Where does the social dislike of mathematics

[colorlessman]

People are not encouraged to learn mathematics; it is actually cool to not know math.

It is socially acceptable to be dumb at math, but how did this social acceptance come into existence?

Are there political, economic, or class reasons behind the miseducation and lack of education on math?

[Tatarin]

I think it's just simple lack of interest. Many won't use more than addition, subtraction, multiplication and dividation in their entire lives.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Originally posted by [email protected] 30, 2007 12:08 am
People are not encouraged to learn mathematics; it is actually cool to not know math.

It is socially acceptable to be dumb at math, but how did this social acceptance come into existence?

Are there political, economic, or class reasons behind the miseducation and lack of education on math?
While my current circumstances don't go beyond BEDMAS, I did enjoy taking math, loved taking stats, and would like to take physics, economics, and advanced math (calculus) after getting past my current circumstances. :)

[Floyce White]

When I went to high school, there was no stigma attached to learning math. Yet there was a very strict tier system. Those not in the "academic track" were often made to feel stupid. I believe that was the precursor to today's dummied-down culture that went from "you are stupid" to "you SHOULD BE stupid."

[RedAnarchist]

I didn't think there was one. Personally, I've never been great at mathematics (I had to re-take my GCSE Maths exam twice - in the final one I got a D that was just below a C) - English, History, Geography and IT were always my strongest subjects.

Like Tatarin said, most won't use advanced mathematics ever, so we don't see the point, although those interested in maths would probably reel off a whole list of reasons why they do do maths.

[midnight marauder]

it has to do more with education than with mathematics itself.

1) mathematics is, above all, hard for most people people to learn. it takes a lot of work and a lot of natural talent to be good at doing a lot of math and math-related processes. for people who perform poorly in math classes, this is often something that cannot be changed no matter how much education that person recieves, and in cases where it it can be changed, requires a lot of effort.

2) on the topic of that effort, many (most?) students don't see the need to put effort into learning it or getting better at, aside from the perspective of grades alone. math makes the world go 'round, but let's face it: most people simply aren't going to use the majority of math that gets shoved down our throats in high school. it's learned in abstract and has no relationship with to our lives, nor will it, for the vast majority of people.

3) math is boring to most people. this is due almost entirely to the way that it's taught in schools, and how modern pedagogy approaches learning. it's learned in the abstract and not related to our lives or things that we care about, in fact, it's often not related to anything at all it is simply just presented as numbers that we're supposed to manipulate "just because".

4) modern educational systems divorce all areas of learning from student's lives and warp them to the point where dislike of any area of study is not only understandable, but for all intents and purposes enforced.

this is coming from a person who failed every math class since the seventh grade, and who, along with about 4% of people, has dyscalculia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia).

[colorlessman]

Good replies guys.

I read some article a while back on how math is used to keep certain students and groups out of higher education. The way it is taught in inner city schools, takes any interest in math away.

It is mostly lower class students who suffer math difficulties. This is either a coincidence or a deliberate miseducation. Lower class students being the future working class people, most school administers will conclude these students do not need much more than basic math.

Most inner city schools do not even offer anything else than workplace or everyday math. Workplace math is not the math of technology, business, science or higher education.

Math I believe creates class on eduction. In college, most students good at math where from upper and middle class and most students who struggled with math came from lower classes.