Math Anxiety!

my parents that I would probably not graduate from HS. I have a BA, MA, and BS. Fuck those people. Some of us really aren't programed for math. But we have other skills that are just as important. I still struggle with basic math, but I laugh at it now because it know my other skills are important. Math is way over rated.

I’m biased sure…but I actually went all the way to the doctorate for math and it has served me exceedingly well.

It is bad for my 9 year old son though. He knows my expectations are through the roof past the moon. I had fantasies of getting him past differential equations in high school because he had me in his back pocket…I have since backed off (“You only care about math!”) to avoid turning him against that…and now he is getting interested because he sees now how math has helped me so much.

There are indeed many other valid and fulfilling occupations though for sure!

year of high school since we were allowed to choose.


The teacher was very nice and explained some things to me and all of a sudden things opened up. Then I went to regular math classes and I ended up not having to take my first 2 college math classes because of my SAT scores o math were so good.

So I swear, so much of it is attitude.

worked his way through college tutoring. started w little kids as a volunteer, up to ta as a grad student, teaching all levels of undergrad math.

paraphrasing-
math anxiety- children arent afraid of numbers, they're afraid of you.
they're afraid of giving you the wrong answer.
they know it is damaging, because YOU HAVE ALREADY DONE IT.

went on from there, but i think you get the drift. there does seem to be something about math that makes a wrong answer jump.

such as in a game. Damn math. Some how we approach it wrong. It becomes something huge. Some of us simply don't have brains that understand it easily. But most of us have other really wonderful and useful skills and knowledge. Math is really only a small part of being a successful human.

that research is the basis for primary grade common core math.
i also have a niece who heads a math dept at a suburban hs, and she loves it.

so, there's hope.