Math Anyone?

"I've given up on learning the stuff. I'm just trying to survive and get the best grade I possibly can. But I know she's just gonna give me the grade she wants me to have."
This was a statement made by Hannah near the end of the semester after struggling though a class she had to take to graduate. Hannah is a life long learner, she loves to learn. I was very sad to hear her give up on a class like this. (As a side note, Hannah ended the class with an A, but not ever learning the subject and having no respect for her teacher.)

That statement was an eye opener for me. As teachers we all need to assess why we are teaching what we're teaching.   Am I really trying to teach my girls what they need to know?

Recently, Mary was struggling with a math question and she, like all of her sisters before her, asked, "What's the purpose of this stuff anyway, I'm never gonna use it!" What would she ever need this for? I told her, like I've told her sisters before her, you probably won't ever need it in real life but you have to know to get out of high school and into college. It'll be on the SAT.

I should not have been telling them that. I should be examining why that math concept would be useful to girls who want to grow up and work with children or who want to be a nurse or who want to be a linguist or anything else for that matter. But instead I failed that part and "taught to the test". I do want my girls to love to learn and I certainly don't want me to be discouraged because if my lack of concern for their education. 

I saw a young teacher post a statement on Facebook that she had told her students that yes they may never use algebra in their day to day lives, but one purpose for them to learn was to stretch exercise their brains so that they would be smarter to worship God. Now that's the kind of thinking I need to remember while teaching math!

(And by the way, in my own life, I have never used any algebra beyond teaching my children.)