Ill start by thanking you for sending out this survey.

My interaction with the math department during my time at Milton was the most frustrating part of my Milton career. Im glad that you are open to comments and are seeking to improve.

First, a bit about me. I graduated in 2010 (so, quite recently) and was, in all respects, a highly capable student. I was certainly among the very top of my peers academically, and I had universally great interactions with Miltons faculty and staff. Except in the math department

It was common knowledge during my time at Milton that the mathematics department was far and away the weakest at Milton. English ranked first, and then history, science, and languages proceeded according to ones individual preferences. Among any students I interacted witheven those in Math 6 and 7 who really enjoyed maththe math department was always considered last.

Even outside of the school, the math department had a bad reputation. I once met with a prospective student who loved Milton but whose parents were vary of sending him here for fear of bad math instruction. I had an SAT tutorwhose client base was 50% Milton studentswho was constantly SHOCKED at the mathematical incompetence of the Milton students he taught. Compared to our peers at public and independent high schools in the region, he thought our performance as a whole was strikingly below par, especially considering just how intelligent and talented I and my classmates were in so many other academic disciplines.

So, what explains this discrepancy? There were surely some reasonably competent math teachers at Milton, right? I think there were. Not nearly as many as in our incredibly overqualified English, science, and history faculties, to be sure, but definitely some good teachers. So why did people have such a bad experience? I think it comes down to attitude. One never got the sense that the math teachers actually enjoyed teaching their students. In fact, most math teachers were downright rude. Ive even heard them, on multiple occasions, making fun of their students with one another and making no secret of the fact that they couldnt wait for the weekend. No wonder my friends dreaded encountering their math teachers after class. No wonder they made an effort to avoid getting extra help from them. I still joke with them how much we all fear running into our math teachers when we visit Milton. The teacher-student interaction in the math department was just not conducive to learning.

[And please bear in mind that I was one of those students who LOVED Milton. I had the greatest of times there. I was also highly capable in a classroom setting. I am not just a poor performer griping about some teachers I didnt get along withthe vast majority of my similarly capable peers (who, along with me, comprise the ranks of the Cum Laude Society for our year, attend Ivy League schools, and received 800s on SATs) had a miserable experience with Milton math, or at the very least one that was far inferior to the rest of their Milton education. I apologize if that sounds arrogant, but please understand the pains I am at to underscore that I am not just some sour outlier. I have had enough experiences with Milton math teachers growing immediately defensive at the slightest of feedback (feedback orders of magnitude lighter than this), to have cause for concern.]

So, attitude. That is what I see as the biggest problem. Whereas my English and science teachers were delighted to engage with me on any questions or curiosities I had, my math teachers could not be bothered. Some, like Ms. Jacobs [sorry to name names], were actively hostile. They paid lip service to no stupid questions but then grew angry with their students when they did fall behind. When my classmates (and my peers in other classes) suggested how they might be better helped, they grew instantly defensive. I would say there are maybe four or five such teachers in the department. Others, like Mr. Kassatly, were nice guys but totally checked out. I really dont think I learned anything in his class. There are maybe three of these kind of teachers in the department (at least when I left).

So students were torn between teachers who were reasonably effective but hostile towards themI always dreaded crossing Centre street to be in her classand those who were nice but didnt teach. The former actually instituted binder checks in their 12th grade classroomsI assure you there is no easier way to make a group of 18 year-olds feel patronized and alienated. The latter caused panic at exam time when we realized we hadnt actually learned anything.

It was exceedingly difficult to learn under such tough conditions, especially when right across the street I had such capable and loving teachers in Ware and Warren. I remember thinking that all departments at Milton were tough, but the math department was the only one where teachers seemed to actively want us to fail. What else could explain such hostility and apathy? Please trust me when I tell you I was hardly the only one with such sentiments.

