My mom has her Master's Degree in mathematics, and taught Jr. High math for a good portion of her adult career. One thing I learned from her (and foreign exchange students) is that US public schools usually teach math in an abstract way. That is, with no connection to reality. It would be like me teaching you what sentence structure is, without teaching how to convey meaning. You might know grammar, but you wouldn't know how to speak or write what's in your mind.
Discussion
Also we learn more of the math of certainty (algebra, trig, etc) as opposed to the more useful math of uncertainty (probability, statistics).
Certainty and set answers are easier to teach I guess
I agree. I think I learned to write by reading. A lot. I had no concept of grammar until recently
My Spanish teacher told us, "If you want to write better Spanish, read Spanish. If you want to read Spanish better, write in Spanish." The same is true for speaking and listening.
My grandma is mat./physicist and taught on art high school, so learned to really dumb it down. I was always struggling math, because I can't do the easy count, I make kind of typos unless I concentrate, which I mostly didn't. Then I somehow got from said art high school (granny not there when I was) to IT on university (because I like trying punk stuff) and on that school I immediately blew it because of maths on such a level I never even saw before. So I asked my grandma for help. She started drawing pictures with bloody crayons and exchanged numbers just for 🔲📐⭕symbols the first thing, so I wasn't distracted by counting. Like wtf do you mean is QUADRATIC equation. And then what sin or cos actually do in space, not just a stupid line on a paper. My mind was blown away, how much fun it all is, she was drawing in 3D waving hands around and all made suddenly sense and was so easy. I was twenty and it took about a week to catch up with others. With crayons.
I'm pretty sure that week could come as a month back in seventh grade and save me next six years of pain. With. Crayons.🤨
I don't think the math is taught abstract as much as just flat. It's just series of numbers and letters you have to solve to get on with it. There's not enough abstraction and colours in explanation.
In the context I'm speaking of, it's abstract vs practical. The publicly educated in the US has not been taught any connection between math and reality.
One summer my family had a student from France stay with us. He and I watched a TV show where a magic trick was demonstrated that taught you how to perform the trick for others. We got out a deck of cards and practiced the trick. After a few rounds, he grabs a pad of paper and starts writing. While looking over his shoulder, I followed his work. He was doing algebra, and I could follow it easily, as I had just completed the course the year prior. When he was finished, he said, "There! That is it!", and laid the pen down. "What's what?", I asked. "This is the formula for the magic trick.", he replied. I was dumbfounded. I knew the trick, I had done it before I saw the TV show. I knew the math, and it wasn't complex at all. Why had no one shown me where and how to apply what I was learning to thrle reality I was living in? They obviously taught it in France.
I think we name the common problem overall. It's detached and in addition taught flat. It's just a line of numbers or letters you have to get done, nothing more at school.