The Myth of 'I'm Bad at Math' Im just not a math person. We hear it all the time.

And weve had enou h. Be!ause we "elieve that the idea of math people is the most self#destru!tive idea in Ameri!a today. The truth is$ you pro"a"ly are a math person$ and "y thin%in otherwise$ you are possi"ly hamstrin in your own !areer. Worse$ you may "e helpin to perpetuate a perni!ious myth that is harmin underprivile ed !hildren&the myth of in"orn eneti! math a"ility. Is math a"ility eneti!' (ure$ to some de ree. But heres the thin ) We dont have to* +or hi h#s!hool math$ in"orn talent is mu!h less important than hard wor%$ preparation$ and self#!onfiden!e. ,ow do we %now this' +irst of all$ "oth of us have tau ht math for many years&as professors$ tea!hin assistants$ and private tutors. A ain and a ain$ we have seen the followin pattern repeat itself) - .ifferent %ids with different levels of preparation !ome into a math !lass. (ome of these %ids have parents who have drilled them on math from a youn a e$ while others never had that %ind of parental input. / 0n the first few tests$ the well#prepared %ids et perfe!t s!ores$ while the unprepared %ids et only what they !ould fi ure out "y win in it&may"e 12 or 134$ a solid B. 5 The unprepared %ids$ not reali6in that the top s!orers were well#prepared$ assume that eneti! a"ility was what determined the performan!e differen!es. .e!idin that they just arent math people$ they dont try hard in future !lasses$ and fall further "ehind. 7 The well#prepared %ids$ not reali6in that the B students were simply unprepared$ assume that they are math people$ and wor% hard in the future$ !ementin their advanta e. Thus$ peoples "elief that math a"ility !ant !han e "e!omes a self#fulfillin prophe!y. The idea that math a"ility is mostly eneti! is one dar% fa!et of a lar er falla!y that intelli en!e is mostly eneti!. A!ademi! psy!holo y journals are well sto!%ed with papers studyin the world view that lies "ehind the %ind of self#fulfillin prophe!y we just des!ri"ed. The entity orientation that says 8ou are smart or not$ end of story$ leads to "ad out!omes&a result that has "een !onfirmed "y many other studies. 9The relevan!e for math is shown "y resear!hers at 0%lahoma :ity who re!ently found that "elief in in"orn math a"ility may "e responsi"le for mu!h of the ender ap in mathemati!s.; <sy!holo ists =isa Bla!%well$ >ali Tr6esniews%i$ and :arol .we!% presented these

alternatives to determine peoples "eliefs a"out intelli en!e) 3 8ou have a !ertain amount of intelli en!e$ and you really !ant do mu!h to !han e it. ? 8ou !an always reatly !han e how intelli ent you are. The results' :onvin!in students that they !ould ma%e themselves smarter "y hard wor% led them to wor% harder and et hi her rades. The intervention had the "i est effe!t for students who started out "elievin intelli en!e was eneti!. +or almost everyone$ "elievin that you were "orn dum"&and are doomed to stay that way&is "elievin a lie. Be!ause the truth may "e hard to "elieve$ here is a set of lin%s a"out some e@!ellent "oo%s to !onvin!e you that most people !an "e!ome smart in many ways$ if they wor% hard enou h. (o why do we fo!us on math' +or one thin $ math s%ills are in!reasin ly important for ettin ood jo"s these days&so "elievin you !ant learn math is espe!ially self# destru!tive. But we also "elieve that math is the area where Ameri!as falla!y of in"orn a"ility is the most entren!hed. Math is the reat mental "o eyman of an un!onfident Ameri!a. If we !an !onvin!e you that anyone !an learn math$ it should "e a short step to !onvin!in you that you !an learn just a"out anythin $ if you wor% hard enou h.