Assignment 5 - Claire Barrera

When I tell people that I am a math major, I get the same responses as most other math majors. These responses are usually “I hate math, I’ve never been good at it” or “What can you do with a math degree besides teach”. When I hear these responses, I try to explain how math is more than just computational. I try to explain how math is also used to prove or disprove ideas and concepts. Also, since I’m undecided about what area I want to go into after I graduate I tell strangers, friends and family all the possibilities of what I can do with a math degree. For example, math is used in a variety of fields like business, economics, medicine, marketing and so on.

I believe these individual conversations affect national investment in math because it helps others to see how math is used in their field of study, which may be in a non-traditional way. I think if we start introducing these conversations to younger children about all the ways math can be used it will help to enhance the national investment in math simply because it will bring awareness to children, parents and teachers.

Also, if we bring awareness of math and science careers to middle school and high school students they can help influence political leaders to create more programs to support these fields. Focusing on middle and high school students will influence political leaders because education is a common topic that gets brought up during campaigns, and if political leaders talk about how they are trying to expand students’ exposure to different fields it encourages parents get their children involved in these programs. I believe that if more students are exposed to math and science programs at a younger age, it will increase the number of students who pursue math and science college degrees.