Math Trauma Is Real. Here’s How You Can Prevent It [edweek.org]

Math trauma was so real for me! Thanks for posting this, Mathew.

When numbers and letters started showing up together in problems — about the time I was really pushing my mother to get a divorce for multiple reasons, including terrifying domestic violence — my brain could not handle this abstract notion of “solving for A.”  

Long story endless: I took algebra in summer school for two summers to pass Algebra 1 & 2.  I could keep football stats, in real time and without a calculator, for the radio station announcers, but Algebra and Geometry literally blew my overloaded brain. And one particular algebra teacher made sure I knew I was “thick” because she just could not understand how I just could not understand! Her shaming me had a profound effect. I used my summer school credits and blew out of high school a year early to escape that teacher and a toxic home.

The author nails the fallout: I avoided math in college, dealing with finances, etc. I have a dream of “grokking” algebra; even own an “Algebra for Dummies” book and have talked with a friend/retired math teacher about coaching me on it.

I image how hard it would be to be a post-Damndemic teenage girl, with all the social pressures, trying to get used to school again while at the same time having an exasperated algebra teacher assuring me I am a total anomaly for being “the only person who can’t grasp these simple concepts.”

Here’s a solution:
Confusion + stress + collective trauma + depression + math trauma = need for > compassion + more federal funds for student mental health + infinite grace and more teachers like Viveka Vaugh.
❤️

Carey Sipp