Generally we come across many parents who say that their ward fears from Maths but are good in other subjects. Let’s try and understand why does this happens.
Mathematics is one of the important subjects and yet it is one of the subjects which is feared by most of the school students. Many of the students feel confused, nervous, stressed when they hear about ‘Maths’. Research and study by educationists has found that many students feel Maths is all about right answers and they get embarrassed or scared if they don’t get right answers. This fear after some time stops them from trying and they usually start avoiding the subject.
Maths is like a building, week foundation of the building cannot have strong upper floors. If a student has week basics and does not understand the basic concept of addition, subtraction, fractions etc. the higher topics become difficult and confusing. Sometimes in school the teachers have to complete syllabus and hence they teach fast and some students who needs more time to understand the concept feels left behind, and this creates anxiety. Maths is a subject which cannot be learnt by just reading or attending classes, it can only be learnt by regular practice. A simple problem looks very difficult if you have not done enough practice. Maths being a scoring subject hence every one (parents and teachers) have lot of expectation and focus on marks. This pressure makes students afraid of doing mistakes and loosing marks.
Another factor is negative mind set, many students hear that ‘Maths is tough’ or “I was never good in Maths”, these thoughts create a belief that Maths is scary, before they try to learn it.
Fear of Maths is very common, but is not permanent. With right approach, practice and support, any student can improve and start enjoying Maths. Maths is about learning step by step.The more you practice the less you fear from it.
A good teacher or mentor can make Maths simple and interesting.
