The US can no longer laugh off the ‘bad at math’ mentality

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced an effort to reverse an “anti-math” culture in his country. “We say things like: ‘Oh, maths, I can’t do that, it’s not for me’ — and everyone laughs,” Sunak said. “But we’d never make a joke like that about not being able to read.”

Of course, he was talking about the plight of U.K. children. But the problem is far worse in the U.S., judging by the most recent international rankings of students, which were done pre-pandemic before the wheels really came off math performance.

Sunak captures a cultural predicament omnipresent in the U.S. There is an accepted and acceptable norm where people intellectually self-select and divide themselves along the lines of “good at math” and “poor at math.” That process begins during early education years, and if it solidifies during high school, people are likely to define themselves that way for the rest of their lives in terms of numeracy — with a huge impact on their career choices, wage potential and upward mobility. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in May 2021, the median salary for math occupations was $98,680, compared to the national average of $45,760 for all occupations. 

Unfortunately, “I’m not good at math,” or, “I’m not a math person,” are common refrains that echo through generations of Americans who have traversed a public school system in the U.S.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is a financial sponsor of my organization, the Collaborative for Student Success, is more often than not in headlines for its work to stem diseases and improve health abroad. The foundation is throwing its considerable weight and resources behind programs to improve math education and performance here at home with a $1 billion commitment.

During a recent interview, Bill Gates noted that for kids especially, “it’s very easy to check out from math and it’s very easy to think, okay, I’m not going to be a scientist, so I don’t need it.” But he explained further that a greater grasp of math is essentially about a better understanding of the world. The data, statistics and trends that illuminate and drive the most compelling topics and fields of study are driven by math.

He said that a big focus for turning around math in the U.S. is changing the classroom experience so that children appreciate the value of paying attention and see that they can succeed, which builds confidence and persistence in basic math skills. He calls this a process of “resuscitating curiosity” in students.

Interviewer Jessie Woolley-Wilson, the Dreambox Learning CEO whose work emphasizes improving classroom math instruction, deftly synthesized Gates’s solutions to turning around math as a focus on three “Cs”— confidence, curiosity and constant feedback.

I am in full-hearted agreement, and would venture to say that three additional “Cs” can help jumpstart that charge even further: 

• Commitment: Much like Sunak’s very public announcement, the U.S. needs an equal commitment to reversing math apathy. Are governors making numeracy part of their agenda? Do states have an aggressive and realistic K-8 strategy that encourages and empowers education leaders in the classroom? If they do, let’s applaud them. If they don’t, parents and students deserve to know why.
• Curriculum: Changing the classroom experience is about more than good textbooks. It’s about providing teachers and students with great materials and instructional approaches that engage them in understanding how math appears in their world every day. High-quality supports like Zearn and Dreambox are helping thousands of teachers and students by making math more engaging. We need more.
• Champions: It’s far too easy to reject math as simply too hard and unnecessary for career success. Students and parents need to hear loudly and frequently about the value of math from those they respect — teachers, leaders, celebrities and athletes. How did a better understanding of math open up opportunities in their lives, make them stronger and more respected contributors to a team or help them secure a better job and career? 

The downsides of not addressing the problem of math education in the U.S. are steep. Numerate people are needed for the military, for careers in science and medicine, for careers outside science, to close wage gaps among demographic groups and to ensure that the U.S. and all citizens can grow and succeed and stay competitive.

And there is a huge civics downside for a nation lacking basic math skills. Such a population is a shaky foundation for modern democracy — it can’t distinguish specious arguments reliant on statistics from solid ones, and thus, isn’t equipped to critically think about public policy issues with which it is confronted.

“I’m not sure how many problems I have because math is one of them,” goes the old joke that succinctly highlights the divide between being good versus being bad at math. If we can erase that divide, if we can resuscitate curiosity and give all children more success in math, imagine their potential.

Jim Cowen is executive director of the Collaborative for Student Success, an Alexandria, Va-based non-profit focused on promoting the use of high-quality instructional materials to improve student learning.