You Learned This in Kindergarten, Right?

By Cindy Meng | Sports Editor

In addition teaching Advanced Placement STEM-related courses at Irvington for the past 8  years, Dr. Kumar started his own pre-school to help budding engineers, mathematicians and scientists to master multivariable calculus and linear algebra at a young age.

After years of watching Irvington students struggle to pass his class, Kumar feels that high schoolers should have extensive knowledge on mathematics before taking science or technology classes such as physics, chemistry and computer science.

“If there is only one subject that a student should study in great depth, it has to be mathematics,” says Kumar. “If you want to do anything meaningful in life, you better know your mathematics.”

According to Kumar, who earned his PhD in Physics, his mathematics class prepares pre-schoolers to do well in physics, the subject that embodies the essence of our universe. After mastering physics, students can then choose to learn the less important subjects, such as history and English.

Dr. Kumar prefers teaching his pre-schoolers over Irvington students, because the bright young students constantly perform well on tests while his high school students barely manage to pass his class. He mentions that he is disappointed by many seniors in his AP Physics classes who want to pursue social and political science in the future, because “social science and political science are great examples of oxymoron, not of stable careers.”