When math anxiety spreads like a virus

(ROCKWALL/HEATH, TX – June 28, 2016) Math anxiety is a phenomenon that math teachers everywhere observe daily all across the nation. We see anxiety almost every time a child sits down for an assessment, and it breaks our hearts. How does a child get to the point where they feel they cannot succeed at a skill they will use for the rest of their lives? There are many contributing factors, but one of the most common (and avoidable) is how we talk to children about math.

It is not often, if ever, that you will hear someone say “I’m just not a reading person.” Or “I’m just not a writing person.” When it comes to math, however, it is not uncommon to hear “I am just not a math person.” Like reading, math is a skill everyone will be using for the rest of their lives. Often people fall into the trap of excusing their own struggle or their child’s struggle with math by discounting their abilities or they really don’t believe they are a math person. Many repeat damaging myths or untruths that set us (or our children) up for failure. Some comments include: math is inherently hard, only geniuses understand it, we never liked math in the first place and nobody needs math anyway.

”You do not need an innate mathematical ability in order to solve mathematical problems. Rather, what is required is perseverance, a willingness to take risks and feeling safe to make mistakes. The next time you help a student with homework, try to repress the “I hate math” instinct, which is even worse than making a few flubs. Instead try to have fun and give reassurance that perseverance will yield results. Numbers are always simple, clean and beautiful — and nothing to be afraid of.”

~ Petra Bonfert-Taylor is a professor of engineering at Dartmouth College and a 2016 Public Voices Fellow of the OpEd Project

Like many things in life, success in math is 10% ability and 90% persistence. It is persistence that is the hard part. No one enjoys doing something they know (or believe) they cannot do, especially children who do not have a long track record to build upon. Our children need encouragement when it becomes hard to persist in the face of failure.

When our children were in school, Becky would sit for hours working with our daughter and her math. She made it fun by going through the work with her, encouraging, showing different ways to approach problems and laughing with her at silly goof-ups. Laughter and encouragement took the anxiety out of the math hour, helped to set our daughter up for success, and made for some great memories to look back on.

Parents have such an enormous influence over their children and how they perceive themselves. A positive “you can do it” can work wonders, but if they make a mistake, an encouraging “that’s ok, let’s keep trying together” can turn a child’s perception of themselves around, not only about math, but about life’s challenges in general.

By Blue Ribbon News guest columnists Bob and Becky Barnes with Mathnasium Learning Center in Rockwall. Contact them at rockwall-heath@mathnasium.com.