We do Math because it's hard
This holiday season, give the kids something hard to do
Math is hard
Learning math is hard.
Learning new things is hard.
Learning new math should then be doubly hard.
“Math is hard, let’s go shopping”1
Shopping is hard for me.
I never seem to get “it”.
But I did get math growing up - it was easy for me.
Then, I got to college, and math became extremely difficult for me around Junior Year (my third of four years).
Math gets hard for everyone.
For some, it starts in elementary school; for others, it happens once they are a math professor.
And for some, like me, it happens in between.
My wife and I chose to do math at home because it was hard
We thought it was something we both knew, at least at a college level, and it would be difficult for the kids to learn.
We thought choosing a subject with a long history and a long path to becoming “good at it” would be a good “character-building” activity.
The idea was that it would be easier to learn perseverance at home than at school as a) it could be watched over and developed thoughtfully, b) the thing about learning through hard knocks is that hard knocks hurt, and c) they might never see a hard enough subject at school to learn perseverance.
The kids liked it
The key for us was that if they hadn’t liked math, we would have kept looking for something that combined “hardness” with them “enjoying it.”
In an alternate universe, this newsletter might have been “kids who love chemistry.”
This holiday season, give the kids something hard to do
Here’s to you and your kid who loves math doing something hard!
That’s all for today :) For more Kids Who Love Math treats, check out our archives.
Stay Mathy!
All the best,
Sebastian Gutierrez
Teen Talk Barbie, Mattel, 1992. The actual quote seems to be, “Math class is tough. Want to go shopping? Okay, meet me at the mall.”