That's wonderful!

A former student had similar complaints about AP Stats.

Hope you find some joy during your birthday week!

We need better math teaching. While it is hard to shift thinking that gets passed down between generations, this is on us as teachers of math.

They hear it's important for Ss to take the highest level HS math classes, so that's what they push. Unfortunately many then learn to hate math and might have experienced more success if they slowed down their progression.

Ss should only accelerate when they really want more challenge and maybe have clear future goals that involve higher level math. My experience has been that less than 5% of my students fall into this category, but families worry too much about being competitive and maintaining privilege.

I have a hunch some of this is due to it being easier to make connections at a new school when everyone is new. But I also think negative results can happen when school is treated as something that needs to be optimized.

I'm teaching Alg 1 and Geo this year, and while correlation isn't causation, the 9th graders in Alg 1 seem much more content than 9th graders in Geo. The Alg 1 Ss are much more open to experiencing joy in math, irrespective of how well they are doing.