Submitted via IRC for chromas
Think you're bad at math? You may suffer from 'math trauma'
I teach people how to teach math, and I've been working in this field for 30 years. Across those decades, I've met many people who suffer from varying degrees of math trauma – a form of debilitating mental shutdown when it comes to doing mathematics.
When people share their stories with me, there are common themes. These include someone telling them they were "not good at math," panicking over timed math tests, or getting stuck on some math topic and struggling to move past it. The topics can be as broad as fractions or an entire class, such as Algebra or Geometry.
[...] One of the biggest challenges U.S. math educators face is helping the large number of elementary teachers who are dealing with math trauma. Imagine being tasked with teaching children mathematics when it is one of your greatest personal fears.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @07:23AM (3 children)
You assert that people are lazy and are making mistakes if they think differently than you or mentally process math differently than you do? Why limit this condescending and judgmental behavior to people's memorization of basic math or ability to calculate equations in their head in a fraction of a second rather than taking a second or two? All those seconds will add up to several hours a year that could be spent doing something else (like learning math).
I think everyone should be judged by their abilities in algebra, chemistry and physics, too. Those basics involve memorization and some simple formulas as well. Binary math only involves 0's and 1's yet over 99% of people just don't get it! And don't get me started on the plebes who haven't memorized, or can even recognize, classic literary passages. People who lack basic computer skills? They should be tarred and feathered.
Or, and hear me out on this, let someone with superior intellect - such as yourself - invent something that does simple math for the inferior humans. We can send you back in time and we can call it an "abacus". Or, if someone like you hasn't invented a time machine yet, we can invent this device more recently and call it a "calculator". We shall build it small enough that it will fit on a desktop ... or in a desk drawer ... or in a pocket ... or in a phone ... or even in a watch. We can even let it perform more complicated tasks than basic multiplication tables.
Ironically, you being a condescending jerk because you can do something better or differently than others is why people look down you. You see, the most important skills in life are people skills. My people skills are much, much weaker than my abilities in all the sciences but I try to improve them everyday. These are much harder than memorization, at least for me. But most people seem to have them almost naturally, like they don't have to even think about them. And get this, they are so good at these people skills that they don't tout their abilities over others.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @02:29PM (2 children)
This has nothing to do with "superior" intellect. I've got multiple disabilities that make things like reading and writing very hard for me and I have a tendency to read and write things that are incorrect. Most of what I've accomplished in math is the result of just working at it long after other people would have given up.
People shouldn't be permitted to refuse to learn from experience. Yes, there are people out there that have intellectual or learning disabilities that may not be able to manage, even without help, but those individuals are relatively few and far between. For the vast majority of people, what you're talking about is ridiculous. Just sitting down with the table and even without mnemonics the thing should be memorized within a few weeks tops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @04:44PM (1 child)
I'll check the medical journals, but I don't think douchebaggery is considered a disability.
Are you saying that memorization is a tool that you use in order to make up for other issues? If so, then it is much more important to you than to most other people.
Oh well, back to the douchebaggery. People aren't refusing to learn. They have already learned at least one way to do it and that way meets their needs. But you, you take learning as a severe point of pride. And then you project your "I did it and it is very hard for me to have accomplished it, so others should do it too!" attitude upon others in a measurably condescending way.
Which part?
My expectations of myself a pretty high, but I don't have high expectations for others, and I certainly don't think they should be able to do what I can do. People are different, and that's good. If everyone was like me the world would be a dreadfully boring place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @05:36PM
Nice string of ad hominems you've got there. God forbid you actually make a valid point.
And yes, people are refusing to learn their times tables. There's only 144 entries in the 12x12 times table and 100 in the 10x10 table. If you literally learn one per day and don't take advantage of the commutative property of multiplication it would literally take less than a school year. That's a school year, it's not even a calendar year. Are you seriously telling me that there's this epidemic of people who can't learn through some method 1 of these facts a day who isn't profoundly disabled?
This is basic arithmetic here, it's something that people should be using on a more or less daily basis. It's not a high standard to meet and people in countries not called the USA are just expected to be able to do it because it's not acceptable to not be able to manage it. This is a bar that's only somewhat higher than what other animal species can achieve.