If it did then my health teacher wouldn't have a job. She is easily the most interesting teacher and i look forward to her class everyday but she isn't good at math and only barely got through college by going around math classes if math mattered more then not only she but i would be screwed as well. Ask me to write a paper on any time in history and i can do that but ask me to do an Algebra worksheet and I'm lost. Math is important but beyond +,-,x,/ people really forget everything else. In a perfect world you would be taught how to do ^ and if you wanted to do more then that's on you. After reading some posts above yes i can compute pretty easily on a piece of paper but don't ask me to multiply on the spot.
I loved maths when i was younger . I still enjoy it but its too much effort. I have to do Calculus for my college course , but for one reason or another i started hating maths . Its not that i am not able to do it , i just don't find it interesting anymore.
OT : As someone said , Calculus =/= Literacy . Almost everyone with high school qualification ( is it? ) is capable to do roughly up to 6 grade maths. I mean regardless of you loving it or not, you need it to finish school. and no matter at what level you do your finals ( is that how u call it in usa ? ) you still need some sort of knowledge of it .
So when a person says they cant do maths , They mean they can't do advanced stuff. You thinking that basic maths does not count as knowing maths ,is equal ant to someone being told that they can't read just cause they can't analyze a complex Shakespearian drama.
What kind of math are you talking about? Algebra, geometry, arithmetics? I find these to be the most important for everyone. I consider them as important as reading. Functions, integrals, trigonometry? More complex &/or abstract mathematics? Well... I suck at integrals... and most people I know would nod in acceptance at me saying "I hate integrals". The idea is this:
People don't like the idea of being called illiterate... but also people don't like the idea of being called stupid for not knowing simple calculations such as + , - , *, / . When people say "I can't do math" they usually refer to more specific things from mathematics which others can't really do or understand easily either, thus it's common to say "I can't do math". But I believe the same can be applied for language & literacy as well. Most people know the alphabet...or at least I hope they do & most can read... but not everyone can use language, words, punctuations to create a literary work which could easily be the equivalent of solving a somewhat complicated math problem. You won't hear people "I can't read", but you might hear people saying "I can't write a book. I wouldn't know where to start", Or "I can't hold a speech cause I can't find the right words". So "I can't do math" isn't the same as saying "I can't read"... cause reading is a simpler task to master than doing math... unless if by math you mean simple calculations like I stated above... hope what I wrote hear makes some sense.
I DO say I can't do maths and I think it's embarrassing as hell. It's one of the sources of my low self-esteem. I have a hard time doing basic arithmetic in my head sometimes; ex: 156-37. My brain just recoiled. Had to do it on paper.
I hate it but my brain doesn't seem to want to get it. It's all connected with my low self-esteem, bad childhood memories connected with maths, and my inability to concentrate on anything for longer than a few minutes.
It's horrible. And I'm constantly made to feel like an idiot over it. So for me the stigma exists. Now excuse me, I'm going to go sit and rock back and forth in a corner while sobbing. T_T
Well I was teaching in maths & science calsses all year, and it seemed the non-ability to do maths is the accepted norm,
(In Ireland there are 2 levels you can do subjects in; honours & pass levels, each of which attribute different levels of 'points' for college applications & big final exams etc.)
I found it to be the norm in the classes to do the lowest level & the exeption to do a higher level, this is v.atypical for all other subjects though. eg, if you did pass English, you'd be looked down on, or pass geography is unheard of. Why is this the case with maths??
I'd say its a problem with the way maths is taught at primary education, it being taught as a choir, a repetitive action of learning tables without context & rules without meaning, and thus its percieved as such by people all through their lives. People are disenchanted by maths because of this, and are unwilling to see the wonderful fun of it all.
This means just that so many students feel this way, and so many have low abilities in numerecy etc. that its just so normal to not excell in these areas. Farmiliarity breeds content, and now people just feel that low mathematical abilities are too normal to care about.
It doesn't? I tend to sneer at people who can't say or type 'maths' (It's a contraction! A pural no less!) as much as I would anyone who can't read the word.