Assuming that teachers cannot be wholesale replaced or reformed in their attitudes, what could make the math department better? I think first and foremost having textbooks would be highly beneficial. The math department seemed to have this try and fail mentality towards math instruction. Now, such an approach is highly effective when students have a resource to turn to when they do, in fact, fail, but so often it was just on to the next worksheet. I never, ever felt comfortable approaching my math teacher (Jacobs would berate me; Kassatly would just tell funny stories) and so I never really learned. Having a textbook to teach me math would have at least given me another objective resource to go back to on the weekends when I really wasnt understanding a process. You ask earlier in this survey about online resourcesthey are almost all terrible. But when I didnt understand something, I had to make do with them. Having a textbook would have given me a way to learn without having to make doeven if my teacher wasnt approachable.

As an aside, please do not think these were the only teachers who posed an issue. I bring them up because they were my teachers, but many, many students encountered exactly the same issues with their other teachers.

Additionally, I found too great an emphasis on the new and cutting edge in the department at the expense of the fundamentals. Ive already discussed how the write your own textbook idea really just left students floundering without any instructional direction, but this was not the only instance where forays into innovative classroom instruction wound up doing far more than good.

Smart boards: these were, at their best, merely benign. I still dont quite understand the purpose of spending $5000 for a glorified whiteboard the only advantage of which was note saving/emailing (hardly ever happened) and Geometer Sketch Pad animations (even the pre-programmed

geometric shapes were never used because they were difficult to manipulate). If I were a parent or donor, I would be furious at the wasted expense. In college, math is taught on blackboards. Why are these things needed in high school? The point is, they arent. I never saw them used as anything more than fancy, often malfunctioning whiteboards.

Graphing calculators: again, fun devices that were useful in Algebra 2, but when it came to calculus, they werent helpful if I didnt even understand what I was graphing. Too often I felt like Miltons math was taught in a vacuum because thats what the next math worksheet told us to do without students ever getting the understanding of exactly what it is we were doing. I dont know if this fact stemmed from the patronizing attitude the department took to its students or just as an oversight, but it was bewildering to be shown all of these curves and how to derive equations for them without ever learning why this stuff actually mattered. My classmates were BEGGING to be shown real-world applications or at least how calculus fit into the rest of mathematics. Instead, we were essentially told to shut up and plug the numbers into our calculators. They became a crutch that allowed for real learning to never take place.

To sum up, my recommendations for the department are a more nurturing and respecting attitude towards its students as well as a more concrete curriculum that actually seeks to teach the fundamentals rather than play with fancy gadgets. I always speculated that the reason these were a problem with the math department and not the other departments at Miltonwhich did, here and there, have their weaker memberswas because the math people insisted on continually hiring instructors like themselves. The math teachers were homogenous. And they were viewed as such by Milton studentsuniversally imperious and/or apathetic.

I will admit to you that two-and-a-half years out, that was still my biggest fear about writing this letter: being met only with defensive hostility. I pictured whoever is reading this right now (if you still are) fuming at this impertinent alumnus who dares to question the math instruction at Milton. If thats the case then my taking the time to write this was just a waste of time. Because honestly, that is how the math department is perceived by students at Milton. People dont ever criticize it because they fear retribution in the form of lower grades, but then the department never hears the feedback that it desperately needs. I know that was true of me, and I feel bad that I havent written in sooner. So thank you for sending out this survey.

Ultimately, I want you to know that my criticism of individual teachers and the department was not meant as a way to anonymously get back at faculty I didnt like. I write this letterI care so much because I love Milton. And the prospect of highly qualified applicants being scared away from the school because they hear such bad things about the department is not one I can tolerate. I also wish to underscore that these are not the whines of a lone student. I would estimate that 80% of my graduating class felt negatively to extremely negatively about Miltons math department. That is not a good place for Milton to be.

In any case, thank you for reading this lengthy note. I hope you consider my points, and I hope that real changes can be made to positively impact the experience and education of future Milton students. Thank you.