You almost never meet students who feel that they cannot succeed in a college humanities

or social science class if they put in the requisite time and effort. Sure, they understand that
they might have to work hard to do well in a particularly demanding political science class,
and they recognize that an advanced philosophy course will likely be challenging, but it’s a
rare thing for students to feel that those courses are somehow off limits to them. Students
hardly ever believe that they weren’t born to study English, or that they’re just not cut out
to major in history, or that they’re not an “anthropology person.”

Conversely, many students are ready to believe that they simply aren’t capable of excelling
in college math and science courses at the first whiff of trouble - and sometimes well
before. These students are convinced that talent for math and science is innate, and that
some people can excel in college math and sciences courses and some people, because of
how their brains work, just can’t. Searching ardently for their own natural limits in these
subjects, they inevitably find them.

This section rejects outright the notion that some people can excel in college math and
science courses - we’ll call them technical courses - and some people cannot. Despite its
stranglehold on the collective consciousness of college students, there is zero scientific
evidence or learning science that supports the notion that technical ability is an inborn trait.
The evidence, alas, points in the opposite direction, and supports a view of technical ability
as the product of effort, mindset, and good strategies. This view - that any student can learn
to perform well in technical courses if they work hard, believe that they can improve with
effort, and employ effective learning strategies - animates this section of the course.

In it, students will learn what technical courses are, how to approach technical courses, and
strategies - both general and specific - for excelling in technical courses. As you approach
the material in this section, do your best to free your mind of the myth that some people are
“math people” and some people aren’t. Instead, entertain a different possibility: that anyone
can learn to do well in math courses just like anyone can learn to speak a foreign language,
to make a pizza pie from scratch, to fix a flat tire. Rather than envision mathematical ability
as some kind of divine power, try to understand it as a learned skill, a skill that can be
cultivated and honed with effort, with interest, and with good teaching.

Please click next to begin.