Math and Writing Anxieties

Phi Kappa Phi Forum, Summer 2004 by Stolpa, Jennifer M

"I'm not a math person."

"Writing's just not my thing."

"No one in my family's ever been good at that."

By observing students in my writing courses and in a course that I teach on math and writing anxieties, and by listening to math and writing instructors at all levels, I have become convinced that one of the greatest issues facing education today is anxiety about and avoidance of math and writing.

Students who truly believe that they cannot succeed in math or writing often stop trying to learn these subjects at a very early age. Their anxieties are compounded as they struggle over the years; eventually these young people choose majors in college or career paths after high school that allow them to avoid the subjects as much as possible. Because skills in both areas are crucial to individual success in a multitude of careers as well as in life outside of work, such individuals are not able to fulfill their highest potential.

To discover the causes of math and writing anxieties, all of us - including parents and educators must be willing to carefully examine our own attitudes. Children are not born believing that they are incapable of achieving something. That failure to believe in oneself is learned from the world outside.

"My mom told me that she always got low grades in English, too, so it's no wonder I can't do it."

Parents may unintentionally contribute to a child's anxiety about math or writing. When faced with a child whom they love and who is frustrated or upset because of difficulties with an essay or a math assignment, parents naturally want to comfort the child. Their response may be, "Don't worry. I never got algebra either," or "Math was never my strong suit in school." Parents may even confirm a student's sense of futility by suggesting that "no one in our family ever did well in English."

Students repeat these responses to themselves and to others. Unfortunately, those parents have just given their children an excuse to stop trying. They have planted a seed that may grow into a strong belief that "I was just born without the ability to do this subject." When that happens, the child gives up, sometimes for good.

"My history teacher told me in high school that some people just can't do algebra, that she couldn't do it in high school either."

Teachers also may unknowingly pass on their anxieties about mathematics or writing through simple statements about how "impossible" one or the other was for them. Trying to comfort a frustrated child, a teacher might say, "Maybe math just isn't your thing. You do well at so many other subjects, so don't worry." Once, an elementary school teacher said to me in front of a young student, "Her brother never could remember multiplication facts either, so it was bound to be a struggle for her, too."

How do I know teachers make these mistakes and feed anxieties about subjects? How do I know that we sometimes help to fuel the misunderstandings about the divisions between math/science and language? In large part, the reason is that I have done so myself.

As a graduate teaching assistant, I was naturally a little unsure of myself in front of students. When I would occasionally make a mistake in adding up points on a student's grade, I would say, "Well, now you see why I was an English major and not a math major." The students and I would chuckle and move on. Now as I look back, I am dismayed by what I said. In that instant, I was guilty of defining all of mathematics as simple arithmetic, of covering up my embarrassment over what is a natural mistake (because I am human!) by driving in the wedge between the two disciplines even further, and of validating students' beliefs that one is either gifted in one subject, the other, or neither.

It also was simply not the truth. I earned an "A" in first-semester calculus class and was a member of the math team all through high school. Had I felt inclined to be a math major, I could have been. Simple arithmetic mistakes, which math majors make all the time, would not have stopped me. But I was lucky. No one had ever given me a reason to believe that I could not succeed in one particular discipline.

Not all students are so fortunate. The fear of writing and math is so pervasive in contemporary American society that it is frequently found in television shows and movies. Sitcoms and comedians go to the easy joke about math's impossibility, and many people laugh. If a television show needs a metaphor for a student struggling at school, most often the subject chosen to typify those struggles is mathematics, and in the audience many nod their heads. Movies about mathematicians, such as A Beautiful Mind or Good Will Hunting, focus on the rare genius among us.

Recent films such as Adaptation and secret Window depict the realistic struggles of professional writers during the drafting stages, but neither writer is in any other way to be considered a model that we are asked to follow. Too often, television programs show students putting off that term paper or avoiding it altogether.