The reason so many people don't understand math is because teachers don't teach it correctly. amirite?

Shoutout to my college calculus professor who taught me that I didn't suck at math.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Idk, I just got ganged up on by a bunch of teachers who tried to say that the real issue is that "kids just aren't paying attention" lol.

by Qcarroll 1 day ago

They have some truth but it isn't always an attributing factor.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Probably has something to do with the fact that you're doing a fundamentally different job than they are. It'd be nice if everyone had their own tutor to learn from. They don't, because (and it's amusing to me that I have to explain this) the maths doesn't work on that. Teaching 30-40 kids at once is a massively different task than teaching one person a concept. You can be there to catch every misunderstanding right away and push the person back on the right path. Teachers can't do that when they've got dozens of kids to teach.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Preach.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Ok but the disagreement is on what's being taught not how many people it's being taught to at a time? Teachers just taught whatever the correct way was it wouldn't matter how many people were in the class.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

This seems intentional at this point.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Ok just run past me again how when talking to one person you teach them 2 + 2 is 4, however when talking to 30 it comes out as 2 + 2 is 5? If you're teaching the wrong thing as the Op is suggesting, I can't see how the amount of students makes a difference?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Bye.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Well yeah the people you're blaming aren't gonna agree 🤣

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Well, I mean- teachers ARE teaching the whys. Maybe not every single one of them, but it is happening. It is certainly supposed to be happening.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

*their

by LanguageOrganic9028 1 day ago

Look maybe the standard of teaching has improved but I went to a flash private school and could learn 10 times as much from 20 minutes reading a text book as I could from an hour long class presented by a teacher when I was a teenager. My Math and Japanese teachers were the exception in my case but most teachers sucked at their jobs imo. Kids misbehaved and they were very good at dealing with that stuff tbh but not the actual teaching part.

by Comfortable-Baker826 1 day ago

Word

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I don't think this is an unpopular opinion, but I do think it's wrong in some fundamental ways. I have done the tutoring as well, and I was able to impart some skills. However, it's way different than teaching a class of 25-35 kids. With tutoring you can change up your teaching method and get immediate feedback on whether the student is getting it. You can provide focused attention and change direction. With a large class, you will be lucky to get half to pay attention and then get half of those to truly understand what is being taught. You get kids coming in who are missing huge swaths of the basics. It sounds like a nightmare to me. I can't blame the teachers, they're just trying to bring along as many kids as time allows. Now in the primary grades, you will get teachers who are not strong in math. I remember teaching my 8-year-old sister on how to classify angles as acute, obtuse etc. and hearing about what the teacher was telling them. The teacher clearly did not understand the concept, period. She got a test back with her correct answers marked wrong. I made that little girl take it to the principal and say she didn't understand why she lost marks. That principal saw what was happening but dismissed her concerns. However, the next day, the teacher pulled all the tests back with some lame excuse.

by DraftConfident 1 day ago

It's almost like you work with them one-on-one and not in a group of 30-40. If you don't think we explain what they're used for, try again. And we don't understand the math? You do know we all majored in math or something very closely related to it. You can't get a license without having taking Calculus and without taking a test that goes through Calculus 3. But please, tell me again we don't know anything and what we do. 🙄 OP, your ignorance is showing.

by feltoncollins 1 day ago

I don't think they're trying to flex anything with their statement.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Yeah, you said math majors, and then claimed freshman intro course is the requirement to get a license. Do you not see how unimpressive of a statement that is? It's unfair to expect students to go above and beyond when the teacher barely meets the bar, which itself is underground in the US.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Most freshman aren't taking calculus. It being a 100-level doesn't mean anything. College Algebra and precalc are also 100-level. Only 16% of high school students take calculus (national center for education statistics). And yes, I used those as an example because: 1) people are familiar with them (in other words, they've at least heard of them) and 2) while we take courses beyond that, we don't teach that higher level, so I referenced the highest level taught. It wasn't meant to be an impressive statement. It was meant to make a point. It's not my problem if you can't comprehend the basic premise.

by feltoncollins 1 day ago

It's almost like I matched OP's energy as they generalized an entire profession. Shocking how that works.

