And she's perturbed to discover that she's forgotten how to add them. I ask Angela to consider what might happen if she were to ask 100 random people on the subway one weekday morning if they would be kind enough to take a short little quiz on fractions to help her with, say, a little research project. There are many reasons, most of them good, I'm afraid, but few of them have anything to do with the nature and beauty and essence of the subject itself. But it wasn't the essence of math that you learned in the classroom. And they are there.
Most people are convinced they are awful at math.
If our view is so limited that we present math as a mere collection of techniques, then only those who can perform these techniques will see themselves as successes. But we can change our view of mathematics. And through this, change our students' view of themselves. Jared is an athletic 14 year-old who's had his share of troubles. Discarded by his parents, he's known the inside of drug treatment centers, special schools, and psychiatric hospitals, and has witnessed shooting, violence, and drug use from an early age.