mathematics schmathematics

Although I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that kids have homework now starting in kindergarten (something I find completely unnecessary), I truly do not enjoy one minute of overseeing it. I try my best to seem cheerful and upbeat when I announce after dinner in a sing-song voice that it's "homework time" knowing that it will be followed by groaning and whining. My second grader will dutifully find a pencil, get settled at the table and start whittling away at a math worksheet, followed by a "word sort". Usually it's a mildly unpleasant experience for us all but lately it's become even worse.

"I'm not good at math!" He says with tears in his big blue eyes. "I'm the second worst one in the class!"

"How do you know that? You can't compare yourself to other kids. Lots of people look like they know what they're doing and have no idea. Actually, it's usually the people who act like they know everything that know nothing," I explain to him. But he is still distraught. I go on to reassure him that his teacher is happy with his progress and he is exactly where he should be.

When it comes to his word sorts he whizzes through them. He has a fantastic vocabulary for a seven year-old and he even writes poems and short stories, voluntarily, in his free time. My husband is a wordsmith and I have always preferred letters over numbers so I guess it's in our boy's blood. Don't worry, we have never spoken of our disdain for algebra in front of any of our kids. We don't want to taint them with the knowledge that they may just not be math people either.

I know that there are certain people in my family (Dad) that will take what I'm saying as blasphemy. I understand that math cultivates higher levels of thinking and all that. I can admit that math is a necessary evil and some people build entire civilizations and careers around it. I also know that the only math I've ever actually needed since I left school is addition and subtraction. Balancing my checkbook is really the only math I do. I have never come across a problem in my life where I though, "Damn! If only I could remember the algebraic equation to solve this!" I do not feel that my quality of life is in anyway lowered by the absence of calculus or geometry in it. The movie Apollo 13 depicts my worst nightmare: having to do math to calculate how to get around the moon and save your own life because your computers are down. I shudder to think about it.

All people have their strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has gifts that can enrich their lives and the fabric of our communities. In any given group of people you will find artists, writers, scientists, musicians and yes, math people. If we were all the same, wouldn't things be lopsided and boring? So what I want to know is if we're going to subject all children to years and years of math, why not subject them all to years and years of art and music, too. Not just "electives."

I sometimes hear certain kinds of people (math people) say, "I'm not creative at all." And they can get away with that and barely be forced out of their comfort zone. An art class here, a music class there (mostly in elementary school), and they are done. They don't have to take class after miserable class! Let them get a stomach ache while having to stand in front of the class and paint a masterpiece on the board. I can still remember the horror of high school algebra, having to work problems out on the chalkboard under the glare of the soft, doughy, pale teacher. I could hardly sleep the night before, worrying about the homework that made no sense and the test that was coming up. Did the math people have to lose sleep over pinch pots? Or basket weaving? Did they have to take tests on their ability to produce a beautiful song or painting? No! because people just assume that if you aren't creative, you just aren't creative. So why do we all have to be math people?

By the end of say, 5th grade, it's pretty evident who the true mathematicians are and are not going to be. So lets corral them and let them have the best math teachers and resources possible. We'll give a general education to everyone but then focus in on each child's strength instead of trying to force square pegs into a round hole. And we should implement this program within the next few years so that I don't have to hire a tutor to help my son through a class that will do nothing but give him nightmares for the rest of his creative little life.