Why you hate math and think you suck at it.

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I'm new in here but I've seen a lot of these comments already, and it strikes a nerve with me.

Several years ago I came across an essay by a math teacher and former research mathematician named Paul Lockhart. In the long essay, he tore into the state of modern math education like a dog into a steak. Any math teacher by the end of that essay should feel ashamed and horrified.

His broad point is that math is an art that is taught by people who have never understood it, according to syllabi created by people who have never practiced it, and using methodologies which only barely reflect some minor aspects of the field.

As a very tiny example, why is it that we force little kids to spend time memorizing the difference in nomenclature between 5/2 and 2-1/2, when the two are literally identical? What possible reason could there be for thinking that such nomenclature is in any way important?

I don't agree with 100% of his points, such as that the utility of math should never be discussed, but I sense he really doesn't, either. His broad focus is unassailable.

Below is the link to the essay. If you think you hate math, or that it's boring, or that "you're not a math person", please read it. It may help you realize your true potential, one which every math teacher you've ever had has abjectly failed to address.

CLICK HERE: http://www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf

Now, there's an even deeper discussion behind this subject, which is why education seems to be focused less on cultivating the latent potential of each student, and more on forcing them to become compliant, obedient, and passionless. That goes back to the roots of modern education in the old Prussian system, in which schools were focused on producing low level factory workers for the burgeoning industrial revolution, and that's a very long and fascinating discussion that I feel would wander off point a bit.

I did take a little rant at that in the below thread, which I may flesh out at some point if anyone's interested:

CLICK HERE: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp5103314.html#5103314

yeah, i feel stunted by the environment i had to live in, including the schools which didn't really coax any talents out of me.

While I'm on the subject, check out this woman's fantastic youtube channel:

CLICK HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4MSN6IImpI

That's Vi Hart, and she's uploaded dozens of videos showing how closely intertwined fun and math really are when you stop listening to the boring "math education" graduate teaching the class.

(Incidentally, that "math education" graduate is not a "math" graduate and has never done any professional work in the field, nor have they ever created anything of value with math, which is funny because Vi did exactly that in ten minutes with a notebook.)

I don't think this is entirely fair. Some people simply don't LIKE math and thus will never excel at it, for the same reason many never like spinach, because they are FORCED to do or eat something they don't like. Thus both Math and Spinach become viewed as Punishments rather than enriching activities or foods. I certainly view Math as a punishment since I was never particularly good at it yet I was forced to take it over and over and over again perpetually dragging my grades down. Where if they had simply allowed me to focus on my strengths, instead of consistently only pointing out my weakness (and it is my ONLY weakness when it comes to school work) I'd have a perpetual 4.0gpa.

I mean I tried my hardest to learn Algebra, and so long as I have the formulas present I can sometimes do it. But if I'm given a problem and not told which formula to use on it, I don't know what to do. I refuse to simply guess, since guessing is almost always incorrect. So instead I do nothing and skip it, the problem is after enough "Skips" you never learn it in the first place. For all it's talk of being universal and consistent, there are an awful lot of exceptions to rules in Mathematics. Perhaps not in the application of the formulas themselves, but certainly in the order which one applies said formulas.

For instance, I still don't understand why we should use the so called Order of Operations when to me it has always made more sense to simply do each function from left to right, exactly the same as if you were reading a sentence.. and at least so far as the College Level, none of my teachers has been willing to explain to me why we must do it this way. They simply repeat the same thing, that it must be done this way, and to stop questioning it. That to me is simply unacceptable. I want to know WHY I should do it this way.

I think that's what Lockhart is saying.

Applying formulas isn't math. If someone hands you a problem and a formula, what they've done is given you the problem and the answer together. There's nothing left for you to do, except to punch the numbers.

C = A + B
A = 3
B = 4

Those three lines are a complete logical statement. You don't have to add "C = 3 + 4" or "C = 7" to get the solution; that's already present in those three lines. It's just restating what's already there.

What math education SHOULD be doing is teaching you how to go about figuring out how to solve problems when you don't know the formula. Like how art class is about teaching you how to fill a blank page with something interesting and maybe even informative.

The fact that you aren't good at that means that math education has failed you.

Maybe it would've anyway, but you were never given the chance to find out.

To answer your question about order of operations, the actual answer to any order of operations question is "use more parantheses you damned fool". It's patently absurd to learn such a completely meaningless and useless concept. Memorizing the order of operations adds NOTHING to our ability to solve problems.

