Math Anxiety & Women's History Month

“Obviously, I’m really bad at math.”  One of my female SAT students said this to me, verbatim, this week, but I’ve been hearing statements like this, mainly from girls, for decades now in my work as an SAT tutor.  Despite comparable math achievement, studies show that girls experience more anxiety when it comes to math. 

As an educator, I want my students to feel capable of mastering important skills including math, regardless of gender.  What are some of the causes of math anxiety and low self-esteem among girls – – and what can we as parents and educators do to help students of all genders move beyond such anxiety?

Photo by @helloimnik on Unsplash

 Intergenerational Math Stereotypes

When I was in seventh grade and learning algebra for the first time, my mom, who’d always helped me with my homework, took one look at my algebra problems and said, “You’re on your own from now, Dominique.”  One study suggests that parents’ attitudes toward math impacts that of their children.  (Another study found that female teachers’ own math anxiety is transferred to female students, as well.)  While my own parents weren’t able to help me with math in middle and high school, they never conveyed to me that I couldn’t do it myself or wouldn’t be good at it. 

That was lucky for me, since not all my teachers were as enlightened as my parents were.  Mr. Smith, my AP Calculus BC teacher, for example, would blame “Mrs. Purcell” when the answer key in the back of our textbook, written by Edwin Purcell, was incorrect.  When Mr. Smith was absent one day, I struggled to do calculus problems on my own without his guidance.  (Though he was sexist, his math explanations were clear.)  I asked his crony, our substitute teacher that day, if I could take an oboe lesson during class instead.  He looked me up and down, saying, “Just sit down and look pretty.”

Again, lucky for me I’d already been accepted to Harvard at that point, so I didn’t let this misogyny impact my own attitudes about my ability to do math.  Also lucky for me, I had another (female) math teacher who had encouraged me to stick with math beyond ninth grade despite my lack of interest in the subject.  I’ve since thanked Judy Williams for her encouragement: without it, I might’ve dropped math after getting two 100s on NYS Regents exams and never gone on to take calculus, without which I might not have been accepted into Harvard.

I certainly hope no girls in 2023 are receiving the blatant misogynistic messages about their abilities to excel in math that I did back in 1989.  But are twenty-first century students receiving enough encouragement from teachers like Judy Williams and parents like mine?

How To Help Any Student Overcome Math Anxiety

Wherever the anxiety or low self-esteem around math originates, and whether the student is a girl, boy, binary or gender non-conforming individual, how can parents and educators help them to overcome it?

One study suggests that teachers take a “mathitude” survey: that is, that they gauge their students’ incoming attitudes toward math. (This study is behind a paywall, so I included a picture of the study below in case you can’t access the article.)  Even if your child’s teacher doesn’t solicit this type of information, ask your own child to take the survey.  With an idea of their baseline attitudes about math, you can work to bolster their self-esteem, if necessary.

Image from Joseph M. Furner and Mary Lou Duffy, “Equity For All Students in the New Millennium: Disabling Math Anxiety,” Intervention in School and Clinic 38:2 (November 2002), p. 70.

The same study recommends that students keep a journal in which they can divulge their feelings about math.  I’ve included another photo from the paywalled study which contains questions that can jumpstart students’ writing if they’re not sure of what to write.

Image from Joseph M. Furner and Mary Lou Duffy, “Equity For All Students in the New Millennium: Disabling Math Anxiety,” Intervention in School and Clinic 38:2 (November 2002), p. 71.

 As a longtime educator, however, I’d counsel parents to consider such efforts as just the beginning rather than an end in themselves.  Having students linger in their negative associations with math could leave them feeling hopeless.

As an SAT tutor and academic coach, I assign “new scriptwriting” as part of these students’ homework.  For instance, to the student who said, “Obviously, I’m bad at math,” I asked her to substitute a new “script” to replace the old one.  I gave her the example of “With practice, I can improve my math skills” as one new script.  Counseling her to stay away from inauthentic “I’m great at math” scripts, I’m instilling in her the basics of growth mindset.  I asked her to write a new math script in a journal daily and I’ll check to see whether she’s done that during tomorrow’s session.  In short, encouraging any student but especially a girl to develop a growth mindset in math can influence her performance and, I believe, her confidence.

Moreover, in my work as an SAT tutor and college counselor, I frequently emphasize that there’s more than one right way to solve a problem.  I hope that this freedom liberates students to experiment and find the most effective and efficient ways to solve problems on their own.  While we’re together, I model for them such flexible thinking, showing them how to pivot when they’re stuck.  Eventually, I want students to learn that they can apply this strategy not only to the SAT, but also to life’s other challenges, as well.

 About the Author

Dominique Padurano, M.S., Ed., Ph.D. – aka “Dr. P.” – loves helping students of all ages fulfill their academic and personal goals.  President and Founder of Crimson Coaching, Dr. P. herself personally tutors students in History, English, Spanish, French, Math, and study, time management, and organizational skills; prepares them for tests like the SAT and ACT; and coaches them through the college application process.  Essays that students have written under Dr. P.’s guidance have earned them admission to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and other top universities, as well as scholarships totaling more than $2 million.  Also an adjunct professor of U.S. history at the City University of New York and a published author, Dr. P.’s currently writing a memoir of her time as an undergraduate at Harvard.  Read more about Dr. P.’s work at www.crimsoncoaching.com and on Google, straight from the hearts and minds of Crimson Coaching’s parents and students.