Student hating math?

A child in your class says, “I hate math! I’m not good at math, and I never will be!” What experiences do you think this child has had in his/her life that contributes to this child’s feelings about his or herself, math, and his or her relationship to math?

Figuring out why students feel the different ways, whether positive or negative, is an important part of being a good teacher. If we figure out the negative, we can prevent it in our classroom. If we figure out the positive, we can reinforce this in our classroom. Based from just my own experience and observation, I have a couple ideas for why this child may “hate math”. If this was an older child, this “hatred” could stem from a pressured, whether internal or external, to maintain high grades. Perhaps math has been an area in the past year or so where the student hasn’t maintained high grades, and therefore they’ve developed a dislike for it because it’s not coming very easily. When students are focused only on grades, they can develop this dislike in areas they aren’t getting high grades. I know this from personal experience. I have always been a “must get an A” student and felt like a failure if I didn’t make an A on a test or paper.

This distain from could, of course, stem from an experience with a not so great teacher. If, at especially an early age, this child wasn’t given proper instruction, it could have set them up for struggles in this subject as each grade builds and builds on what the student should have already learned. There’s also a very unfortunate chance that the student has been told they’re not good at math. Teachers hold so much sway with students, and we need to use this responsibly! What a teacher says, students believe. Indicating in any way that a student can’t do something, can affect that students attitude for the rest of their schooling. Perhaps this child’s previous teacher made small comment to the child about their ability. This may continue to deter their mathematics learning until another teacher convinces them otherwise. Students need someone to believe in them!