Why the average US citizen is illiterate in Math
By: Theresa Kennedy
Illiteracy in math is a fascinating topic for me as a student, because, I consider myself fairly illiterate or on my way to being illiterate in math. I know, this a terrible thing to confess on a math blog, but, I fear it may be the truth. There is one reason, I believe, explains why so many other Americans and I doubt their math skills.
It all comes down to fun; math just has never been a fun subject in school. Unlike other school subjects, like language or English that make connections to the outside world, emotions, communication, and play, Math doesn't automatically make these connections. Of course, every caring student understands that to succeed they must become somewhat proficient in the subject. However, it becomes much more of a choir in US schools than a pleasant pastime.
For many American students, math boils down to two key components, memorization and discipline. If a student fails to memorize, something that holds no emotionally value or interest to them, they may dub themselves as, "a bad math student." If a student would rather be doing something fun and enjoyable instead of adding numbers, a lack of discipline may force them to enter the "bad math student" bracket as well. Although this is not always true for every student in America, there seems to be a common trend occurring in our country of an aversion to equations.
If the US wishes to climb from the pits of its low math ranks and compete with countries such as China and Portugal, it must take a different approach to the subject. Making math fun for students of all ages is vital. Computer games, art, and in class connections to math in the outside world would all help to make math fun again. It is not too late to change our countries education system, but, we would be fools to keep imposing the strictness and memorization mathematics in America currently requires if, we wish to see any positive change in our nation.
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