Children don't hate math . . . they hate being confused by it

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Mathnasium of Bellmore-Massapequa
3430 Sunrise Highway, Wantagh
(516) 799-MATH (6284)

Now that school is coming to an end, math will take a back seat to vacations. A math foundation is built from one concept to the next, so falling behind becomes worse as the year wears on. Children can brush up on skills and even get ahead this summer, with extra help from a Mathnasium learning center.

“Children don’t hate math. They hate being confused and intimidated by math,” says Tony Parmar, who runs three centers with his wife, Rupi. In addition to Mathnasium programs, they offer test preparation for Regents and the math portions of the SAT and ACT. They are highly specialized, teaching only math. Members usually attend twice a week for about an hour.

“Our goal is to significantly increase the child’s math skills, understanding of math concepts, and overall school performance, while building confidence and forging a positive attitude toward the subject. With understanding comes pasFortunately, he points out, there are telltale signs that suggest a child is struggling with math. Math grades lag, even though the student does well in other subjects. The child makes comments like, “I’m no good at math.” Counting on fingers suggests poor retention of number facts. Teachers remark that the student is not working up to full potential. And, the child seems bored with math. Ideally, addition and subtraction should be mastered by end of second or third grade, multiplication and division by the end of third or fourth grade, and fluency with fractions by the end of fifth or sixth grade.

“Over the past 50 years, many attempts have been made to reform mathematics education,” Parmar said. “New Math, Back to Basics, various flavors of Reform Math (Mathland, Everyday Math, TERC, and Connected Math, to name a few), and No Child Left Behind, were all heralded in their time as being the approach that would move the needle in the right direction. The new kid on the block is Common Core. It will be several years before we know whether or not it will fare any better than previous attempts to put mathematics education onto a truly positive course.”

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