Anastasia, thank you for this critical piece. It really resonated with me. I wrote a related article about my personal relationship with math (spoiler: not a great relationship). It’s been apparent to me that my lack of mathematical savvy acted as a roadblock to certain opportunities. My experience leads me to believe that a big part of this was the fact that I was a girl, (https://medium.com/s/story/i-am-the-girl-that-stem-lost-923e6b93eeec) but you bring up additional, important questions. Why are we so hyper focused on math? Why is it necessary to succeed (or is it)?

I especially appreciate your point that kids can leave school at 16. That’s exactly what I did, because the idea of being able to choose what I was learning in college was a much more appealing prospect than continuing to wade through math being presented in a way that didn’t really mesh with my learning styles. Thanks again for your words.