Being ‘Bad at Math’ is a Pervasive Concept. Can it Be Banished From Schools?

Math education leaders have long said children should not be labeled “bad at math,” even if they struggle mightily with the subject.

Such a classification is racist, sexist, classist, inaccurate and — worst of all, they say — lasting. Many Americans who absorbed such messages in their youth continue to define themselves this way decades later.

And they pass along those insecurities to their children, as if math competency is an innate trait and not a learned skill. This sort of old-school thinking has, for generations, sidelined students of all types, including girls , racial minorities and those who come from impoverished communities, math equity advocates say. Pushed away from STEM at an early age, they learn to count themselves out of lucrative opportunities.

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“The highest point that they can reach is drastically diminished if they are put on these lower tracks,” said Marian Dingle, a veteran teacher and head of TODOS: Mathematics for All , a group that aims to boost mathematics education for all students, with a focus on Hispanics.

Math experts are calling for a new mindset, saying teachers and parents should expect that some children might need extra time — or tutoring — to master mathematical concepts and that these accommodations do not reflect negatively on their overall ability or potential.

“Research shows that when students are labeled based on perceived math aptitude, it risks negatively impacting the student’s self-efficacy and motivation, leading to long-term struggles with math and kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Lasana Tunica-El, senior deputy director of campaigns for Educators for Excellence . “They’ve received and heard this labeling — and then they fulfill the labeling.”

Pamela Seda, president of the Benjamin Banneker Association , which works to empower Black children by boosting their access and success in mathematics, said she would love to see a more progressive, flexible and inclusive mindset adopted in the nation’s classrooms. But, she said, American schools are quick to place students on one path or another, often influenced by the child’s race. Critical decisions are made early — and they stick.

“ We use math as a means to sort kids by who gets to be at the top and who gets to be at the bottom,” she said. “Our systems have not changed.”

Seda, who spent 26 years teaching in public schools, isn’t sure why people’s notions around success in math have become so rigid. Children, she said, need individualized help.

She recalled teaching her own kids — now adults — how to do their own laundry when they were young. Ranging in age from 5 to 9, she instructed each one on how to sort their clothes and operate the washing machine, she said. Her youngest needed a step stool to complete the task, but his mother was not deterred.

“It never crossed my mind that he couldn’t do it,” Seda said of him.

And that’s the same mentality educators must adopt when it comes to their students, she said. A math coordinator for three different school districts, she’s tried to create such learning environments and encouraged other teachers to do the same.

“The challenge is, they still work within schools and within systems that undermine that,” she said. “They are trying to do the best they can.”

Math anxiety leads to another complexity, said Tunica-El. It impacts not only the general public but the nation’s teachers . Many shy away from teaching mathematical concepts even in the early grades because they are unsure of their abilities.

“And then some of that is superimposed onto students, unfortunately,” he said.

Dingle, of TODOS: Math for All, noted that many math educators come into the field for different reasons: Some are fascinated with the subject matter while others are more interested in working with students.

“So you’ve got all these different types of people thrown into the mix,” she said. “If we just start from a place of assets, I think it’s easier to lean into the normalization of the idea that learning is learning and it doesn’t matter the pace.”

Dingle said educators need to embrace the idea that certain skills are imperative to being human, including numeracy, mathematical skill and mathematical intuition.

Josh Recio, systemic transformation lead at The Charles A. Dana Center at UT Austin, said math is unusual in that the ultimate goal for many students is to take calculus in their senior year of high school — what might be considered as the ultimate signpost of whether they are ‘good at math.’

“But the only way to do that is to accelerate at some point because it takes five math classes to get to calculus — and there’s only four years of high school,” he said.

Students who wish to reach this goal must take algebra in the eighth grade.

“So, you start seeing students placed into actual advanced courses starting in sixth grade, but that identification happens prior to that,” Recio said, sometimes as early as second or third grade.

Some believe that the only way to eliminate tracking is to place all students on an accelerated path, but Recio disagrees.

“I don’t think doing it for every student is right,” he said. “There are students who are ready to accelerate and there are those who are not. We need to continue to create opportunities to get them to that point.”

Alan Garfinkel, professor of integrative biology and physiology and medicine at UCLA, isn’t sure that’s a worthy objective. He questioned the value of added time and tutoring because the math we are teaching inside America’s classrooms, he argued, does not meet the moment.

“What does it mean to be good at math?” he asked. “The standard answer back then — and the standard answer right now — is that ‘good at math’ means the ability to rattle off formulas. It’s stupid pet tricks to solve absolutely trivial problems. That whole attitude is the enemy.”

More valuable, he said, would be for students to see — and solve — real-world problems by formulating them in mathematical terms and understanding how they evolved in a systematic way. He cited stopping the spread of COVID through modeling or finding out why people still turn away from electric vehicles, despite their benefits.

“If you gave me a magic wand that I could use to make the entire population earn A’s in AP Calculus,” he said, “I wouldn’t take it.”

Disclosure: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provides financial support to The Charles A. Dana Center and The 74.