The Fork In The Road

Jun 29, 2021 | Highland Park

Robert Frost, a famous American poet, wrote "The Road Not Taken" in 1915. It has dazzled and engaged readers ever since. The opening line reads:

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood"

Backup fork

From there, the traveller is confronted with a choice- which path to take. Many times in our lives, we are faced with our own "fork in the road.” Today, I'd like to introduce you to two travellers: two actual people interviewed by Mathnasium, who explained the choice they made when faced with a fork in the road.

Firstly, meet Bethany Ballard, a 34-year old mother of three who met her first "mathematical fork in the road" when she was in 9th grade. She was a great student but often lacked interest in Math. Bethany excelled in English, Art and History but didn't give her Math class the attention it needed.

Eventually, that caught up with her. Bethany realized that she no longer understood Math in her 9th grade Geometry class.  She found that when the teacher called on her, she no longer knew what to say. Shame and embarrassment kept her hand down. She half-heartedly tried to understand her homework, sometimes, enlisting help from her older siblings. Those efforts, though, were inconsistent and lacking. Her math grades became C's while her confidence shrunk. 

Bethany never sought out help. She says, "I decided, pretty early on, that I wasn't good at math, and that I'd just struggle through my remaining Math classes until graduation." And that's exactly what she did. 

Bethany enrolled in a local community college after she was married and got pregnant with her first child. Math 1010 became her nemesis. She started sabotaging her own chances for success by simply avoiding going to class and missing the tests. Bethany failed Math 1010 and never finished her degree. 

Now, let's look at our next traveller, Allison Docks. Allison met her "mathematical fork in the road" in high school when she realized that she needed help with Math. She says, "Math, in general, was always really hard for me." Allison struggled in Math so much that she would try to complete her homework at home, then rip it to pieces and throw it away, instead of bringing it to class to find out where she did wrong. 

Things turned around for Allison, just like how things are turning around for kids when they attend Mathnasium of Highland Park. Allison says, "The best thing that ever happened to me was Mathnasium. I started going there while I was still in high school.  Mathnasium gave me the skills to grow my ACT and SAT scores.”

Before Mathnasium, Allison wasn't so sure about going to college. She says, "I didn't think that A: I could get into a University I like, or B: maintain a degree plan that would actually get me graduated."

But all that changed, when Mathnasium gave Allison the confidence to master Math. Allison was accepted at Mississippi University and graduated in December of 2019. She now works on her dream job in Sports Administration at TCU.

Allison and Bethany both faced the same fork in the road- math ignorance. Mathnasium of Highland Park helped Allison overcome her math weakness. When your child is faced with their own "math fork in the road," we hope you'll turn to Mathnasium of Highland Park. Call us today. We're ready to get started so sign up now!