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Math In America Essay

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When it comes to math in America, we are not faring too well. Internationally we are below compared to other states. Some people believe it is due to the fact that Americans believe they are not “math people.” In America we have a problem with math and the way we view it. Americans fix this problem by eliminating the term “math people”, the way we teach math, and by incorporating technology. Many Americans believe that they are not math people. Most Americans believe that being good at math is due to the fact that you have to be genetically good at it. This idea is very harmful to students because they believe that they will never be good at math, because their parents weren’t good in it. In the article, The Myth of I’m Bad at Math states “pernicious myth that is harming underprivileged children—the myth of inborn genetic math ability” (Kimball and Smith). This comment is talking about how when we say that math is genetic, then you are harming students …show more content…

The United is below in math internationally and it’s because of the way we teach math. Most teachers do an example of a problem that is exactly the same as their homework problems, which does not help because the student is just following the example and not critically thinking about the problem. According to the article The Stereotypes that Distort How Americans Teach and Learn Math, it states that “Students in the Common Core will spend less time practicing isolated methods and more time solving applied problems that involve connecting different methods, using technology, understanding multiple representations of ideas, and justifying their thinking” (Boaler). This statement talks about how the Common Core standards help students understand different ideas, understand the problem, connecting, and justify how they got that answer. Also, Common Core incorporates technology with math which is a big part of our

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