t need math,” many students say. “I was never good at math, either,” adults reply. Such refrains, said Henry “Hank” Kepner, president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, “send a message that you don’t have to try.”
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