Survey Says: "We're Not Good at Math"

I came across this survey and sat in silence!  1000 people were surveyed, all 18 years or above, and they were questioned on their self perception or feelings on math.  Grown ups that have at least had the opportunity to benefit from a full educational experience through the high school level.

They admitted to:

• Struggles with math situations they come across in a typical day, like shopping, taxes, interest rates
• Feeling frustrated when they have to use math authentically in real life
• Difficulty when figuring out the discount on a sale or figuring out a server's tip
• Feelings such as frustration, anxiety, worry and inadequacy

Sadly, women have a more harsh perception of themselves than men, a perception the educational system has been working tirelessly to correct.

With future jobs heading toward more and more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills, today's students cannot afford to have outcome. It will short change their opportunities and prospects for careers.

Mathnasium of 4S Ranch is more than math tutoring. Our top priority is build a student's success by making math make sense and instilling confidence as they work toward independence in the concepts they are studying.  We do this whether the child is struggling in math or visiting us for math enrichment.

After reading this article/survey, I feel more responsible than ever to make sure a future generation does have these same perceptions of themselves concerning math.  Students need to be adequately prepared to be successful and have the confidence. Elementary math is foundational to middle school math, such as pre-algebra and other algebra readiness courses. These directly feed into high school math success and impacts higher math concepts. The unfortunate thing about math is the train pulls out of the station in kindergarten and it doesn't stop. Once the struggle begins you have to address it or things slip away. Little by little at first, but at an alarming rate at some point. I have to think many in the survey were "those" kids. They may have gotten out of the class, but math shows up all the time in life's classroom (work, home, household budgets, big ticket purchases).

For the full article, please click here:

http://changetheequation.org/press/new-survey-americans-say-“we’re-not-good-math”

Image taken on 1/19/14 from: http://img.wallbeam.com/193processed/Bullet%20red%20train%20wallpaper%20hd.jpg