Unbalanced

About this book

Climate science researcher. Microsoft engineer. Hedge fund manager. Entrepreneur.At forty-five, he made an unexpected decision: he became a math teacher.In Unbalanced, a first-generation immigrant with a career spanning science, technology, finance, and entrepreneurship enters the American education system-and discovers a world unlike any other he had encountered before.From education school, where he was branded a white supremacist for asking probing questions, to classrooms in both public and private schools, he chronicles a deeply personal and often Kafkaesque journey through a system he once admired. What he finds is an educational culture shaped by ideology, lowered expectations, and a troubling absence of accountability.Yet this is not merely a critique. It is the story of a man who has lived across societies and professions-and who knows firsthand that mathematics can be a powerful equalizer. Having relied on math as his competitive edge at every stage of life, he brings a rare, cross-disciplinary lens and a passion for lifelong learning to the classroom. As a teacher, student, immigrant, and parent, he asks urgent questions: Why are excellence and rigor often sidelined, and who bears the consequence? When does kindness become coddling? What happens when learning becomes secondary to ideology? Through vivid classroom stories and candid reflections, Unbalanced offers both an insider's account and a call to rethink what education should be in a free society. It won the 2025 Maxy Award for Best Memoir and was covered by renowned education reporter Joanne Jacobs and Fox News.For parents, educators, policymakers, and anyone concerned about the future of American schooling, this book is both a warning-and an invitation to restore clarity, courage, and intellectual honesty to the classroom.