Why maths is horror for many student's
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mathematics is horror for many student because maths is so though.
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1. You’re either right or you’re wrong.
This is one of the most frustrating aspects of math for young minds. When it comes to most things in life, there’s some gray area. People aren’t “good” or “bad.” Rules can often bend. But in math, that’s almost never true. 1+1 will always equal 2. The square root of pi will never change. And sometimes, it may feel overwhelming. It may feel like you need to have everything memorized, the way you would in a history class. That isn’t how math works, though. Math works best when you understand the rules, and make sure to follow them.
2. Even when you’re doing it right, you might still be wrong.
I see this all the time. A student has worked out a long word problem, gotten all of the numbers correct, and then written the wrong answer in the provided “blank space.” Or, a student is working on an algebra problem and has done every step correctly, but misplaced a negative during step 7. At the end of the problem, the answer is wrong. And as an instructor, I have to tell the student that he or she is incorrect. It can feel frustrating to have done so much only for it all to have been for naught, and it’s difficult to verbalize to a student that they’ve done everything correctly. Of the 25 steps in the problem, there was only one mistake. And it wasn’t a “bad at math” mistake, but a reading mistake. Often, a student will tell him or herself, “I am bad at math,” instead of being proud of the work that was done correctly.
3. Math builds on itself.
You can’t move to the next phase of math until you understand the level you’re on. If you’re constructing a building, you have to lay the foundation before you can build the walls. In math, every new lesson is a brand new foundation. It’s a structure with new rules piling up on top of each other forever. If any one of those foundations is weak, there’s no moving on. The reason so many students fall behind is not because they are incapable of learning, but because they are missing one key ingredient from a prior lesson that makes it impossible to move on. They begin to tell themselves that math is impossible, instead of expressing their confusion and putting the missing piece into place.
4. Understanding the method but not the reasonleads to forgetting.
Getting an “A” on a test does not mean that you understand the material. It means you studied, and perhaps remember, at least for now, the method on how to solve a particular type of problem. If you understand that 4+6=10, but not why those two numbers can combine to make 10, you may not learn as quickly that 40+60=100. Or that 104+6=110. When it comes to the more difficult concepts, especially once algebra is involved, it’s very easy to learn how to solve a problem but not why the solution works, making it impossible to move on to the next concept.
5. A “C” is not a passing grade in math.
In many classes in school, and in many households across the country, a “C” in a class means, “you understand the material pretty well, and you’re on par with the rest of the students.” In math, this isn’t the case. If you get a “C” on a math test, it means that you don’t understand the material. If you have a “C” in a math class, it means there are fundamental building blocks of your math education that are missing. Because math is cumulative and builds on itself, a “C” means that the next class is going to be even harder, and even if you’ve memorized most of the formulas, there will be problems that are nearly impossible to solve until you’ve gone back to learn what is missing.
6. Teachers don’t have enough time.
Acknowledging that the above problems are true, there is no feasible way for a math teacher to make sure that all 30 to 100 of their students fully understands all of the material. Time is a very limited resource for teachers. They use it to teach, plan a syllabus, grade papers, teach outside programs, and tend to their own personal lives.
This is one of the most frustrating aspects of math for young minds. When it comes to most things in life, there’s some gray area. People aren’t “good” or “bad.” Rules can often bend. But in math, that’s almost never true. 1+1 will always equal 2. The square root of pi will never change. And sometimes, it may feel overwhelming. It may feel like you need to have everything memorized, the way you would in a history class. That isn’t how math works, though. Math works best when you understand the rules, and make sure to follow them.
2. Even when you’re doing it right, you might still be wrong.
I see this all the time. A student has worked out a long word problem, gotten all of the numbers correct, and then written the wrong answer in the provided “blank space.” Or, a student is working on an algebra problem and has done every step correctly, but misplaced a negative during step 7. At the end of the problem, the answer is wrong. And as an instructor, I have to tell the student that he or she is incorrect. It can feel frustrating to have done so much only for it all to have been for naught, and it’s difficult to verbalize to a student that they’ve done everything correctly. Of the 25 steps in the problem, there was only one mistake. And it wasn’t a “bad at math” mistake, but a reading mistake. Often, a student will tell him or herself, “I am bad at math,” instead of being proud of the work that was done correctly.
3. Math builds on itself.
You can’t move to the next phase of math until you understand the level you’re on. If you’re constructing a building, you have to lay the foundation before you can build the walls. In math, every new lesson is a brand new foundation. It’s a structure with new rules piling up on top of each other forever. If any one of those foundations is weak, there’s no moving on. The reason so many students fall behind is not because they are incapable of learning, but because they are missing one key ingredient from a prior lesson that makes it impossible to move on. They begin to tell themselves that math is impossible, instead of expressing their confusion and putting the missing piece into place.
4. Understanding the method but not the reasonleads to forgetting.
Getting an “A” on a test does not mean that you understand the material. It means you studied, and perhaps remember, at least for now, the method on how to solve a particular type of problem. If you understand that 4+6=10, but not why those two numbers can combine to make 10, you may not learn as quickly that 40+60=100. Or that 104+6=110. When it comes to the more difficult concepts, especially once algebra is involved, it’s very easy to learn how to solve a problem but not why the solution works, making it impossible to move on to the next concept.
5. A “C” is not a passing grade in math.
In many classes in school, and in many households across the country, a “C” in a class means, “you understand the material pretty well, and you’re on par with the rest of the students.” In math, this isn’t the case. If you get a “C” on a math test, it means that you don’t understand the material. If you have a “C” in a math class, it means there are fundamental building blocks of your math education that are missing. Because math is cumulative and builds on itself, a “C” means that the next class is going to be even harder, and even if you’ve memorized most of the formulas, there will be problems that are nearly impossible to solve until you’ve gone back to learn what is missing.
6. Teachers don’t have enough time.
Acknowledging that the above problems are true, there is no feasible way for a math teacher to make sure that all 30 to 100 of their students fully understands all of the material. Time is a very limited resource for teachers. They use it to teach, plan a syllabus, grade papers, teach outside programs, and tend to their own personal lives.
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