David Roye Math Anxiety Analysis

As a young teenager, I was lost on what I wanted to do as an adult. What was my path? Was I going to be a doctor? A lawyer? I had no idea. However, I did know one thing: I love science and math. Therefore, I took many Advanced Placement science and math classes to pinpoint exactly what was for me. I took Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Calculus. While I enjoyed all of these classes, especially Physics, I fell in love with one particular class: calculus.

During the camp, there were so many girls that had self-doubts about math and how they couldn’t do it. It was hard in the beginning trying to tell the girls that math can be fun if we try and use art skills to solve math problems. The first week was the hardest because the girls didn’t want to work at all because the girls that were good at math were always showing off and the girls that were having struggles didn’t want to get involved in math even if art was brought in. Once the more shy and doubting girls started to get involved in the math games/ art, they were able to get the hang of it fast that the other counselors would have to help them once in a while which showed just how much the girls were starting to have fun with math.

Yet, this summer, as I slaved through my precalculus class at Cabrillo, watching my precious three months tick away, something incredible happened. I got it. Math is incredible because it all relates to itself, like a snake eating its own tail. Take Euler’s identity. It takes a number you’ve been working with forever, and links it to something you would never expect (a complex imaginary function), in a single, concise identity. Mathematics is elegant, and simple; you just have to stick with it to see it. That night, I called my cousin, and gushed to her--I could hear her smile through the phone. Someone finally got it. Pure math isn’t pretentious, useless nonsense, it’s art for art’s sake.

The age old question was posed by grandfather. “What do you plan on studying at school?” That question had always haunted me, mainly because the answer never seemed to impress anyone. I’ve always loved writing– it’s pretty much the only thing I’m passionate about. So to me, it only seemed logical to study creative writing. Yet whenever I’d tell someone that, their bright smiles would always falter slightly as the same variety of questions would spill from their lips. “So you want to write for a living?” “What kind of income would that bring?” “Wouldn’t you have to write a best seller to make any type of money?” Questions such as these are the reason I’ve always felt uneasy about telling people what I planned on studying in college, especially my grandpa. He said I should major in Business, like my mom. Or Medicine, like my aunt. Fields of study that actually could land me a decent paying job after college. And that’s why I really enjoyed Mark Edmundson’s article, because unlike my grandpa, he didn’t make me feel small. In a way, he validated my plans to major in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. Because life is far too short to do something you hate day in and day out. Sure, I could switch my major and become a Business major. And I’d probably land a great job with a nice salary. But money and material things won’t matter when you’re lying on your death bed. You’ll want

Learning about grit and what a growth mindset is allowed me to realized that grit and a

At 16 years old, I had no clue as to what career I would be heading into in the future and I was starting to get a bit worried. I was going to enter my junior year of high school and I needed to enter an alternative course on my course selection sheet, in case the AP Psychology would not have any room for me. I randomly selected Marketing Essentials, confidently thinking that I would definitely be in AP Psychology next year. Little did I know, AP Psychology was full of students and I ended up having Marketing Essentials on my schedule, a topic that I had no knowledge of. Each day I attended my Marketing class, I grew very fond of the subject of Business. After the first week of school, I knew what career I would be heading in. My goal would be to move back to New York and be a resilient businesswoman.

Throughout high school I have tried to take classes that were not only challenging, but would also be relevant to my future. I have taken nine AP level classes since sophomore year, and I have thrived in the difficult coursework that is meant to be college level. So far, I have proven my hard work and dedication by passing all of the AP tests thus far. I have also taken advantage of the advanced math coursework that is two years ahead than normal. I began this track since the fifth grade, and I continued and progressed all these year. Now in my senior year of high school I am taking Calculus III and Differential Equations- traditionally college sophomore classes. I also took advantage of the Engineering classes offered at Union. My parents

In my own experience with AP Stressful, x is defined as an unknown quantity, and if all goes well, finding the mathematical “x” ends with either a specific value (or range thereof), or an answer that’s undefined, in other words impossible. The quote “math is the universal language” holds true—that same set of two possibilities encases any interpretation of “find x,” from the vector itself to the phonetic ‘ex.’ But hold thy horses, reader. I see it now, Maura Connors rolls her eyes at this essay in front of her. Using the actual, literal meaning of the prompt is the easy way out, nice try, she cackles. This talentless slug is Denied. Pull another hopeful victim’s application out of the pile, Kyle.