So again, what you're running into a wall at is either something that math education has failed to develop in you at all, or something which is arbitrary and completely useless in mathematics.

In both cases, whatever it is that you're actually spending that hour in math class doing, it doesn't seem to be in any way related to actual math.

But why would it? Nobody who develops that curriculum or lesson plan has ever worked in math or used it for anything productive. So to them, it's a meaningless exercise. And that translates directly to your experience of it.

If we exclude people with dyscalculia (which is likely a good number of people on this website), most people who don't like math don't actually dislike math. They dislike certain fields of it, or they dislike having to learn something which they don't view as relevant to them, and probably isn't.

Most people need to know basic arithmetic, however, despite the usefulness of algebra, the reality is that most people who learn it will not apply it in their everyday adult lives, nor have a need to.

I actually enjoyed Financial Algebra.... It let me know how to figure out how badly my credit card company was screwing me over.

I was completely indifferent to Math until I found out that I'm pretty good at it. Prior to that, my ambition was to become a Veterinarian.

i thought i was totally impervious to mathematical logic until i took a class in symbolic logic in college, taught by somebody who cared and was not a drill sergeant in corduroy and loafers.

Oh my gosh, symbolic logic was one of my favorite classes in college. That professor knew how to teach!! !

I don't like math, nor do I like reading. Luckily, this essay is pretty darn captivating and well-written, so I am book-marking it and saving it for later. Thanks for sharing!

I never received adequate education in math for the most part. I cleared high school geometry with a C and promptly forgot everything I learned in Alegbra and Geometry, likely due to lack of use. Taking Algebra again from the start in college next term. I felt I was competent at it when I had a good teacher of it in high school, but I forgot it almost entirely in the ensuing 10 years.

You'd be surprised at just how difficult some problems can be, when you have the formulas right in front of you. Applying them often isn't nearly as simple as just plugging in an A and a B! Knowing how and when to use which formula is the important part (I'm talking more from a physics/engineering standpoint here, rather than pure math). I personally consider myself to be very good at math and have never really had any issues with it. I don't particularly enjoy it, but that doesn't mean I can't do it like a pro!

Yes I think the way they teach maths in schools is rather poor. Unfortunately when teaching a large class you cannot target each student's individual learning style, and have to use a generalised method. I always struggled at maths, although I did not dislike it. I just always thought I was no good at it. Later in life I am now realising that "maths" is a very broad subject and I have found that there are certain branches of it that I am quite good at after all.

that essay is nice, but I don't see how it will change anything. Simply put, schools in the West are simply moving more and more towards copying schools in Asia when it comes to Mathematics, Phyics and Chemistry. Rote Memorization, drills, time trials, etc. The reason I feel they are doing this is, in spite of the vast creativity that is possible with mathematics, and which seems to be the core thesis of that essay ( Hey Ya'll, Maths' is a fun and rewarding artform yo!) also has the capability to CRUSH creativity and create endless worker drones which is the reason why countries like China and the Soviet Union loved it so much. I mean we saw what happened when the Soviets put engineers in charge of everything... no creative thinking at all.. trying to force humans to fit concrete equations simply lead to suffering.

Simply put then we are dealing with something much more nefarious than simply teaching mathematics poorly. It's being taught poorly on purpose for the same reason that everything else is being taught poorly on purpose, to control people.

Very interesting information. I do have to point out that though I can make calculations in my head for daily activities I am engaged in "steps and procedures" in math have never been my thing. Let a lone ask me how I got an answer, I will not have one for you. I do not understand algebra, to the point that I have taken the courses . . . 6... 7 times in my life? And a C+ is my greatest grade to show for my efforts!

Not to mention that I never had special education services available. I had an early diagnosis, then I had an unnofical one (the lady was my mother's psych, not mine and mom refused to have me seen) and the record and maintenance of such matters is so bad in puerto rico I doubt I will ever get supporting evidence for an adult diagnosis.

I have heard my college professors not interested in calculus textbooks. I wish this extended all the way to undergraduate mathematics courses. I actually find thinking about the concepts while not being the direct part of the class is the enjoyable part. I find doing things not exactly the way of the book good and do not like having to do things by route. Some of high school geometry doesn't actually end up that important in math at university. This was a really enjoyable read.