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Jamie McCracken - Math Education Major
“As secondary education majors, we want to share our passions with others.” So says Geneva senior Jamie McCracken.
This is easier said than done, especially for someone majoring in mathematics. Simply stated, some people just do not get excited about the intricacies of the Fibonacci sequence.
Jamie understands this.
“I don't think everyone needs to know advanced calculus, but I think people need to have a solid understanding of at least the basic [mathematical] concepts,” she says. “The world relies so much on computers that people struggle with counting change and adding two-digit numbers.”
Jamie has a point. But even those who don't depend upon calculators or, from time to time, their fingers to keep them straight often wonder why a person would want to study math in depth.
“I like math because there is a right and a wrong,” Jamie explains. “It’s not like some [disciplines] where every student can have a different explanation and they're all correct. With math I know without a doubt whether I understand a concept.”
Again, she has a point. One that begs the question: If an answer is right or wrong regardless of who you are or what you believe, why pay more money to study math at a private institution?
Jamie has taken classes outside Geneva, and in comparing them, has found there is a difference.
“When I completed a class at Geneva I felt like I was walking away with new knowledge,” she says. “When I completed classes at other institutions I felt I had learned very little.” She goes on to explain that “with classes ranging from how to critique and design math curriculum to different ways of helping students understand or develop greater interests in math, I feel like I have a good starting point for my career.”
Because of Jamie's major, she experienced more than just the math department. Her education classes tackled the difficult questions of what is currently accepted versus what God views as acceptable in the classroom.
“I never realized there was such a difference in the way Christian and non-Christian teachers approached education,” Jamie says. “The professors at Geneva make it a priority to challenge students to consider ideas behind today’s accepted norms in education from a Christian perspective.”
As she prepares to go into her semester of student teaching, Jamie hopes to share her passion for the logic and order of the mathematical world with high-school students who have a similar enthusiasm – and even with those who don't.
- by Brooke Prokopchak ('08)
Jamie McCracken is from Manor, Pa. After graduating in 2008, she hopes to work with a tutoring service and obtain a fulltime teaching position in a public high school. Eventually she plans to attend graduate school and become a college professor. In the meantime she serves as editor-in-chief of Geneva’s yearbook and enjoys putting her mathematical skills to work with the geometric patterns involved in quilting.