Research and other cultural mindsets have shown over and over again that hard work supercedes any inborn abilities. We celebrate athletes that beat the odds by being persistent and working hard to improve their game. Why would math abilities — or any academic subjects — be any different?
The truth is … it is not! An article published in The Atlantic, “The Myth of ‘I’m Bad at Math,'” the co-authors outline proof that the ability to learn and understand complex math lies in an individuals ‘grit’ and belief in their own abilities to learn.
“…believing you can’t learn math is especially self-destructive. … Math is the great mental bogeyman of an unconfident America.” The writers make an excellent case that American students have fallen into a belief that either they are math people or not. But this is a lie.
Read the full article and share it with your friends, students and colleagues. In the article there are links to other resources to convince you that all of us can be math people with a bit of confidence and hard work.