I find it highly amusing when folk admit to mocking others for making an error in typing or saying maths yet go on to make a spelling error of their own.
So with that said, I sneer at folk who sneer at others while making a cock up themselves.
The word you are looking for is "plural" not pural.
plural
1: Multiple; more than one; many.
Pural is a town in the Sabarkantha district of the Indian province of Gujarat.
Picked up on you because if you are going to admit to mocking others then you'd better make sure you are perfect, and you are not.
I have no problem with saying that I can't do higher math, and for my chosen career path said math is unnecessary. (Some things you learn in high school really might have no real-world applications for you, kiddies. Take that as you will.)
I don't care, to be quite honest. I enjoy literacy and language, and I'm pretty decent with words. Math and the sciences hold no savor for me.
Kwaku Avoke said:
If it did then my health teacher wouldn't have a job. She is easily the most interesting teacher and i look forward to her class everyday but she isn't good at math and only barely got through college by going around math classes if math mattered more then not only she but i would be screwed as well. Ask me to write a paper on any time in history and i can do that but ask me to do an Algebra worksheet and I'm lost. Math is important but beyond +,-,x,/ people really forget everything else. In a perfect world you would be taught how to do ^ and if you wanted to do more then that's on you. After reading some posts above yes i can compute pretty easily on a piece of paper but don't ask me to multiply on the spot.
This is pretty accurate. I can do basic arithmetic in my head with very little trouble (and it's even easier if I'm working with money), and that's really all I need for my day to day life.
Of course, that means I'm screwed once I go back to school and have to take algebra as part of my gen eds. I'd prefer not to have to take it (I skipped it in high school to take a college-level accounting course), but it appears to be a requirement no matter where you go.
Well mate, i am doing my masters in math and i can't freaking do arithmetic... which is what they mean by math.
So, no shame in failing at arithmetic i think.
Edit: That said, saying that you "don't need math" is totally ignorant IMO. It is like saying you don't need to read books ever... technically true but you are missing a whole lot.
Er wait I'm confused here did you say the inability to do maths was illiteracy? Or not? Actually, I don't even know anything about this, just ignore me.
It's everything but reading. Writing on the other hand is math at some levels, but you wont learn the math behind it before you study the language at a higher level. The math is in other words hidden so most wont even know it's there.
OT: Not knowing math isn't considered as bad as not being able to read because there's a lot out there who got problems with math. Math is considered the hardest basic subject in school while the subjects that require less math are considered easier the less math you need. It doesn't feel that bad knowing you have problems with a subject everyone else has problems with too.
The sad thing in it is that math just require a little work. I used to be terrible at doing math until I worked on it a couple years ago. I went from being 3 years behind to being where I was supposed to be, I became pretty good too. I went from being on the bottom to being close to the top in less than a year. If I had been that bad at reading at the same age I would never be able to catch up.
Well mate, i am doing my masters in math and i can't freaking do arithmetic... which is what they mean by math.
So, no shame in failing at arithmetic i think.
Edit: That said, saying that you "don't need math" is totally ignorant IMO. It is like saying you don't need to read books ever... technically true but you are missing a whole lot.
Honestly.
I suck at math, even the basic one.
Only thing that kept me getting straight A's is logic based questions.
E.g. Knowing that a 1cm(3) ball put in a half filled glass is going to make the water rise for 1cm(3)
I honestly don't see the need for anything more than basic math (add, subtract, multiplication, division...etc). I remember our Calculus class getting assigned a topic where everyone in the class had to ask 10 adults what type of math they use in their daily lives and what level of math they had to use. And I think the result ended up being that out of 200 or something adults only like 10 had to use anything above basic math. Hell my personal education in math went up to Calculus 2 and I honestly have not used any of it in the 6 years since I last had a math class.
And to be brutally honest it kind of feels like I've wasted so much time learning that much math over the years because it is one of those subjects that you honestly will not remember at all unless you are constantly using it.
