In the spring of 2008 there was a joint effort made by a North Carolina School district and a group of local educators. It was an attempt to start a ‘Math Academy’ for students who were having various problems in the local schools in the subject of math and were in danger of either dropping out of school or failing the state mandated math exams. Those participating in the venture were drawn from various segments of the community and included educators, administrators, church members, student teachers, math teachers, volunteers and parents. The goal of this academy was twofold: 1) to rise the students’ confidences in dealing with mathematical problems and 2) to significantly raise the math scores of these borderline students to be within the passing range of the state math exams.

While the six week program was an unqualified success in both areas, several details concerning both the students and their parents approach to the subject of math were uncovered that seemed to have an impact on the success of the program. While several factors were explored as to why these students were underachieving or failing in math, one detail seemed to run throughout: In almost every case, the parent of these students themselves had a poor opinion of the subject matter. They didn’t believe that either they or their children were able to comprehend mathematics.

It would probably be safe to say that almost every parent has had a run in with math either at an early age or later in their education. Whether it was the first time they tackled division and multiplication in elementary school or the stone walls of algebra and calculus later on in high school and college, math has, at some time, been the bane of many a school aged individual.

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