Mathophobia is when people are scared of math without having true reason for it. When people walk into a math class and automatically groan or complain that they are terrible at math and will never be able to get through the class. This is setting yourself up for failure and we need to have a positive attitude no matter what class we walk into. As an over all population we are known as mathophobics. I do suffer from this because math was never my strong point, I had difficulty with many math classes including my sophomore year of high school math which I failed not once but twice. I believe I suffer from mathophobia because in elementary school I never fully got the basics of math down. Math is a building subject and without basic skills you quickly fall behind and than give up. I believe that the majority of people suffering from Mathophobia have this same problem with basic skills. I'm hoping that this class will help me with basic skills and before I begin teaching I know I will have to work hard on perfecting my basic skills. As an elementary teacher I would help my students to learn there basic skills properly in order to hopefully begin eliminating mathophobia for future students and future Americans.
Math is very important and as adults there is no way to avoid doing math. We need it for banking, shopping, budgeting and everyday common tasks. Because math is used so much even on a basic level it is surprising that adults do not over come their mathophobia. How adults get around using math is by relining on others, calculators or just giving up in general. Many adults wouldn't even know if they had been over charged on a bill or under tipping a waitress because they are ignoring the numbers all together. Children see their mother's, father's, or guardians afraid of math and therefore do not get support on their homework and they to have mathophobia.
The videos we watched relating to homophobia showed how the world views math. The carton Kim Possible had an entire episode on the "villains" of math, this has the possibility of scaring kids of math from a very young age. This could have a lasting effect on the children without them even realizing it, it is singling out math as a scary subject. The "Who wants to a millionaire" show with Patricia Heaton as a quest relates directly to mathophobia. A question comes up about math and before the question is complete she freaks out and refuses to answer. Patricia is a grown adult and this shows us that even adults suffer from mathophobia.
As a teacher I will aspire to help students over come mathophobia and hopefully begin to end mathophobia.
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