As I am doing a science course I have been amazed at how many people in it can't even do relatively basic math. The girl that I was working with in a lab had to use a calculator to work out 1x0.1. With the maths class that we had to do I remember for one of the tests which was pretty much all basic algebra with the most complicated question being drawing a quadratic graph the class average was 30% and I got 98% on it. With said test I saw somebody get a total mark of 0.3 out of 30 which I don't even know how you can get such a mark.
I do actually sneer at people who cannot grasps the basic functions of maths, its mathematics for goodness sake, I also sneer at people who can't comprehend basic physics (if a train is full of people, more people cannot get on the train, because its full).
I'm more lenient towards illiterates though, because I myself was like that, I'm French but I can't read or write it due to stress, English is the only language I can read and write with average level skills. I can speak several languages though.
So to my systematic brain, you really should know maths and physics, languages however you take your time.
I do like math but I'm very bad at it.
I remember in high-school every summer I would forget almost all I've been taught and I'd have to re-learn a lot of the subject for the next
I never gave up and had surprisingly good grades, I think the reason I liked it was because I wasn't naturally good at it, if that makes any sense
But compared to other student with the same grades like me, I was trying a lot harder, investing a lot longer and learning slower than they were!
So I guess there is some natural affinity to the subject that some people just have unlike learning to read and write!
It's because everyone can learn, it's such a stigma if you cant.
Plus it's exponentially more essential to know to read and write, for your daily life and for functioning within a modern society. I cant say the same for math. Though I would've appreciated it if in school we were also thought how to do taxes, and calculate tips.
Now that would've been very useful to everyone
Well, it depends on what you consider "doing math" is. If it's simple counting/adding/subtracting you can't do, then yes, it's just as bad. But you can't expect everyone to know how to solve a double integral. That is much more advanced math, and reading never gets to that kind of complexity.
Well, the vast majority of people have the innate ability to do basic math. They can count four apples, and they know that if you add fourteen apples to that, you'll have eighteen apples. They'll wonder why the hell they have so many apples, but that's beside the point.
Higher level math, such as calculus, is what most people are talking about when they state an inability to "do math". Higher level math, while extraordinarily useful, isn't equivilant to basic reading skills. Arithmetic is comprable to basic reading skills, calculus is comprable to analyzing the underlying themes of a historical epic.
Oh god...I can't do Reading!
But at least I can do math =)
Volkov said:
The ability to read is a pretty well-defined skill. To "do math" is fairly meaningless. Derive finite difference approximations to partial integro-differential equations? Add two numbers? Somewhere in between?
I would be in favor of elementary and middle school math education in the States changing completely (cuz it's fucking atrocious currently), but I think reading overall is a far more important skill anyway than even the most basic arithmetic. In general though, I would say this: in the States, non-technical (non-sciences, non-math) education should be given FAR less attention than it is in elementary and middle schools, and technical - far more. As it stands now, many areas of mathematics start only in high school, and that hurts people's talents, since the earlier you are exposed to certain areas of mathematics, the more "inherent" of a skill to you it becomes (similar to languages). This has fairly far-reaching consequences for higher education and STEM field staffing in general.
I've noticed that problem too...after a certain level of math is reached in Elementary school, the learning stops until Middle school. And it stops around 3rd or 4th grade.
That's at least 2 wasted years of mathematical learning.
After learning multiplication and division in 3rd grade, the math only gets slightly more complicated...over the course of 2-3 Years.
Oh and one more thing that makes me want to puke
- minimum requirement to graduate high school in mathematics - Algebra I...
Are you FU*KING KIDDING ME.......*foams at mouth*...
OT:
Some people don't truly understand how important math is, it's a shame.
It isn't very hard, it does require some time and dedication, just like everything worth while...
but some don't want to take that time...and that is where "I can't do maths" comes from.
So, WHAT IF innumeracy held that same stigma?
I would laugh at all of those poor souls as they would force themselves to learn the least subjective and most straight-forward subject.
And after they learn it:
because the numbers are good for everyone
(so are ponies)
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