"I Hate Math"
Does your kid hate math?
Math and PE seem to attract such hatred. Kids might hate a history class or teacher, but such blanket statements are always reserved for math and physical education. Why? There is nothing worse than struggling in a run and watching everyone run past, knowing you are the slowest.
The same thing applies to math. Your kid watches everyone else in class doing better (after all, half of the class will always be below average), and then classes reinforce this with a constant system of testing, grading, standardized testing, ranking, tracking into "Honors" classes and its opposite, the "dis-Honorable class" (what else would you call a less than honorable class?), and then the ultimate stamp of worth, the percentile ranking, the SAT score (measuring some quantity called "Aptitude").
And all they needed was an extra 15 minutes of help with a tutor to learn the material or to contemplate that problem set. Under pressure is not the way to learn anything.
Imagine if we did the same thing with Art. We'd evaluate every artist at an early age and grade them with a percentile ranking. There would be a series of Art Aptitude Tests, and Honors Art and Remedial Art. Why is art exempted from this? It's because we know that school art is a life enrichment skill, and not job training to produce the next Van Gogh. Math can be the same way.
Most of the reason for math phobias is simply because kids learn at far different rates. Nothing makes you feel worse than
watching others "get it" when you're still lost. Think of how well most people do when they have their own personal trainer at
the gym. Think about how much people like to do fun runs and rides, where their friends are cheering them on when they run across the finish line, whether first or last.
We don't emphasize testing, grading, or ranking the class. For years, Cambridge and Oxford (and a few forward thinking
public schools in the US) didn't grade anyone. You merely met with the tutor each week, and he assessed when you were ready to move on. You passed the material when you had mastered it.
We will do similar, but on a daily basis. Kids should go on to the next stage when they can get 90% of the problems right and THEY feel comfortable with it. Everyone gets the same A, and our result is that everyone understands. We remove the grades, remove the pressure, remove the ranking. Everyone gets an "A", but not because we dumbed everything down, but because they earned it.
Achieving competence by persevering in difficult material is a reward all to itself, and that teaches lessons that go far beyond math. My best memories from the crazy sports in which I participate involve things that I was scared to do and accomplished anyway. Or ones that I repeatedly "failed" at in every way imaginable and after figuring out every way not to do something, finally figured out the proper way.