Why I’m Learning Spanish and Not Math
Remember how excited I was about the Khan Academy math program? Even though I’d always hated math, their practice tests full of hints made it fun for me to learn. Yes, fun! I said that about math!
Brimming with enthusiasm, I vowed right in these here pages to keep doing math until I hit a wall.
Can I be honest? After that optimistic proclamation, I only did one more hour or so of math practice tests. And then I stopped.
Here’s what’s interesting: I wasn’t bored of the practice tests. They were kind of fun. But we live in a world in which fun is very easy to come by. If all I wanted was to have fun, I’d spend the rest of my life binge-watching Girls or learn how to play Call of Duty or do real-life fun stuff like snorkel or surf or bungee jump.
The thing is, for me, but also I suspect for many people, fun is not enough. I say this because a lot of educational programs sell themselves on the premise that they’re fun and accessible and that therefore, kids will use them. For me, that wasn’t enough to get me