Here are two not-very-controversial statements:
- Math is hard.
- Most people don't like math because math is hard.
I — just a guy at Cohomologous — agree wholeheartedly with statement #1, and disagree vehemently with statement #2. Indeed, most people don't like math, but not because "math is hard." Rather, I think most people don't like math because they don't know what math is, and part of why they don't know is because of our response to statement #1. Let me elaborate.
When we assume that it's the difficulty of math that turns people away, we try (honorably) to make math easier. We take concepts that are difficult and boil them down to tips, tricks, mnemonics, and formulae to memorize (think about how unnecessary it is to remember "FOIL" if you actually understand the underlying concepts involved in multiplying two binomials). People then mistakenly equate math with tips, tricks, mnemonics, and formulae to memorize, and develop a very understandable fear of this field and its weird rules and symbols.
It doesn't have to be like this
Let's think carefully about the statement that "math is hard." What we really mean by this is that getting good at math is hard.
If you were to spend the rest of your days doing basic arithmetic — assuming that you already know how to do basic arithmetic — then math would be pretty easy for you. It's the "learning new math" and the "getting good at more and more math" part that's hard. Once we realize this, then something else becomes clear...
EVERYTHING is hard. Playing guitar is hard, playing basketball is hard, being a friend is hard. In particular, becoming proficient at guitar is hard, getting good at basketball is hard, being a loyal, caring friend is hard.
Seeing as so many people do these "hard" things all the time, it can't just be the difficulty of math that is turning so many people away from it.
What can we learn from other "hard" things?
Why would someone be willing to put in the effort and time to get good at guitar or build meaningful relationships, but not be willing to do the same to get good at math?
My hypothesis is simple: people know that guitar, basketball, and meaningful relationships are awesome. (Of course, it doesn't have to be guitar and basketball, you can insert other awesome things here too.) In particular, they know that the work will be worth it. Sure, there are some tools that make getting good at guitar or maintaining a relationship easier, but at the end of the day, no matter what tools exist, the very definition of being good at any of these things is being able to do the hard stuff.
So what do we do?
Where does this leave us when it comes to math? The lessons we've learned from these other fields make it clear:
Spend less time worrying about making math easy (because it's not), and more time showing that math is worth it.
And how do we do that?
Show that math is awesome.
And how do we do that? That gets a little more interesting.
What is math for?
Most of the common discourse around why we should do math — i.e., why math is awesome enough to be taught to every student in every grade — involves one or both of the following:
- You need math to function in society.
- You can get a good job if you know math.
Point #1 is simply not true anymore thanks to smartphones*, and dangling future career prospects in front of a 13-year-old as motivation to learn algebra is a tough sell. So let's see if we can learn another lesson from other "hard but awesome" things that people do.
Why do people think that guitar, basketball, or friendship is awesome? Because they're just...fun. It's enjoyable to be able to play your favorite songs or just f**k around on a guitar. It's therapeutic to go outside and shoot hoops. Having meaningful relationships just makes you happier. That's what guitar, basketball, and friendship is for: having fun and being happy.
Is math any different? If we focus on the "importance" and the "practical applicability" of math, then yes, math is different. Math becomes like taxes. But ask any practicing mathematician why they do math and I doubt you'll hear too much about practical applications. Mathematicians do math because it's fun to play around with logic, it's therapeutic to f**k around with pen and paper (or on a chalkboard) and just see where things go, and it's an absolute rush to actually make some progress on a question you have.
Math is hard — so what?
Math is hard, but so is guitar, basketball, painting, golfing, relationships, cooking, parenting, and virtually anything else in life that's worth getting good at. Math is not for everyone, but neither is guitar, basketball, painting, golfing...you see where I'm going.
If we present math as what it is — a fun playground for people who like to think logically and solve problems — then some people will like it, and some still won't. For those that do, they'll be willing to put in the work to get better at it, because they understand the reward — more fun, more enjoyment. And for those that don't, well, to each their own.
Now there might be some folks concerned that this would lead to a world where people arrive at a gas station with a dead phone and won't know how to compute the cost to fill up their tank, or how to compute the number of watermelons they have in their shopping cart after first putting in 35 but then removing 27...I'll just say that I'm willing to take my chances.
*and this is more than just the calculator app (which, in order to use, needs some mathematical knowledge). 99.99% of all human knowledge — and wildly powerful AI to help us navigate that sea of knowledge — is readily available at all times.