The failures of math education

Last year, I was invited to participate in a panel on STEM careers, where my fellow panelists and I were posed this question: "I hate math. How do I get through it?" I nearly jumped out of my chair in excitement; I've fielded these questions from some of my closest friends and I was certain my fellow panelists had had the same experiences; I was really excited to hear what they had to say. But I have never been more disappointed than when I heard their replies: "Work harder." "Practice more." "Work harder AND practice more."

Of course, nothing against my fellow panelists, each of whom were accomplished scientists, mathematicians, and technology experts. Their only failing was making a singular assumption that is shared by many math educators--to assume that students don't WANT to do math, NEVER want to do math, and simply need to be encouraged to keep plugging away at the tedious, awful chore that is math so they can get to the fun stuff. Sadly, when you get a student who's run up against the same brick wall of math every year without any improvement, or worse, clarity, that's probably a safe assumption to make. But it really really really doesn't have to be this way.

Being someone who straddles the line between science and art, I'm surrounded by both math lovers and math loathers. Many of the math lovers would say they had a predilection for math from an early age (I'd put myself in this group) and just received the appropriate challenges and encouragement throughout their development. Their favorite areas of math fall all over the board (I'm big on algebra, myself). The math loathers are an interesting bunch, because many seem to all fall into a single category: people who only get geometry (and are often pretty dismissive of algebra). In other words, these are individuals who need math to be concrete.

It seems strange that algebra and geometry, two areas of math that cover the same types of functions, might generate such divisive reactions. But when you see this:

c² = 3² + 4²

Solve for c. 

But then see this: 

I'd be willing to bet you'd see a lot more people who could solve that function after seeing the triangle, because suddenly they can make sense of what that variable c is supposed to stand in for. You've taken a completely abstract concept and paired it with something concrete that students can see and understand the reasoning behind (FYI: high school math teacher Dan Meyer has a wonderful TED talk on this very concept here: Dan Meyer: Math Class Needs a Makeover). 

So my humble request of all you math (and STEM) educators out there is to PLEASE understand that there are very straightforward reasons why your students just don't get math, and forcing a single perspective on them is exclusionary and unfair, as is punishing them by having them do more homework because they aren't getting it. Your math curriculum shouldn't exclude concrete thinkers in favor of abstract thinkers for the same reason that you shouldn't exclude students of any race, color, or creed. 

I mean, duh.