Revolution in Education: Slader.com

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Anne Capcap, Staff Writer
October 24, 2011
Filed under Features, News

Students all over the country have been pulling their hair out of their scalps and walking around school with eye bags the size of footballs because of studying late into the night. East to west, middle school, high school, and college students are jotting down notes under the light of the moon even though school starts in a few more hours. A number of these students might only need help on a specific aspect of the the subject, so many find it useless to hire a tutor. On the other hand, the ones that do need a tutor may not have enough money to hire one. Even if some could, they would not have the time to juggle with part-time jobs, family, homework, extra-curricular activities, and college planning. As a result, the youth today have to sacrifice precious hours of sleep, important meals, and hygiene to either pass classes with flying colors or simply scrape by.

But like a superhero from a comic book, Slader saves the day.

Slader.com is a new-found website created by Scott Kolb and Kyle Gerrity, who were friends in high school. Like any other typical teenagers, they shared homework to get by in their classes. “We knew there must be a more efficient way to share our knowledge,” reminisces Gerrity as he discusses Slader’s roots. The two realized the “possibility that there were [are] thousands of other high school students struggling on the same math problem from the same textbooks.” They were not the only ones who discovered this. A mutual high school teacher from the same school believed that “treating his classroom like a study hall….was a waste of time” when he could be using that time to teach new concepts. “…And thus led,” says Gerrity, “to the idea of Slader.”

Slader is here to revolutionize the education by providing an opportunity for students across the country to connect with one another to find the answer on their own. The site includes breakdowns on how to solve problems in textbooks used throughout the country, including California’s Algebra 2 textbook used here at Monterey Trail. Slader also provides explanations of well-known novels such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies.

It’s free to sign up, it’s efficient, it totally beats sitting hours on end with a tutor, and you get paid.

That’s right, there’s an awarding system that allows avid users to accumulate “gold” by actively participating throughout the site by offering explanations to the material given. You can convert this “gold” into hard-earned money in which could accumulate even to hundreds of dollars.

Didn’t write down the homework? Struggling with a problem but can’t keep contact with your classmates? Create a class profile, invite all of your classmates (which also gives you gold), and have avid discussions about the subject. No more “I’ll wait for your email” or need to stay after class for a study session. With the help of communication through the internet, Slader is a “study group based on the twenty-first century.”

With 1,923,353 exercises and 1,081,249 answers, Slader will help hopeless high schoolers turn into sucessful students strutting across the stage to grab their diploma. However, many would criticize that Slader will only help students cheat. On the contrary,”students learn the material more thoroughly when they must think about how to teach it to their peers, says the founders of Slader. “Slader is not a place to cheat; it is a place for students to thrive.”

And the staff of Slader aren’t shrivelled up old math teachers from a washed up high school (at least not yet). Two co-founders, Kyle Gerrity and Scott Kolb, ate In-N-Out at least once for 48 consecutive days.  All four members of Team Slader, who also include Peter Bernheim and Emily Finley, are all San Diegan and have failed a math class in high school at least once, so you could say they were once in our shoes.

They are so freaking awesome that they were generous enough to send us a promo code for Monterey Trail mustangs ONLY. The first 1,000 people who type in the word “grove” when they register will get 15 free solutions per day.

And with that, the Slader team leaves with one last piece of advice for you high schoolers ready to give up on becoming that amazing mustang everyone knows you could be:

“Contrary to the popular belief, you can always teach an old dog a new trick. There is no need to be lost when others know a way out. So speak up, reach out, and find the help you need: whether it be academic help or something else entirely!”

Doesn’t sound legit? Check it out for yourself at www.slader.com