"No student is weaker at maths!" - This is my stand about Mathematics and will remain like this forever, irrespective of what others say. If student is able to understand the basic mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, they can understand any damn concept of mathematics. I am confident about this because Mathematics can't be difficult. It always have some reason and logic and any human brain can understand. So why is it that some students are labeled as "weak" at mathematics? Here I have listed some of the reasons:
Ignorance by parents and teachers.
In the early stage of development, both teachers and parents play vital role in the modelling the child's brain. Maths cannot be learned in one day. Remember - "Rome was not built in a day". It takes time. Maths is like a staircase. You have to go up step by step. If you try to skip a step, you will fall on your face. This is something that actually happens. When child is is primary school, teacher and parents think that it is fine if student does not study hard. They will work well in boards and score well. This can never happen. Once student fails or scores poor in boards he/she is tagged "weak". Who is responsible here?
Note : I do not mean that students should be pressurized with too much of work load. But one has to make optimal use of the student's mental faculties.
Comparison with other students.
Each student has some talent. One who is too bright at Maths may not be that good at other subjects and vice verse. This ability can be god-gifted or may be the result of early modelling. Each student grows up in different environment. We all are from different family backgrounds. In such circumstances, comparing your child with someone else child is not at all fair. When you give example of some other child to your child, it develops an inferiority complex killing all the self confidence of your child. Once confidence blows up, it is really difficult to get back.
Preconceived notions
I did a small survey. I asked 100 random students about rating the maths as easy, moderate and difficult. Result was quite surprising. 83/100 student admitted that they find it difficult. I asked them the reason too and most of them said that "they cannot understand". This line is inscribed on their brains by elders always stressing hard about "Maths being difficult." This gives negative signal to child about maths. Simple motivation can do wonders.
The way Maths is taught...
Maths is taught as a subject with too many conventional methods and formulas that look "random" and "garbage" to students. That is because...they are taught how to calculate sum using formulas. Fundamentals go ignored most of the times. Fundamentals are like enlightenment. When you understand the fundamentals, you start feeling maths and then the interest develops.
Fear of making mistakes and scoldings
Mistake is something that is wrong. Yes this is right. But when you go wrong, you try to look for the right path. Mistakes helped me a lot to learn and even when I am studying engineering, I learn many things from mistakes. Make you child laugh at his/her mistake. Rather then scolding him, make him feel comfortable so that he can admit his mistake. This is the duty of the teacher to see that student can speak up. Don't admonish students for some small mistakes. They discourage them!