by feltoncollins 1 day ago

You're doing too much rn, my man.

by Qcarroll 1 day ago

I've had the same experience as OP, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Teachers are people too, and some people aren't that good at their jobs! No need to take it personally.

by oreillywaylon 1 day ago

Of course some suck. That's true of any profession. But that's not what OP said. They didn't say some don't know or some do this. They literally stated what teachers do. You want to criticize an entire field, then it shouldn't be shocking when it pisses some people off. Maybe OP shouldn't make generalized statements. I've got anywhere from 28-38 in a class this year. They work one-on-one. The two aren't comparable.

by feltoncollins 1 day ago

agree. I would see my mates memorising "logical formular" , like Time x speed = distance. You dont need to memorise that, you just need to understand it, that if you walk 1 meter every second that you will walk 3600 meters every hour, or 3.6km/h. instead they memorise formulas and then remember them wrong it and say someone walks at 7000000km/h and dont even question it.

by mckaylakuhlman 1 day ago

imo most would be better-served knowing that speed == distance / time when you ask someone how fast something is... they already naturally know the units as "distance per time"

by Anonymous 1 day ago

There is absolutely no healthy, functional person that actually "sucks" at math. Some pick things up better than others, but you can't suck at something that is purely objective and logical. The point is not to bust your ass doing the wrong work, the point is to do the right work. So, you're either approaching it the wrong way, or you just haven't found your teacher yet. -Sincerely, a random internet stranger.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

My daughter was a straight A honors student until her junior year honors algebra 2 class. She got a C in the class and just could not understand how her teacher was teaching and why she gave questions on her tests that never matched ho what they were learning in class. I suggested she go for extra help but her teacher never actually helped. t wasn't just her either, most of her class ended up with B's or C's and she would berate the kids that they didn't deserve to be in honors math. The only thing that helped a little was having kids from the Algerbra 2 class with a different teacher explain to my daughter how to do things.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

This tracks. I was good at math until Precal when the teacher spent more time flirting with the girls than teaching. A lot of people struggled in that class and with that teacher. My guidance counselor forced me to go in early to get help and same damn thing. Just a flirt fest and I'd get pushed aside.

by Fancy-Arrival5283 1 day ago

I haven't been in school for awhile but whenever I see students or parents complaining about how math is taught it's always having to show their work.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Revisiting underpinning concepts is something that I see lacking in years 10 and 11.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

But more context and some history of math should be taught Sine 90 degrees is 1. Interestingly this would have been discovered by the Greeks when they drew a right angle triangle and noticed that if the opposite side was 1 meter, the hypotenuse was 1 meter. When Opposite was 5 meters, hypotenuse was 5 meters. Manually and tediously they they measured ratios of different sides for each angle between 0 and 90 and then created information tables to reference My precalc teacher wanted us to memorize and apply trig identities but could not for the life of her derive them. It was kinda sad to watch.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I was ridiculously good at math in highschool. One day I was the only one in class who understood what we were learning (I wanna say it was integers). So, i offered to show the class how I looked at it. My teacher got angry because it wasn't technically the proper way to break it down. She said it wouldn't always work, but I explained it's legitimately how I've been solving the problems correctly on her tests and homework. The class actually took my side and were like "we actually understand it now though" after she told them to ignore what I put. I also made an English teacher bitch about me to so many students for correcting her. I had people walking up to me, hours later, asking what I did to make her so mad 🤣

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I disagree. Ultimately, you're responsible for your own education. If your teacher isn't explaining something well, it's your responsibility to seek out better explanations. I tutored math at a state school, and we had a lot of students who were absolutely hopeless, and usually they were the ones who only came in for help the week of exams. It was nobody's fault but their own.

by CriticismCandid 1 day ago

Yep. My daughter basically had to teach herself the calculus course in university. The teacher was pretty bad. A lot of people failed. She got an A+. The grades had a really weird distribution. Not a bell curve but mostly just a bunch of people failing, very few people I. The middle and then a bunch of people with higher marks like B+ to A+.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Until college when you pay to be taught, I disagree with this. Teachers are responsible for your education and should teach correctly.

