Yes, I don’t know math because of the school.
That’s right, and I’m here to tell you why.
Well, for some time now I have been contemplating the idea of sharing this unpleasant situation, but it has been hitting me directly, whether in a professional environment or on a daily basis.
Have you ever been to a bakery nearby or to a store next to your house, taking only money, and when you get there, you choose a product and when it comes time to pay you end up confused with the change you will receive, or how much do you need to give to reduce the bureaucracy of coins between the cashier and you? So, this happens to me most of the time.
No, it is not because I am clumsy and because my teacher did not teach me in the right way.
I cite three reasons that made me believe that the school is to blame for this, for not knowing simple calculations and basic mathematics.
1 — The teaching process
Well, when I got to the end of school, I realized that among all the subjects, mathematics was the one I least identified with. Low grades, slow learning process and lack of interest were problems that tormented me all the time. But was something like this really my fault? Isn’t that the famous pressure that is thrown on students?
I stopped to think how hard I could have tried if I had the right incentive. I don’t have to complain about my teachers, at first they were very good teachers and of the most varied personality types: playful, serious, storytellers. Maybe the problem wasn’t me and neither were they, maybe only the teaching method was the problem. Something forcing students and teachers to follow a simple and clear protocol. If we didn’t learn, well, our fault. And that’s not really a learning project, it’s more for a selective test that marks the intellectual level of each one. I think that with the right incentive, maybe we would learn things much easier.
2 — The academic and professional self development
A big difference between school and professional and realistic life is that in school you don’t learn even half of the things in reality. You don’t learn how to solve momentary problems, how to do day-to-day tasks and also how to calculate the time on a wall clock. If each person had an individual point of exploration, we would have much more chances to solve small problems in the routine. Not exploring individually, leads the individual in question to learn how to solve these problems in a separate way and on the basis of pressure. The reality does not tend to be the same when you leave school. Anyway, it becomes a lie, a lie that some time later you realize, and when you realize it, you have already suffered the consequences.
What I try to argue on this topic is that there are several restrictions that prevent you from learning things that are useful and that you should learn. A calculation done normally is not the same as a calculation that depends on twenty formulas to solve a simple supermarket account. Based on this, it’s easier for you to learn by taking your own rates and sources of study and taking notes while practicing.
Practice leads to perfection.
3 — The overheating of matter
Why do we have such a high rate of failed students in this subject? (In relation to Brazil) Would it be that if we gave a deadline to the previous generation to prepare for a math test today, they would reach a good grade?
What makes math in schools overheat the minds of students? Well, it’s a question to be asked, we know there’s a problem with it, it may or may not be related to the first topic, there are really times when the student lacks interest in learning the subject, but would that be the final answer? Why can’t we keep in mind that schools have failed to provide a teaching plan that is something temporary? I mean, I don’t remember math subjects since sixth grade (except for traumas). They have become clearly useless subjects, I don’t need to use formulas to calculate such things, because I’m not in the exact area, so why?
In short, it is explicit that mathematics will still cause problems as long as the school (or its principals) do not change, meanwhile, students suffer from unnecessary problems and lack of incentive that make them slow, tired and angry with this subject that could have been well developed.
Conclusion
I wish I had argued more about this issue, but at the moment I am busy, because while they insist on papers, pens and formulas, I am here, holding my youngest companion in the office and at home: the old calculator.
