Why 100 Million Students Globally Don't Like Math #8

THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY PEOPLE DON’T LIKE MATH

People don’t like math. It’s a really simple statement, but also really complicated at the same time. When I say ‘math’, I’m not just saying simple arithmetic,?I mean things like algebra, statistics and calculus; that kind of math.

Students don’t like math

More than 100 million students globally fail math every year,?that’s almost one-sixth of the world’s student population. This means that at least 620 million people today, who began schooling 10 years ago, have dropped out of their educational systems because they did poorly at math. Although there are other reasons why people don’t like math, I’ve selected a few of the most common reasons to talk about in this video.

Number 1:?You don’t like how it’s taught.

Most people don’t like the way they learned math in school because they were taught using rote memorization and mindless repetition,?drill?and?kill methods that don’t really teach the subject matter at all; they just make kids good at taking tests. Even high school teachers dislike these methods because they feel that they don’t really prepare students for college-level work when those methods are used exclusively.

Math is a subject that many people have trouble with, and I’m sure you’re wondering why. There are many reasons why people don’t like math, but one of the biggest ones is because math is presented as a set of unique facts to memorize. The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t teach students how to solve problems in general, just how to solve one specific problem. Most likely, when you were in grade school and high school, your teacher gave you a problem on the board and said “solve this.”

This is not how math should be taught! Instead of giving students specific problems to solve, we should be teaching them how to think mathematically. This means showing them how to use logic and reason when solving problems, rather than simply telling them what their answer should be.

Number 2:?You?Have a Bad Math Teacher.

The first thing that comes to our mind when we hear this statement is that it is not true. Unfortunately, there are many teachers out there who are not good at teaching math. This is why you may not like it.

As a kid, you may have had a bad teacher or two. Maybe your teacher didn’t understand how to explain things to children,?and was in over their head teaching such a complicated subject. Maybe they didn’t care enough about their job to do it well. Or maybe they really did know what they were doing but just couldn’t get through to kids who didn’t have a natural affinity for numbers and equations like they did.

The problem isn’t just that math is taught in a way that makes it seem complicated and boring. The problem is that they’re teaching it wrong.

Whatever the reason, there are lots of things that can go wrong when learning math, and most of them can be traced back to one thing: bad teachers.

Number 3:?You?Don’t?Understand?It.

There are many reasons why students hate mathematics, but the most common one is that they don’t understand it.

We learn best when we can relate new information to something we?already know. For example, if you want a child to understand percentages, show him how to cut a pie into equal parts and explain that each piece represents 100?percent. If you want your child to understand fractions, let him measure out a cup of cereal and cut it into thirds or fourths.

Math facts can be learned through rote memorization; however, this type of memorization does not help students develop the reasoning skills needed for higher level mathematics courses such as algebra. This is why many students have difficulty transferring knowledge from one grade level to another. They have not developed an understanding of how mathematics works and cannot transfer this knowledge from one situation to another.

Number 4: You?Don’t?See?Its?Relevance?Outside?Of?School.

There’s no point in learning trigonometry if you’re never going to use it. However, the same could be said for all of the other subjects we learn in school.

Many people have a natural dislike of math. They don’t see the relevance of it outside of school. This can make it more difficult for them to learn, because they don’t understand why they should pay attention to these numbers, formulas and concepts that seem so foreign.

They don’t see how it applies to the real world, so they don’t see why they should care about it. And that makes sense. We?are?not going to use algebra when we’re driving on the highway. We’re not going to use calculus when we?are?making dinner for our family. Why learn it?

They don’t see the point in memorizing formulas or learning how to solve specific types of problems because they think they won’t need this information later on in life when they graduate from high school or college.

Math is the subject that most people love to hate. As a student, you may have learned that math is an important skill to learn and even mastered it in school. But as an adult, you probably don’t see the point of numbers and equations beyond basic arithmetic.

The problem is that people don’t realize that math is everywhere,?from the weather forecast to your paycheck,?and it’s a skill that can be used in your everyday life, not just on the job.

What are the other reasons you don’t like math? Please leave your comments in the comment section.