by TraditionalJoke5732 1 day ago

I think the pre internet generations can be cut some slack on not being able to seek out alternative forms or study, but there's no limit to what you could now find just using your phone.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

But they wouldn't have to do that if they were being taught in the classroom. Also nowadays how do you know if the information you're getting online is correct?

by emardtomas 1 day ago

Oldadays how did we know if it was correct? While math can be sometimes be relative, it is commonly a lot more absolute then sociology or history or something.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

If your teacher isn't explaining something well, it's your responsibility to seek out better explanations. Why? Isn't it the job of a teacher to, you know, teach?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

We can't force information into somebody's brain. It's our responsibility to teach, but it's the student's responsibility to learn. And that requires active participation.

by Trisha82 1 day ago

Learning mathematics is not a passive activity. It requires actively making connections between concepts in your mind and solving problems. Teachers can present the knowledge to you, guide your learning, and provide feedback, but ultimately, you're the only person who can teach you mathematics.

by CriticismCandid 1 day ago

I agree with you. People think math is so hard but many don't want apply themselves in the first place.

by Suspicious-Dingo-897 1 day ago

One way in which they've absolutely been failed by teachers, though, is by being allowed to pass classes they should have failed. They'd come in the week of exams for, say, algebra 2 and expect me to help them, even though they didn't understand key concepts of algebra 1!

by CriticismCandid 1 day ago

I had a math teacher in 6th grade that would never teach. All he would do was talk about his 2 ex's, football, and how he hasn't drank soda in years. He would do this every day and eventually got fired at the end of the year. I felt bad for my 7th grade teachers cause they were stuck trying to catch us up on a year of learning. Most of my peers and I struggled with math during high school.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Also because textbooks suck! They skip so many steps, and expect you to remember stuff from years prior. For the record, we don't know how to do steps from 2 years ago, and we dont remember how to use the functions on our calculators!!!

by Monahanwinfield 1 day ago

My dad was a math tutor "for fun" in his spare time. The big issue he found was there being only one way teachers want questions answered (curriculum requirements). For some questions there were multiple ways to go about it, but teachers were looking for a specific route. He'd help me and I'd show my work and get the right answer, but it would be marked wrong because I did the work differently.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The teacher isn't super excited for you to get the correct answer. They're looking to see if you know the skill they just taught you for how to get the answer. If you use another method, you're not showing that you have that skill.

by Trisha82 1 day ago

I think learning and memorizing graphs (particularly graphs of the most common functions) should be stressed much more in classes. In high school I felt like I really struggled with math, but then my calc I professor freshman year spent a lot of time looking at graphs and that's what made math click for me.

by Dangerous-Snow 1 day ago

I think people are just lazy and a lot of people hate it because everyone else hates/struggles with it so they go into it with a negative mindset expecting to hate it. I think anyone is capable of learning math at least up until calc 3 It's also hard to convince people that you need to learn about something when they'll never have any use for the Pythagorean theorem(I'd argue Pythagoras can be pretty useful), quadratic etc. that maybe true but learning about math is important because of the reasoning skills you'll develop from it

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I've hated math since I was in kindergarten personally.

by wildermanlionel 1 day ago

Did you struggle to remember the numbers 1-10?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I mean I did fail kindergarten so

by wildermanlionel 1 day ago

What did they teach ou back then

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I am awful at math and it frustrates me to no end because math is essentially a puzzle and I love puzzles. You're just figuring out what goes where and how they fit together. And I can do general math and some geometry if I can get a refresh on what I'm doing, but beyond that I get so overwhelmed and then I get lost in what step I was on.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Saxon math books are The Worst(tm).

by Stock-Cranberry 1 day ago

The real unpopular opinion is that some people are just dumb and learn slow. 20-40% of students get an A with that "bad" math teacher, another 20-40% get a B.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Math ist the only PURE science It is everywhere It's the fabric of reality

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Common core was supposed to help that, but made it worse

by Anonymous 1 day ago

That WOULD explain how I did horrible in math until geometry— I finished the curriculum early and started learning Pre-Calc. It was a very young, enthusiastic teacher.. which I also think helped a lot (particularly the enthusiasm).

