Math Myths Debuked

Math Myths Debuked
Source file: Math_Myths_Debuked.docx
Author: Marla Szwast
Created: 2018-03-15 16:06:00
Modified: 2018-03-22 14:42:00

Math Myths Debuked

Myth #1

There are two species of humans, the math kind and the not math kind. No amount of study will turn a non-math person into the other species. Lack of mathematical understanding is an inherited genetic characteristic hardwired into us and cannot be changed. Others are born knowing numbers and will intuitively understand them even when faced with bad instruction, nothing can stop their love and understanding of numbers, because it is hardwired into their brains before birth.

Why we made up this myth:

It is comforting. It is an excuse. It allows non-math people to not try. It allows non-math people to not feel stupid when they don’t get it. It allows non-math people to choose not to engage with the struggle of deeply understanding a new concept. It is just how they were made, and nothing they can do will change who they are. It allows math people who are math teachers the justification to not worry about it if non-math kids don’t get a new concept.

Why the myth is damaging to our children and our society:

This is a great example of self-defeating beliefs. If you believe your actions don’t matter, that no amount of struggle or study will increase your understanding, then you don’t have to feel guilty for not trying. How many kids limit their possible vocations lists because of the level of math they will have to conquer in order enter the profession? I have known many kids who chose, or even change, based on the belief that math should come quick, and when it doesn’t they will be forever stuck and are just not smart enough to be who they originally planned. This is how our culture thinks but it is an outdated view of both intelligence and ability. We know we have the power to grow our intelligence and our abilities, but that has not begun to permeate our cultural jargon, especially around math.

It also damages us as a society, because it changes how we teach children. We expect some of them to fail. We expect a bunch of them to not get it. We don’t expect the teacher to turn non-math kids into math kids. But I have a big huge giant problem with this thinking. If we really believe this myth, what is the point of a teacher in the first place? If you are born a math person or non-math person than we don’t need math teachers. Math teachers have been around for thousands of years, I think if humanity, as whole, did not need them, natural selection would have weeded them out by now! We need them immensely. We need them precisely because, if they are a great teacher, they can transform a child labeled as a non-math child, into a child labeled a math child. That relabeling changes and brightens the future of that child. Many new doors are opened because of this transformation.

My argument is that this labeling is wrong in the first place. We know the brain grows and changes. We know that the more time you spend practicing something, the easier it gets. We know that old theories of intelligence being fixed have been proven false by modern research in neuroscience. So why are we still holding on to this fallacy? Let’s get it out of the way and quit encouraging kids to believe that they can’t get it because they are just math-stupid. They can get it. If they believe they can get it, they will be much more willing to engage in that struggle, to walk through their own lack of understanding until it finally makes sense. But before they can believe in themselves, they need us to believe.

Myth #2

Math is separate from life. It is vastly different than all other subjects, and therefore, could never be integrated like other subjects can be. It is abstract and unnecessary. We should not ask that all kids learn so much math, after all, how many of them will use it in their life? This myth is convenient if you believe in another common myth, that there are math people and non-math people. This way we can just quit teaching math to those non-math kids at a much younger age, and everyone will be happier for it.

Let’s put aside for a moment the obvious flaws, such as the fact that without math, you will not be able to truly understand your finances and make and keep a budget. You won’t know if the sales lady rings up your discount wrong and overcharges you. You won’t know if buying the little jar of jam costs five times as much as buying the big jar of jam. You won’t be able to quickly multiply admissions to zoo’s museums and events by the number of people you need to pay for. You won’t understand how the various different costs associated with a vacation are going to add up, in order to know if you can actually afford that vacation or not. You may not understand whether or not you can afford a certain house (don’t scoff, I have known people who did not get this, and no, it is not ultimately the banks job to know, it is your life, and you will be the one who suffers from a payment you can’t afford, not the bank.)

But I digress, I said we were going to ignore all of those practicalities for now, because I want to address a another problem in our society. The unfilled jobs. While many people cannot find work, companies also claim they cannot find the skills needed to fill certain positions and the jobs go unfilled. Many of these jobs require an understanding in mathematics. Everyone knows computers programmers are in demand, and as more systems become automated that demand will only increase. What many fail to understand is that if you are not a good mathematician, you will not be a good programmer.

During my teenage sons brief foray into the public school system he met many kids who had low math grades yet aspired to become computer programmers. They lacked any understanding and realization that their understanding of math would be a key to this career and they should therefore do their math homework. My son, on the other side of things, did his homework, got the grade, had hands-on experience dabbling in computer programming, and promptly decided to become an artist.

The discrepancy was not that these other kids would be more capable programmers. Unfortunately, they simply had no idea was programming is, and I fear because of that they will not be prepared to succeed in the field. My son on the other hand, knows what it is, and knows himself well enough to know it is not his cup of tea, so to speak.

Programming is a language that relies on a knowledge of the language of numbers. The underlying skill is logical thinking. Math teaches logical thinking in a way no other subject can parallel. Sure, some programmers today may lack this skill, but those programmers will never rise to the top of their field. They will never create clean, compelling, beautiful code. They will rely on others to do the thinking for them and will mainly be focused on following the sets of rules. The rules created by the ones who know how to think, and therefore know the best way to tell the computer how to think.

If we want to bridge these gaps and encourage the next generation to step into the world with the biggest commodity, the commodity of a smart brain, we need quit believing this myth. Without mathematical advances, we would not have computers. It’s time to stop crying “Irrelevant!” I give the math the credit for the advances in technology that it truly deserves. That no other subject could have given birth to.

It might be easier to quit teaching kids how to think. But it will not be good, not for our kids and not for our society. What we need is better math education. If we go back a ways in history we find math was full of word-problems and required students think through the problems. Arithmetic was not presented outside of life. It was just another part of life. One of a few skills that could lift you out of poverty and servitude. Let’s quit talking about going backwards.

P.S. If you are wondering if my artist son still has to study math, the answer is of course. First of all, I believe as an artist he will need numbers. Second, I do not believe his is done learning how to think logically, and math will continue to develop that skill in him. Third, he likes math, because math has taught him more than any other subject the joy of conquering what once seemed impossible. He believes he can learn anything, and math is what gave him that belief.