So my math students recently took a tough quiz. Many did not do as well as they had hoped. And therein lies the problem. “Hope Learning” is not an effective method of skill retention.

Math is not, never has been, and never will be a spectator sport. Moreover, it isn’t even a subject. History is a subject. Students can memorize stuff for a test, take the test, and forget the content forever. Math is an acquired skill that builds daily, so it requires deliberate practice.

So what is math, if it is not a subject?

As stated above a subject is something where you can memorize content for a test, then empty the shelf space.

On the other hand, math should be thought of as an acquired skill kinda like playing an instrument. What does that mean? If you play the piano, you know you have to practice. You warm-up every time with scales. Scales were always my least favorite, but if I wanted to improve my finger dexterity, scales were a necessary evil.

At any rate, to improve at an instrument (like the piano), you have to practice the piano. If all you did was pay for piano lessons, you wouldn’t learn how to play without consistent practice at home.

This is the reason so many students hate math. They don’t practice. And when you don’t practice, you don’t achieve mastery. When you don’t achieve mastery, you do poorly on exams. When you don’t do well on exams, you end up hating math. And the teacher usually gets the blame for a student’s lack of practice. Most complaints, from both students and parents, are fraught with telltale signs of cognitive dissonance.

Need Another Analogy?

So maybe you don’t play a musical instrument? But you may play a sport or work out at the gym.

Let’s say you join a gym. The first day at the gym makes you sore, but your reflection in the mirror looks the same. Nothing happens to the shape of your physique until you’ve been at it (i.e., practicing) for a few months.

If someone joins a gym and seldom goes in to exercise, it would be unreasonable to say the gym doesn’t work. That’s kinda like saying your “teacher doesn’t teach it right.” Students not doing their homework is like driving past the gym and complaining about the gym when their muscles don’t growing.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

To learn math, you have to do math. Then keep practicing it daily. Do every problem every day.

And at least 10% of what you do in math should be mind-bending for you. It’s called tolerable frustration to use education jargon. Now remember, mind-bending for you may be easy for someone else, so do not get discouraged and give up.

I am reminded of Dr. Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life. Rule 4 to be specific is: Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today. If you compare yourself to people farther down the road to Awesome, you run the risk of giving up.

Every great chess player was once a beginner.

No one is born with the ability to stand up and walk to the car, hop in the car seat, and drive themselves home from the maternity ward after being born. Neither are we born with math skills pre-loaded on our brains. We put the skills there through cognitive engagement at school. It’s kinda like downloading a new program for our computer. Then we practice outside the classroom which is kinda like installing the software we downloaded during lecture.

So until the medical community creates IQ injections that allow us to learn without effort (this may coming as science fiction becomes less and less fiction), we all have to do things the old-fashioned way, with our 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.

Moral of the Story

Students must cognitively engage in the classroom. They must study their notes and do their assigned practice between classes. Most importantly, they must stick with it. I am reminded of the book Three Feet from Gold: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities by Sharon Lechter and Greg Reid. The story goes like this…

Some opportunistic men were caught up in the gold rush. They purchased some land in the hills and became gold miners. They dug and they dug and they dug. But after a while, they gave up. Deciding that there was no gold in the hills they had purchased, they sold the land cheap. After digging just three more feet, the new owners struck one of the richest gold veins ever!

Until next time…

Remember that success is a planned event. Believe in yourself.

Pay attention, do the work, and don’t give up!

And don’t forget to check out my new YouTube channel!

www.youtube.com/@PlanetNumeracy