January 25th 2010 : permalink : Comments
equal opportunities
Not all people can draw masterpieces or even learn to. Not all people can write beautiful poetry and pen thrilling or whimsical stories with character development and themes. Not all people can play music or create wonderful melodies. Sometimes you’re gifted with creativity and talent, and sometimes you’re not.
But I truly, deeply believe that everyone can be good at math. I honestly believe that every person has the potential in them to excel in mathematics. Some may be more more gifted than others, but there is no topic in that field that is impossible to grasp for anybody, given time and effort.
I think somewhere down the line, perhaps when we are children — when we are most vulnerable — some people are scared by it and something goes wrong and they begin to hate it and begin to believe that they will never “get it,” and so they embark on a downward spiral into failure when it comes to the subject.
I don’t know whether it’s the media’s portrayal of maths, physics, chemistry, biology; perhaps innocent colloquialisms like “it’s not rocket science;” parenting influences; or even poor teaching at the elementary level.
But whatever the cause, the effect never ceases to depress me: that young people end up forcing themselves into a self-fulfilling prophecy of not being good at math.
Every single person has the potential.
No exceptions.
tags: mathmathematicsschool