Mathophobia

Mathophobia is the anxiety that comes with learning or using mathematics. Many individuals have mathophobia and must live with it daily. Mathophobia can be caused by many different things. Many get mathophobia from hearing that math is difficult and no fun at a young age through television shows and toys. For example we watched a clip of a Kim Possible episode in class where the villain was the Mathter which was using math for evil. This shows young kids watching this show that Math is evil and should be avoided. This causes problems not only for these kids, but for the teachers as well because now these kids are going to have difficulties with math in school making the teacher's job that much more difficult. Another example of a toy that doesn't help to encourage learning math is a Barbie. She had a voice recording in her that said "Math is no fun. Math is hard" this caused a lot of controversy with parents and the makers of Barbie. Parents did not like that the doll was encouraging that math was hard and no fun it dragged children's interest away from this subject which is essential to everyday life as children grow older. These are a few beginning stages of mathophobia. I personally do not have mathophobia. I am a very strong learner and math seems to make sense to me, which makes it easier for me to not be afraid of it. I cannot recall ever having issues with mathophobia; however, I am almost positive that at one point in time everyone will or has experienced mathophobia. Mathophobia can cause people to freak out and panic at tests, quizzes, more difficult work. Mathophobia is an anxiety that is from math and not being able to do the work without forgetting all that you know about the subject. I believe that the reason behind many people's math anxiety comes from the teachers they have had in the past. It is a possibility that some teachers did not sufficiently teach their student how to handle certain topics properly causing more anxiety towards it. I personally have had some pretty tough math teachers throughout my schooling career and have faced many times where I have felt overwhelmed by a certain topic because I did not feel comfortable with my teacher's teaching tactics and I felt lost. I did my best and did not stress over it however and managed to catch myself before spiraling downwards into something that could have turned into mathophobia. I believe kids need to learn how to control their anxieties and their issues they have with math by talking to teachers and using outside resources if they feel pressured by certain topics or testing. This could help to stop mathophobia and correct it before it gets to a point of no return. That would be the best for not just the teachers but for the student themselves and their futures.