CTY alum helps bridge the math gap for low-income students
"Math, science popular until students realize they're hard," the headline says.
It reads like it came from the satirical online site The Onion, but this Wall Street Journal headline encapsulates a real problem in American education, says Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth alum Dan Zaharopol.
The prestige and high salaries associated with some STEM-related jobs may entice students to pursue degrees in STEM fields. Yet after they start the required college math courses, many realize there's a gap between the math they learned in high school and the highly advanced concepts they need to know in college. This can be a major obstacle for college success—especially for low-income students, Zaharopol says.