Some people in elementary school knew they wanted to be doctors. Classmates of mine in middle school expressed their desires to become teachers. And yet for freshman year me, I had no idea what my future would hold—and I was terrified. I had done decently academically, managed to swim without drowning, and could muster a couple songs on the violin. But in a larger sense, it often felt like I was going through the motions, living another day just to do so. I had no real passion, and as cliché as it sounds, my own perception of my success was determined by my grades.

In “Is Your Child Ready For College Math?” the author builds an argument that many students may not be prepared with the mathematics skills to be college or career ready. The author uses reasons such as the fact that students may have taken insufficient mathematics courses; that they may have taken the wrong courses, or that students have not mastered the skills required to be college and/or career ready. The author provides supporting evidence from the text and compelling word choices to strengthen the logic and persuasiveness of his argument.

Americans spend thirteen years of their lives in public school, and throughout those thirteen years, they are exposed to a variety of different ideas and subjects. Some gravitate towards the realm of the humanities, while others choose the world of math and science. I chose the latter. Science is a subject that builds upon itself the more you are exposed to it and it has captivated me for some time. Ever since learning the basics in elementary, science has been my favorite subject. It came easily to me, I barely had to try to achieve good grades. My passion for science had been unwavering, until one class caused me to question everything I previously felt about the subject. I decided to challenge myself and

Math was always my favorite subject in school ever since Elementary school. The subject fascinated me because it was not only about numbers; rather, it enabled me to think critically and analytically about the world itself. When I took Math 20-1 last semester, I, along with many other people, struggled with the course because it progressed much faster than Math 10-1. However, Math 30-1 has become much easier as I understood the material within fast pacing. The class reduced from its size from 50 students to 20 students because of the pacing, which was fine by me as I enjoyed classes with small amounts of people. Within the classroom itself, there were kites pasted on the top of the windows, plushy toys of Star Wars on the teacher’s desk and the clock with the numbers related to Math.

The reason why they hate Math is they think their teachers are not teaching them really well. If their teachers do not teach them well so most of the children scared Math, because of the teacher the most of the students hate Math. That many math problems have correct and wrong answers is a problem for people who feel inconvenient about making mistakes. About 70% of the students in our do not like Math, The children who hate Math started from the teachers who poorly taught their students at lower grades. These causes the students to get lower grades at Math, even the teacher themselves don’t want to teach Math. Some students feel like math is a new language. When students fail to work in a math class they may feel scare and try to ran away math as much as possible in the future. Some math teacher doesn’t know the beauty of math. Many students think that they do not need math in future for example some want to be a footballer but they thought they don’t need math of course even football need math like having angles. Some of the students aren’t patience of wronging so they try to avoid math as much as possible. Even the teachers don’t know the true meaning of math. There are

Everyone involved in our life has helped raise and teach us about almost everything as they all played a role in our lives. But how exactly did they play a role in our lives? In my opinion, they educated us on things that our time in school did not. In school, they teach us the same four subjects each year: English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. However, they are not teaching us things that we would have to learn from experience later in our lives. They are not focused on teaching us what to expect when we reach the age of adulthood, they are focused on teaching us about the subjects appointed by the Department of Education (DOE). This is the issue we face every day with the school system because although it is great to have a better understanding in these subjects, they should also focus on teaching us how to prepare for the real world. I strongly believe that they should be teaching us how to save money, how to be a better candidate for a job application, and how we are are going to need to be independent. Education should not just be about our academics or else we will never get anywhere. It should also be about how to prepare yourself for real-world problems.

When I think about myself, as a math learner one thing that I know is very important is low stress. Growing up during Elementary school, Middle school and high school I always enjoyed math and found it to be a very interesting and relaxing subject. Once I began taking AP Calculus during my senior year of high school I saw my stress level start to raise and my retention of information and my engagement with understanding the material versus just getting the right answer drop. I became fixated with having the right answers even if I did not understand how the math worked. This is a sad reality for many high school math students they are obsessed with the right answer. I find that the beauty of math is in the process, and if students learn to care more for that instead I think they will understand more math.