Algebra for All: Educators Challenge Idea That Math Skills Must Come Naturally

Algebra for All: Educators Challenge Idea That Math Skills Must Come Naturally
washingtonpost.com

Maybe just maybe, that 30 questions or dressed up word problems doesn't teach anything beyond how to follow steps to solve problem?

Even more upsetting to me (as a horrible math student in K-12) was: "Well, you'll never really use this in the real world anyway. But you should learn it. Now stop asking 'Why?'"

It is almost impossible to learn something if you have no interest in it, and it's difficult to develop an interest in something very complicated without at least a basic understanding of WHY you should be interested in it. Calculus is incredibly interesting and useful, but not to someone who is having it rammed down their throat via rote memorization without any explanation of the overarching principles or reasons for its existence. "Plug and chug" was the only instructional approach my HS teachers understood.

In high school, I loved science but hated math. I was actually classified as being math-phobic. I learned a bit of statistics for my science projects (Westinghouse, ISEF, etc.) because I needed it, but didn't really learn any other math until I taught myself in my 20s. I just skipped any math that wasn't absolutely mandatory in high school, and even the mandatory classes were very poorly taught. I basically just soaked up enough facts in my short-term memory to pass tests, but I didn't understand how anything related or why you actually did anything. And I didn't worry about it, because not a single teacher I had could ever give me a simple example of why you needed to know any of it or what you could use it for. When I asked what calculus was good for, for example, I was told "passing tests." They said if you became a doctor or an engineer you had to know it, but otherwise you would never use it. I asked why doctors and engineers needed to know it if it was so useless, and they usually just shrugged!

I only became interested enough to actually learn math once I saw practical uses for it in my own life (in finance and programming, mostly.) Self-instruction was a struggle, because I lacked any sort of basic foundation. I almost had to start from scratch. I still have relatively poor math skills, but I can get work done and actually enjoy doing calculations now. A big turnaround from being completely math-phobic. I've easily spent $5K on self-instructional math materials (which sounds ridiculous, I know, but I like video instruction and it's usually expensive.)

I'm angry that I avoided math and was scared of math for a decade because not one teacher I had could provide a reason to open the book beyond "you have to learn it." If I hadn't developed an interest in software and finance, I would probably still be as ignorant of math as I was when I graduated high school.

I think I am one of those people. Even after spending 8-10 hours on one problem, with tutors, teachers, and the willingness to learn, I am usually unable to grok it.

And then the minute I learn it, and then move on to something else, the old math knowledge is forgotten.

I do not have this problem with language. I scored an 800 on the verbal of the old SAT (the best you can do).

For some -- and I believe I am one of them -- higher math is just impossible.

"The proper thing for a parent to say is, 'I did badly at mathematics, but I had a very bad teacher. I wish I had had a good one.'" W. W. Sawyer, Vision in Elementary Mathematics (1964), page 5.

By the way, the cited book is indeed very good for learning math.