Math teachers should be more like football coaches
I used to teach maths (undergraduate level) and I was also a snowboarding coach. These two roles aren&#x27;t really comparable.<p>- In my snowboarding groups, there were usually about five students, no more than ten. We would spend a full day together, and I had time to spend quite a lot of time with each student individually. In my math &quot;exercise&quot; classes, there were up to 25 students. I would see them 3 hours a week (they had other teachers as well).<p>- Unlike math students, snowboarding students were all very motivated. Nobody forced them to be there.<p>- Snowboarding students have usually quite similar level of abilities. Of course, some learn faster than others but nobody improves 10 times faster than someone else (which happens in maths). If a student is better, she&#x2F;he can move to another group the following week (something impossible in my math class).<p>- As a math teacher, I&#x27;m also the one who evaluates them, and who stands between them and their degree. As a snowboarding coach, I&#x27;m the one who helps them achieving their goal. Different dynamic.<p>- I&#x27;m confident that anyone without disability can learn to be a decent snowboarder after a few weeks of training. But I think that a lot of students don&#x27;t have what it takes to learn the mathematics curriculum they signed up for, no matter how you teach them.