Why You Suck at Math

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 2 people | Log in to rate

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Do you REALLY suck at math?

Or do you just hate the way math is taught in schools?

Most people who think they are bad at math have simply been damaged by the school system.

Schools teach math as a "subject" that they use to club you into submission with, using tests.

Mathematics, on the other hand, is an elegant world full of romance and art, patterns and insights, which is driven by a combination of imagination and utility.

Does that sound like what you learned about in school? I'll bet not!

Some thoughts about why schools suck at teaching math 

There is a higher percentage of teaching disabled schools than learning disabled kids

Today I read a blurb that said there are studies that show that grades in math start dropping in middle school.

I think that is a case of bullshit statistics. ("Never trust any statistics that you haven't falsified yourself."- Old German saying)

The grades may drop, but that is only because the methods of grading are different.

It is really hard to grade in elementary schools. They are under intense pressure to "get kids through the door" in order to suck up to the "No Child Left Behind" act. It's easy for a teacher or administrator to close their eyes and hope for the best, when all a child is expected to do is maybe be able to add and do simple multiplication to pass a test.

Familiar scene:
Teacher: "Johnny, what is six times nine?"
Johnny: "Uh, forty-eight?"
Teacher: "You mean fifty-four, right?"
Johnny: "Yeah, right!"
Teacher: "Correct, six times nine is fifty-four. Good, Johnny!"

You see how easy it is for teachers to fool themselves? And can you blame them with all the pressure they are under? (Well, yeah, you can, actually.)

I have had lots of teachers tell me how good their students are at math, only to have them not be able to tell me what 7 times 8 is. Or even what 7 plus is 8. It's pathetic.

In middle school, though, when teachers try to teach these kids algebra, or even long division, the teachers freak out at how little the pupils had learned in the younger grades. The grades drop, only because they'd been so inflated before.

Familiar scene:
Teacher: "Johnny, what is the ratio of the sides of a right triangle to the hypotenuse?"
Johnny: "How the (expletive deleted) should I know, man?"

See how it's a little harder to give Johnny a break on this one?

I think this kind of phenomenon explains more about the "drop" in grades in middle school than actual math ability.

What do you think?

Math Doesn't Suck! 

Finally, the truth can be told! And by whom better than an cool actress and mathematician, Danica McKellar?

Actress Danica McKellar is probably best known for playing the part of Winnie, "the girlfriend" on "The Wonder Years" in the eighties. It was a brilliant show, and now she has written what promises to be a brilliant book. With the subtitle, "How to Survive Middle-School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail," Ms. McKellar offers help and advice that most girls need. Most boys need it as well, but she is targeting her group well, because, well ... duh.

Math shouldn't have to be a gender issue, but unfortunately society has generally.

For much more info, check out my lens at Math Doesn't Suck

There is also an interesting post on the God Plays Dice blog.

Check out "Math Doesn't Suck" 

Actress/Mathematician Danica McKellar's New Book

Great YouTube vid about the No Child Left Unstressed Act (NCLB) 

This Law was made by morons. How can anyone trust morons to make education policy?

No Child Left Behind: Truths and Consequences

Educators and students speak out against NCLB. Hear their voices, then make your voice heard. The time to act is NOW!

Runtime: 565
54315 views
22 Comments:

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Got a story? 

Tell us about your experiences with math, good or bad.

Did you suck at math at one time, and them improved? Tell us how you did it. Do you have any helpful hints for others? Let us know!
Do you have any problems that you just can't seem to get over concerning your feelings about math? Let us help you!
(Unfortunately, I mistakenly deleted the previous guestbook. My apologies to all who commented. Please try again .)

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  • Reply
    heña heña Oct 22, 2009 @ 7:59 am | in reply to sorana
    uh. you can also subtract.
    why would you bother using the x.
  • Reply
    Homunculus Homunculus Jul 8, 2009 @ 10:18 pm | in reply to braydonn
    Braydon, Check out:
    http://mathmojo.com/chronicles/2007/12/13/9th-grade-math-1/
  • Reply
    braydonn braydonn Jul 8, 2009 @ 9:42 pm
    mkay, so ima goin to summer school and i hateeee mathhhhh
  • Reply
    sorana sorana Apr 13, 2009 @ 11:46 pm
    Very interesting. Maths is not hard to learn however, it is hard to TEACH. If a teacher doesn't know how to reach all learning styles, some children (students, adults) will miss out on understanding Maths. More than this, is the culture so ingrown in the western countries that 'it is acceptable not to be good at Maths' or 'who needs Maths?' or ... any excuse will do. What a pitty that people don't realise that Maths, if taught properly, can be understood by almost everybody.

    Here is an example of using Algebra (for those of you who keep saying: 'When am I ever going to use Algebra?': I
    I have $2.00 and I want to buy a book that costs $7.00. How much more money do I need? This is a clear example of Algebra; as soon as an unknown quantity appears, you have Algebra. So $2.00 x (this stands for the unknown quantity) = $7.00 And this is how I've just written an equation: 2 x = 7. So x = 7 - 2. And the examples can go on and on and on ... Thanks for reading
  • Reply
    bebe bebe Mar 10, 2009 @ 4:07 am
    hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhay...nakuhhhhhhhh is,,,not worthy!!!!!!!!
  • Reply
    Homunculus Homunculus Jan 28, 2009 @ 4:41 pm | in reply to Cali
    I really do feel your pain. I was in the same boat in my thirties. What did it for me is that I read a magic book (I am a professional magician) that had some math tricks in it. They seemed boring, but I gave them a try in my show. People freaked! I couldn't believe how much some simple stuff impressed them. That got me interested in why people find math so intimidating/impressive, etc. Which lead me to ask the same stuff about me.

    At the moment, I am writing a post exactly about the phenomenon you are talking about, and will have it up at The Math Mojo Chronicles in a day or two, if I can keep my schedule. Go there and click the "contact" button and send me an e-mail, and I'll send you some details about how I think I can help you, OK?

    All the best,

    Brian

    (By the way, thanks for coming back and telling your story again, after I deleted the original by mistake. )
  • Reply
    Cali Cali Jan 28, 2009 @ 2:41 pm
    My teachers called me stupid when I couldn't do things, but that never stopped me with anything except math; I always find a way to "translate" lessons so that my brain can understand it, even often excel where I was told I would never learn. I am almost certain my problems with math have to do with the way I think, that I just need to be able to re-conceptualize something, but I have not been able to figure out how. It took me years to learn even creating a roman numeral outline and I can't do simple algebra to save my life. I am trained as a philosopher, I am almost done with my PhD (which is going well) and yet I practically failed undergrad logic, even with hours of tutoring from the professor. He said he had never seen anything like it. When I take standardized testing, the result is always the same; near perfect scores on reading comprehension and near zero scores on math and logic. But that should be impossible! The two are not so seperate. Why the disconnect?

by Homunculus

Hi,

My name is Brian Foley (a.k.a. "Professor Homunculus" at the mathmojo.com site).

I am not a "math guy" and never was. I don't care about the sch... (more)

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