This is a positive role model.
Danica McKellar, you know her as Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years, wants you to know math is cool. In fact, she has a new book which she hopes will encourage teenage girls to get into math. “I want to tell girls that cute and dumb isn’t as good as cute and smart.” Good for you, Danica.
And she should know. Danica graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with a degree in Mathematics. While in school she had a paper published in the “Journal of Physics A: Mathematics & General” and even has a therom named after her, the “Chayes-McKellar-Winn Theorem”, which provides mathematic proof for a therom magentism in two dimensions. OK, I don’t know what any of that means but it sounds really impressive.
“When girls see the antics of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, they think that being fun and glamorous also means being dumb and irresponsible,” the 32-year-old McKellar told Newsweek for editions to hit newsstands Monday.
“But I want to show them that being smart is cool,” she said. “Being good at math is cool. And not only that, it can help them get what they want out of life.”
The book, entitled “Math Doesn’t Suck” offers homework tips, overcoming test anxiety and profiles of some beautiful mathematicians.
Rock on, Danica.
Check out other celebrity authors.
This is very similar to a book I wanted to write. There needs to be more of these pro-math books, and not just for kids.