We Love Math!

In school, mathematics just isn’t cool. Long division, standard deviation and the hypotenuse seem be, at the very least, a source of ennui for most students. Sadly, this harmful contempt for math has produced an educational culture that lacks both the enthusiasm and foundational support to produce proficient math students. Given the shortcomings of American math education, a concerted effort must be made to address the dearth of appreciation for math and invert the all too common declarations of “I hate math!”

This cultural malaise remains specifically an American problem. According to a study published in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, the United States is failing to develop the math skills of both girls and boys, particularly among those who could shine at the highest levels. Eastern Europe and Asia, on the other hand, place higher emphasis on rewarding mathematical skills, creating cultures that value progress and achievement in math far more than we do in the United States.

Requiring that students merely perform just well enough to make the grade provides little motive to excel. In America, it seems, this paradigm holds true. The study suggests that while many girls have exceptional talent in math—the ability to become recognized math researchers, scientists, and engineers—they are rarely encouraged or applauded in the United States. Indicative of this American apathy toward math is the demographic evidence—the study’s data shows that girls who do succeed in the field are almost all immigrants or the daughters of immigrants from countries where mathematics is more highly valued.

American schools can, and should, improve the academic stature of math, thereby decreasing the aversion to this oft-neglected subject. Children should not only be exposed to math from an early age, but they should also be required to cultivate their skills and through rigorous practice in the same way that one might pursue excellence in sports or music. For example, offering more math-based extracurricular opportunities with the appropriate resources will serve to both increase the presence of math as something useful and non-threatening and provide some a more social outlet to counter stereotypes of math’s “nerdiness.”

For too long, mathematics has languished in academic and social disrepute among elementary and high schools students. Changing the social perception of math is integral to its revival as a culturally valued subject. Janet E. Mertz, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, laments the social stereotyping in math: “Kids in high school, where social interactions are really important, think, ‘If I’m not an Asian or a nerd, I’d better not be on the math team.’ Kids are self-selecting. For social reasons, they’re not even trying.” A revamp of math’s cultural image may be the most potent tool for boosting our nation’s diminishing math proficiency rates.

While many charge that mathematic skill is the purview only of the few and gifted, proficiency is clearly within the range of all students. Those who excel in math are not necessarily those with the greatest raw intelligence, but those with a strong background who have been encouraged to practice their skills. Rather than abandon children to calculator computations in their early years, our curricular standards for math, from kindergarten to high school, should perhaps be modeled after the more rigorous math lessons in Asian and Eastern European countries.

American cultural attitudes toward math have paralyzed our education prospects: Times tables are relegated to the past, students languish in an academic environment sorely lacking in math standards, and the ubiquitous American “fear” of math looms large. We reap what we sow, and if the seeds of both curricular and extra-curricular support for math are planted, perhaps we will witness a surge in the of growth in mathematical excellence.