Perception of English Is Better Than Math

Growing up I was often told by teachers, family members, and friends that girls just are not good at math.

To be honest I did believe that girls just did not excel in maths and sciences, however this was not the most beneficial belief for my young self. Who knows maybe if I had not believed this as a younger child, I might be better at math. However, math has never been my strong suit, and like the packet said I definitely was much more advanced in reading, and english, comprehension.

Many stereotypical aspects could have gone into my math skills, however I just never understood why you would need to figure out the mass of something. Why did my young self need to be taught an equation to learn what something is made up of? To me math has always been a contest between who can program their brain to work numerically, and sadly I was not winning this contest.

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Through most of my elementary school years ( 1st-3rd grade) I was above my reading level by almost four grades.

I was told that this was what I was good at, and therefore this is what I should study. Believing in that was the first mistake that led me to the spiral case ahead of how unbelievably wrong this belief was. Girls and boys have been put in little bubbles categorizing what they can and cannot be good at. For example girls have to be good at english, and boys have to be good at math. If a girl does good in math she is considered to be gifted, just because she knows how to solve an algebraic equation? Is it really so hard for the world to believe not everything they say is true? The Article Barbara Oakley, the author of this article, is in a sense confronting people for placing this stereotype into the next generation of girls. In the article the author mentions that thinking you are not very good at something causes you to dislike it. This is the start of a foundation, that will continue to build throughout a girls life. Generally speaking girls tend to dominate when it comes to english, and boys excel in math.

However, this is not set in stone; it is just a study once started that has spread like wildfire through the years. The biggest problem with girls believing they are not good at math at such a young age, especially in the era we now live in, is that most jobs now a days involve some sort of form of mathematics. For example if you want to be anything in the medical field, you need to be good at math. It is important for everybody’s brain to grow, whether they be a girl, or a boy, math and english are both the basis for a tremendous number of jobs in the future. Just practice, actual practice not a fun activity, and eventually you will grow to love math. If only society gave them the chance to learn to love and practice math, who knows girls may get jobs in numerous fields involving math.