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I always felt math moved too fast.

by GreatRevolution1995 1 day ago

It was all practice for me. I think I did like two-thirds of those old REA Problem Solvers books in college.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I took calculus twice and statistics three times with different professors. They all explained things differently. Same with chemistry. My HS chem was difficult remember. But my college professor was so good I only needed her to explain things once.

by Felicita58 1 day ago

Its your parents fault

by Dominiquewittin 1 day ago

Agreed. Fortunately, math always came naturally to me. I had good teachers too. I still remember being obsessed with proofs in geometry, lol

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Hence Donald duck in mathemagical land. Make math concepts concrete, rooted in reality

by Billieschultz 1 day ago

I also think math suffers from a too many cooks problem. Working with my children through elementary school mathematics, it was over programmed with boxes that add this way and rows to calculate that way. Not all students need a trick. Memorization takes time but we all got there. Now, in an effort to spark all learners, the basic tools I used were somehow considered obsolete. They're grown now but their math was a largely unnecessary collection of techniques instead just learning arithmetic.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Im sorry but math teachers understand high school math just fine and I'm thinking it is rare that a college professor struggles with undergrad math. The problem is trying to find a way to explain the math so 30 individuals, all with different learning styles can understand. Also, the 30 people can't pause and rewind in real time and most people don't want to interrupt to ask for clarification more than a few times in a class.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I felt my entire life that I was bad at math, inately awful at it. But when I actually had a professor who took the time to analyze and go through, I was very successful. I agree completely.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

I studied to be a math teacher but changed my path before starting student teaching. What I can say is kids are missing foundational basics. I was doing practicums and sit ins. I remember one lesson I took where we were simplifying algebraic fractions like x6y3/x2y. To do this, you need the basics of fractions which you learn in 5th grade and half the 7th graders didnt have those.

by leschteresa 23 hours ago

The issue is that most people take a while to understand, but they can learn most things given enough time and right approach.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

You can teach all people math, but you can't teach all math to everyone.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

Idk about math but I had a situation in chemistry that made be believe this. I couldn't get energy exchanging or w/e and then a teacher from another school saw my work and was like "why are you doing it the old way?" and taught me a much easier way. But when I did the work this way on my homework my teacher would get upset and said he wouldn't grade my work if I did it this way.

by Ziemealexys 23 hours ago

This is true tho? I sucked at math until I got my calculus teacher and suddenly I got really good at calculus even getting a perfect score on my AP Cal test.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

Well we also teach math totally different now. It's stupid af

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

I've been saying that teachers can't teach math from algebra to calculus. I graduated with an EET degree and had to take 3 Semesters of calculus and Not one professor could teach it on a level we'd understand. If it weren't for a slew of old calculus books I'd never oif passed those classes. The professors might have advanced degrees in Mathematics but that doesn't mean they can teach it. That includes physics and advanced electronic classes.

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

Ok, I'll bite. Teach me how to solve quadratic equations by teaching me what they're for and how they apply to the real world.

by raegan65 22 hours ago

Agreed. You have to ask the instructor for real-world examples and applications. Otherwise, it's formulas at worst and mechanisms decoupled from any foundation in reality at best.

by Yadira56 21 hours ago

Aka the poorly educated can't educate very well. If teachers were paid a fair wage there would be more teachers. Everyone I know that I grew up with , minus maybe 1 person, that is now a teacher was also on the dumber side and they sorta fell into teaching due to a lack of other options. I'm not throwing shade on teachers, I just think the wage issues alone weed out a lot of the potentially great teachers, among other things.

by Torphywilly 21 hours ago

Do you still tutor?

by Genesis02 20 hours ago

Tell me on what instance does a regular Joe need to do calculus or integrals in his real life, unless he is a scientist

by goyettevalentin 20 hours ago

It's because math illiterate people dictate how math is taught. And they box out STEM professionals, including math experts, because they think they know better. Their goal is to close the achievement gap, not to produce the most math literate people as possible.

by murray64 20 hours ago