Learning Math the India Way Is an Online Option

November 10, 2008

For those unhappy with the way they're learning mathematics, there's an alternative: Indian Math Online. Its selling point, reported the New York Times, is that it centers on how mathematics is taught in India.

Offering diagnostic testing and math instruction for any subject through high school, the start-up site sells learning modules, which comprise practice problems in areas in which students are weakest. Homework, moreover, consists of math problems that students work through. That's different than the way it's done in the U.S., according to the site. Here homework may often involve merely reading mathematics topics.

Bob Compton helped create Indian Math Online for personal reasons. “Our society basically tells girls they’re not good at math," he said. Determined to make sure his daughters knew otherwise, he and colleague Suresh Murthy, who grew up in India, hired India-based mathematics teachers and software developers to develop the site and its curriculum. At present, most users are children of Indian and Chinese immigrants.

“Western students,” Compton said, “often drop out after a couple of months. In order to succeed,” Compton observed, “doing well in mathematics is akin to doing well in sports: you must practice every day. “For some reason," he said, "American kids seem to be willing to put in the work with athletics, but not put it in with the one subject that’s going to matter more to their lives than any other activity."

Source: New York Times (November 3)