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I've taught a summer program in number theory for high school students for the past several years. Each summer, my classrooms fill with high school students tha

I've taught a summer program in number theory for high school students for the past several years. Each summer, my classrooms fill with high school students that are intrigued by the idea of math and extremely capable. That is nice and inspiring, and generally more rewarding than when I teach calculus classes to university students during the school year. But my program is prohibitively expensive, and I'm acutely aware of the fact that when my students return to their high schools, they will almost certainly return to lackluster curricula. There are exceptions, of course. My summer program is filled with a far-above-average percentage of students attending private high schools. The fact remains that students who attend the summer program are introduced to interesting math with no guided way to continue their exploration. Sometimes, students with supportive schools end up scheduling a self-study with some supervision from a high school teacher or counselor; I've been asked to help set up and guide self-studies, and I know at least a few of them have been successful. In my experience, this has been the best outcome for my students continuing exploration of advanced math. I'm not sure what this says about math and American high school education.

VLM 11y ago
"But my program is prohibitively expensive" Why? Just curious if there's any brainstorming to be done. Also expensive relative to what? Some people think Kumon is expensive. My kids did it for a couple years. Its about $100/month. Its very popular among immigrants who make a whole lot less money than I do. Of course Kumon isn't "real" math because its very drill -n- kill (which is why we quit, more or less)
- whorleater 11y ago
  Prohibitively expensive might not specifically reference to the monetary cost of the class. You could probably scrounge up $100 a month for Kumon even from much lower income families, but many children in lower income families end up having a real opportunity cost in going to a summer class. The parents may not be able to drive the children to the class, the children might be pressured to get a summer job to help pay for the family, etc.
- mixedmath 11y ago
  > Why? Just curious if there's any brainstorming to be done. I'm afraid that I don't know about the actual costs. There are several classes offered, and though students only take one at a time, they sometimes link a few and stay for up to 8 weeks. It's a pretty large board-at-the-university-for-x-weeks style summer program. I'm an instructor, and I don't set prices. I also understand that there is a non-negligible cost to house and feed a student for a month. But program costs each student about $6000 dollars. I think that's enough to be called "prohibitively expensive," although I'm not sure how to compare these things really.

VLM 11y ago

"But my program is prohibitively expensive" Why? Just curious if there's any brainstorming to be done. Also expensive relative to what? Some people think Kumon is expensive. My kids did it for a couple years. Its about $100/month. Its very popular among immigrants who make a whole lot less money than I do. Of course Kumon isn't "real" math because its very drill -n- kill (which is why we quit, more or less)

whorleater 11y ago
Prohibitively expensive might not specifically reference to the monetary cost of the class. You could probably scrounge up $100 a month for Kumon even from much lower income families, but many children in lower income families end up having a real opportunity cost in going to a summer class. The parents may not be able to drive the children to the class, the children might be pressured to get a summer job to help pay for the family, etc.
mixedmath 11y ago
> Why? Just curious if there's any brainstorming to be done. I'm afraid that I don't know about the actual costs. There are several classes offered, and though students only take one at a time, they sometimes link a few and stay for up to 8 weeks. It's a pretty large board-at-the-university-for-x-weeks style summer program. I'm an instructor, and I don't set prices. I also understand that there is a non-negligible cost to house and feed a student for a month. But program costs each student about $6000 dollars. I think that's enough to be called "prohibitively expensive," although I'm not sure how to compare these things really.