CTY alum helps bridge the math gap for low-income students
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"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.