Since then, researchers had noted a lot of problems about Mathematics Education. There were many suggestions had been raised to solve those problems including different strategies, methods and techniques; however, until now Mathematics Education is still facing problems that both the teachers and students are experiencing inside the classroom. The main skills in mathematics are problem solving and reasoning. These abilities are quite requisite in owing these are the primary skills to develop in order to succeed in any field.
One of the complications in mathematics education is the social convention about it. The notions and prejudices that mathematics is a difficult subject and is only capable to those brainy ones are the most formidable problems that we need to solve. Pupils/students are having bad impressions towards mathematics in their mind, that trigger them to be discouraged in learning it further, for the reason that they are believing that this is something usual in dealing with it’s over the top level of difficulty. They have a mindset which they are not the only ones who are having difficulty in facing it. They might say, “Mathematics is hard” “I’m not a math person,” and “I’m bad at math,” which are becoming typical thinking for them. They are hearing it from the people around them, from their parents, from their friends, from their classmates, at their home, at the street, and even at the school, and they are hearing it everywhere over and over again; therefore, it is inevitable for them to become discouraged and convinced that math is such a horror for all. Nevertheless, these social norms must be changed. How can the students learn mathematics when they have that kind of thinking? How can the students learn if they themselves believe they can’t?
If we can change these social norms, learning mathematics is easier. However to change a norm is not that easy and fast. We can’t change it inside the classroom only. It involves the society – a complex field. The society needs awareness to this issue, the society needs to know that these norms are false and distractive to our education and it needs to be changed. We can start it in ourselves by avoiding statements that denotes that mathematics is difficult, instead let’s promote and point out the importance of mathematics in our life. Don’t say “mathematics is hard”, instead say “mathematics is fun” because indeed MATH IS FUN!
By: Louie P. Marquez
