Learning Math
Kids who are turned off by math often say they don’t enjoy it, they aren’t good at it and they see little point in it. Who knew that could be a formula for success?The nations with the best scores have the least happy, least confident math students, says a study by the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center on Education Policy.
Countries reporting higher levels of enjoyment and confidence among math students don’t do as well in the subject, the study suggests. The results for the United States hover around the middle of the pack, both in terms of enjoyment and in test scores.
In essence, happiness is overrated, says study author Tom Loveless.
“We might want to focus on the math that kids are learning and just be a little less obsessed with the fact that they have to enjoy every minute of it,” said Loveless, who directs the Brown Center and serves on a presidential advisory panel on math.
In the imortal words of Barbie, “Math is hard!”
If what you are doing is easy, there is a good chance you aren’t actually learning anything.
When I was a kid and learning to water-ski, my dad often said, “If you aren’t falling, you aren’t learning.” Now, obviously I enjoyed watersking, but he was certainly right that just doing the ‘easy’ stuff meant you never got any better. I suppose it might improve one’s self-esteem to be able to say you never fall, but if you want to be good, you have to do things that are hard, you have to fall sometimes.
