I was watching the news the other day and the statistic that was flashing on the screen was nothing less than shocking. It said 66% of kids in American grade 8 classes could not do math. 66%! After I let the news “sink in”, I started to ask myself questions such as “why is this happening?”, then the more powerful question, “what can we possibly do about it?” I’ve pondered these questions before, but it seems that the solution, one revolving around math comic strips, is more important now than it has ever been.
As we enter this brave new world of a global economy, our kids are going to need to have all the education they can obtain in order to compete for jobs with all those highly educated kids from other countries. I saw on television a while ago where tutors in South Korea were treated like “rock stars”. Why is this? It’s simply because in South Korea they realize that tutors are there to help educate their kids…education that will eventually help them get those great jobs of the future. Is this what we do in the United States? I’ll let the laughter subside before I continue…
Years ago, if children wanted to have fun they had limited choices. They could either play sports, or play games, or read books. Enter into this equation the brave new world of the 21st century. A world full of wonderful advancements like cable television with a “gazillion” stations, video-on-demand, and 24-hour online gaming. Where on the list does homework and schoolwork fall? Sadly, most of the time, off the list…
In order to get our kids to do their homework, when there are so many distractions out there, we need to make their homework fun. If we don’t, other things will take priority in their lives. How can we possibly do this? Ah, this is where the time tested and proven format of the humble comic book enters into the equation. Comics have been around for years and years, but they have mostly been used to entertain, not educate. This doesn’t mean that we can’t alter the format a bit to help them teach our children essential math skills.
Math comic strips is dedicated to providing comic books that will help our kids learn math. Our flagship product is a “superhero” comic in which the hero (a mere human really) is able to solve problems and crimes via his superior math skills. Now how did he come across this math ability? He acquired it simply by doing his homework over the years. We are hoping that as kids read of the adventures of this “superhero” they will be inspired to do their homework just like he did…
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