<p>I’m currently a math major (secondary teaching) at CSUN. I transferred from a community college receiving 3 C’s on my 3 semesters of Calculus. This was my fault for taking the same professor for the 3 semesters. I knew I could’ve done better. I would always retain a B throughout the semester until the finals came in and always screw up. This being my first semester at CSUN, I received an F in Linear Algebra. I know having a bad professor isn’t an excuse for earning a bad grade, but I do believe so for this case since more than half of the class did not pass. From field experience, I do enjoy teaching math, but at this point, I feel I should reconsider major because of my grades. I talked to my math advisor before the semester ended and she told me to at least aim for a C in my Linear Algebra class. If I didnt, I had to retake it. At this point, I feel confused and lost because I don’t know what other major to turn to. Should I continue to pursue my career in the math field. I need some advice, especially from someone who has been in a similar situation as me. As for major GPA, I need to at least earn a 2.7 to be able to get into the credential program.</p>
<p>Asking these sorts of questions is an important first step! Let’s start with the cold facts. Currently your major GPA is 1.5 (I assume). Can you realistically raise that to the 2.7 you need? (Hint: what average grade would you need in the next four math courses to get the 2.7 total major GPA?) </p>
<p>The next question is whether you currently understand your math well enough to teach it. If I handed you a piece of chalk right now, could you teach me calculus? Are you solid on everything leading up to calculus? (Did you get a score of 700+ on the math section of your SATs?) </p>
<p>Personally, I believe that you can still pull off the math major for secondary education - but you will need to change how you approach your math coursework. Your goal is not to get through your coursework; your goal is to understand it well enough to teach it. Especially up through calculus! That might require doing more practice problems than your teacher assigns. It also requires going back and closing all the gaps you currently have. Are you willing to work through calculus again, this time testing your understanding as you go along (and not going further before you understand)? Are you willing to retake linear algebra? </p>
<p>Speaking of linear algebra, do you “see” the geometry behind it? If not, ask your next linear algebra instructor in office hours about the intuition behind all of the matrix computations you are doing. Linear algebra is very elegant from the right point of view, and it’s as essential to higher math as high school algebra 1 is to learning calculus. (My college math professor used to say that if he could test math majors on a single class before they graduate, he would test them on linear algebra. Everything else is secondary.) </p>
<p>If this all sounds like more effort than what the math major is worth to you, you should probably go look for a different major.</p>
<p>Most important question- do you really like math and teaching enough? The reason I ask is because I was a computer science major but changed my mind because I did poorly in the first class. I realized that I didn’t have enough interest in computer science so I changed my major to a subject I always loved- math. However, there were tons of people that did poorly in the intro CS class that retook it, passed, and then continued in the CS major because they were interested enough.</p>