Subliminal Messages Sent to Children About Mathematics

My oldest daughter is entering 5th grade. For the first time (at least formally) we are homeschooling her. Given that math education is one of my fields, I have quite a large collection of resources and curricular materials to draw from. Actually, making a decision was quite challenging, because there were many good options. As you may notice, one of the blogs I enjoy reading is that of Tad Watanabe. He has advocated for a curriculum that is more coherent, and which builds conceptual understanding as well as procedural understanding. He is one of the supporters of Global Education Resources (http://www.globaledresources.com/) which sells English translation of Japanese textbooks. They are fairly reasonable, so I decided to order the 5th grade textbook. The first thing I noticed is that the year's curriculum comes as two fairly thin paperbacks about the size of a 5 x 7 picture on the front. There is no teacher's manual, at least not of the kind that we are accustomed to seeing here in the U.S. that lays out some prescribed approach (without knowing the needs of the students). Instead, you are advised to purchase the Teachers' Guidelines document, which is on a CD. It lays out specific, grade level target objectives and provides guidelines, such as ensuring that students have opportunities to model relationships and operations with concrete objects before beginning to introduce algorithms. It is a very useful document for anyone wishing to teach a child mathematics, regardless of their country of origin.

When I opened the front cover of the text, I was immediately taken with the introductory paragraph directed to students. It seemed to reflect vastly different attitudes and ideas about mathematics. It really drew a contrast in my mind between the kinds of attitudes that are fostered in Japan and the subliminal messages that American children receive. Shown below is that first paragraph from the Japanese text in bold print, along with the italicized comments, indicating the contrasting subliminal message I think U.S. children pick up.

There are many children who think that studying mathematics is interesting. Math is boring. Very few children like it, unless they are "math geeks." That is probably because, in mathematics, you can usually find the answer if you think persistently and diligently. Some people (maybe many) just can't do math. Perhaps they didn't inherit the math gene. It is like climbing up stairs one by one, although it may take time. You either know how to do it or you don't.

In mathematics, there is not only one way to find an answer. You have to do it exactly as the teacher shows you or it will be wrong. If you figure out another way, that is like cheating. So it is important to listen to your friends' ideas and discuss the ideas with them. You shouldn't discuss your ideas and answers with anyone else, or else you could get in trouble for cheating.

Let's work hard and do challenging mathematics together. If you don't know how to do something, ask for help from the teacher right away. They are supposed to "make it easy".

These subliminal messages play a significant role in the "mathematical health" of our nation. One study that I read on problem solving contrasted the differences between how Japanese first graders responded to a challenging problem compared to American first graders. The Japanese students worked on the same problem for 45 minutes, which is when the teacher concluded the lesson. The American students all gave up on the problem within 3 minutes. Clearly, those Japanese children believed that they could make sense and solve that problem, if they were just persistent. How do you suppose they developed that belief? Being told that persistence is important is a starting point, but I suspect those students had had plenty of opportunity to exercise that persistence without a teacher coming in at the first sign of confusion to "save the day."

What subliminal messages did you receive as a child about mathematics? How might you "break the cycle" of negative attitudes and foster a healthier, more productive, problem-solving attitude? These are questions well worth pondering.