Just apply it and it will be interesting by Yadiel

Just apply it and it will be interesting by Yadiel - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

The clock was moving slowly and the professor was just ranting about combinations and permutations. I was bored as usual as in any math class I ever took. The perception I had of a college math class was not a very positive one. I thought to myself, what is this useful for? Why am I studying this? Nonetheless, in these apparent “boring” day in my “Introduction to Statistics” course this flawed perception of mine was changed dramatically. This was course was an obligatory course for computer science and biology majors. However, my students took it as an elective course. Due to the “compulsory” nature of the course, many students did not have any interest in Statistics at all. They just took it in order to get a good grade and pass. There was no passion or interest behind the decision of enrolling in this course. Little did I know that Dr. Agosto was not just your average math college professor. Unlike many math instructors in my university, he completed his doctor’s degree in the field of Education in Mathematics. But, due to my ignorance I did not know this. I pre-judged him before I even met him. I know, it was unfair on my part. However, this story turns out for the best.

As I was listening to Dr. Agosto give the lecture, he suddenly stopped talking as if he knew we were bored and lost on the topic. After a few minutes of silence, he started to ask randomly the majors of a few students. Unsurprisingly, most of the students were computer science and biology majors. After the professor finished his small survey, he started to create examples in order to illustrate the combinations principles. These examples were all related to the student’s majors. In a sort of magical way, Dr. Agosto applied these boring concepts to most of the students interests. As a result, many students started getting more involved in the class. Even I started asking questions. In just a matter of minutes, the professor turned the most boring class into the most engaging, fun and interesting math class I have taken in my life. Thanks to this moment, I realized that if I were ever going to be a college professor, the subject I would teach would be math.

In addition, I understood that I could apply Dr. Agosto’s teaching style to a variety of math courses that I have taken years prior and thought of them as the most boring courses of my life. Courses like Pre-Calculus, Calculus I and Discrete Mathematics, which were courses I hated the most during my years as an undergrad. However, thanks to this experience, I know that math is not so bad if you apply it to whatever the student’s interests are. By doing this, the students will be more willing to learn to material. So, thanks to Dr. Agosto I developed an interest the application of different mathematical concepts into different areas of society. I think that if most professors utilized this strategy in their courses, instead of teaching a bunch of theory without applying it, students would be more interested in learning math.