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I think it's sometimes hard to tell what is a passion. Wasn't there a discussion on here awhile back about people not liking math because of the way it's taught - or maybe it's a hoagies article. But when you think about it a lot of things we are taught when we are young seem so tedious and boring because you have to do this - there is no connective value to it. Hmm that's triggering something for me - a pg school in CT which teaches trig by talking about sailing, trig was invented because they needed it. But absent those connections I often think students don't see the beauty of what they are learning. So hard to find out if you have a passion for it.

Also what does it mean to be passionate or even interested in things - it's choosing to do something when you don't have to - but do you really need to feel that way to keep doing math. I don't think so. And math is often the gateway to things she might feel passionate about later.

I think I lean toward doing the best you can do in all your subjects, whether you like them or not before you go to college and specialize. And who knows her innate skill might get her to aspects of math she is passionate about. Maybe she doesn't like it because its so darn easy for her. Might be interesting to go deep in whatever you are doing and see how she feels about doing it. Maybe engage a really mathy person - they have very different ideas about what's interesting. And if dd hasn't been exposed to it before maybe going that route would develop something.

But I am sympthatetic to forcing something on someone, piano is what comes to mind, a competent student with no passion. Tiger mom clearly made her daughters keep playing whether they wanted to or not and pursue it at a high level. Because you are talking about math, it feels very different to me, that it should be pursued to the fullest.

And although its not really what you are talking about she is the age where girls seem to just drop math, good at it or not, which ends up steering them towards fields later. Danica McKellar wrote her series of math books for girls who opt out of math because its too hard or irrelevant. But she was a girl very good at math while being an actress. So I think you can be creative and good at math. And the connections between the two can be powerful in our data driven age.

DeHe