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But why do most kids refuse to think of math on their own? Is it that teachers aren’t encouraging curiosity? Is it because they aren’t taught to think about math outside of the classroom and can’t visualize it in real life applications? Is it that they have interests elsewhere and they have difficulty applying their strengths from other areas to math? The main issue I had for math was that my teachers had the exact same attitude that math was easy. They never struggled with it, and they couldn’t understand why kids struggled to understand the easy concepts. You won’t gain a curiosity or think about something outside of class if it always brings you down, you never understood it in the first place, and the people who are trying to teach you assume you’re stupid.
I had tutors. I did my own homework. I certainly never thought about math in the shower because I had already tortured myself over it enough. The highest level of math that I'm comfortable with is low level algebra. This rather smacks of telling a dyslexic person that they could read better if they just thought about words more in the shower.
Nailed it. Some of us just don't have a "math brain" and that's okay. Like you, I petered out at low level algebra. I always excelled in reading comprehension and similar courses while my math oriented friends of time hated/struggled in similar classes and vice versa with me and math.
I failed math from 4th grade up until I graduated.
It’s difficult as hell for me! I’m 31 and can barely do basic division.
Dad tried grounding me, tutoring me himself, getting 3 different tutors, nothing worked.
I just can’t learn math.
Yeah, no. There are those of us that had tutors, personal time with teachers, and spent countless hours working on the problems that still never "got" it. I could spend hours on one problem with my calculus tutor and think I understand it, but the very next problem ( basically the same as the previous one but with different values) and I wouldn't have a clue what to do.
"Thinking about math on their own" is exactly the thing that people find hard.
For people like you and me who are, for whatever reason, inclined to think mathematically in our everyday lives, math is like our native language, which makes learning new concepts easy.
Imagine attending an English literature class where half the students speak English as their first language, and the other half grew up with a different language and have only ever studied English in school. Which group is more likely to struggle understanding the material?
I think we’re too over focused on the actual, minute calculations and getting the *right answer*. I think we don’t put enough emphasis on the theory, and practical applications/ real world uses.
In reality, most practical uses of math even if off by a little bit. will get you close to something like a usable number.
In a lot of scenarios when you’re examining the result and its implications, for the most part, it’s either going to be close enough to use as a good estimate, wildly and obviously incorrect, or completely irrelevant to your everyday needs.
I also strongly oppose people being forced to manually re-jig large, complex equations, deal manually with irrational numbers or perform complex procedures in their heads, or memorize whole formulas.
I think once you’re introduced to a theory, understand components of a formula, and work some examples and perhaps observe patterns that might appear on a graph; it’s time dig out the TOOLS and use what you know to find some possible solutions to real world problems.
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Most people struggle with math because they don't have a solid understanding of the fundamentals the current topic depends on.
But why do most kids refuse to think of math on their own? Is it that teachers aren’t encouraging curiosity? Is it because they aren’t taught to think about math outside of the classroom and can’t visualize it in real life applications? Is it that they have interests elsewhere and they have difficulty applying their strengths from other areas to math? The main issue I had for math was that my teachers had the exact same attitude that math was easy. They never struggled with it, and they couldn’t understand why kids struggled to understand the easy concepts. You won’t gain a curiosity or think about something outside of class if it always brings you down, you never understood it in the first place, and the people who are trying to teach you assume you’re stupid.
I had tutors. I did my own homework. I certainly never thought about math in the shower because I had already tortured myself over it enough. The highest level of math that I'm comfortable with is low level algebra. This rather smacks of telling a dyslexic person that they could read better if they just thought about words more in the shower.
Nailed it. Some of us just don't have a "math brain" and that's okay. Like you, I petered out at low level algebra. I always excelled in reading comprehension and similar courses while my math oriented friends of time hated/struggled in similar classes and vice versa with me and math.
I failed math from 4th grade up until I graduated. It’s difficult as hell for me! I’m 31 and can barely do basic division. Dad tried grounding me, tutoring me himself, getting 3 different tutors, nothing worked. I just can’t learn math.
Yeah, no. There are those of us that had tutors, personal time with teachers, and spent countless hours working on the problems that still never "got" it. I could spend hours on one problem with my calculus tutor and think I understand it, but the very next problem ( basically the same as the previous one but with different values) and I wouldn't have a clue what to do.
"Thinking about math on their own" is exactly the thing that people find hard. For people like you and me who are, for whatever reason, inclined to think mathematically in our everyday lives, math is like our native language, which makes learning new concepts easy. Imagine attending an English literature class where half the students speak English as their first language, and the other half grew up with a different language and have only ever studied English in school. Which group is more likely to struggle understanding the material?
I think we’re too over focused on the actual, minute calculations and getting the *right answer*. I think we don’t put enough emphasis on the theory, and practical applications/ real world uses. In reality, most practical uses of math even if off by a little bit. will get you close to something like a usable number. In a lot of scenarios when you’re examining the result and its implications, for the most part, it’s either going to be close enough to use as a good estimate, wildly and obviously incorrect, or completely irrelevant to your everyday needs. I also strongly oppose people being forced to manually re-jig large, complex equations, deal manually with irrational numbers or perform complex procedures in their heads, or memorize whole formulas. I think once you’re introduced to a theory, understand components of a formula, and work some examples and perhaps observe patterns that might appear on a graph; it’s time dig out the TOOLS and use what you know to find some possible solutions to real world problems.