Apparently, math wasn’t created; it was “evolved”. Humans observed patterns, and counted objects (which would be hard to do without math, because you know- numbers), and “conceptualized space”. Or at least that’s what mathshistory.com told me. I find that hard to believe, math had to be created somewhere, numbers had to be written down, equations had to be solved, even fractions had to be invented. Someone had to invent math…right? 

But all of that is beside the point, for as long as I can remember, every year I find myself saying, “I hate math.” Now this didn’t have to be true because I enjoy some parts of math. Math through 6th grade was easy enough because I like numbers. But the second I started middle school, math was completely different. 

I think that math, beyond the points of basic-ish math, (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division) should be optional. Unless you’re going into a career that requires math education or math knowledge geometry isn’t something you’re going to use in everyday life.

Math like finite, stats, geometry, and even algebra aren’t things that come in handy regularly. And if you just absolutely despise learning them (like I do) they should 100% be optional. 

I’m not saying we should abolish math class entirely because obviously it’s impossible that everyone is going to know what they want to do with their life. I think we should just have math classes that refresh our minds and reinforce simple math skills rather than teach things at such a fast pace no one could possibly master the skills. 

It’s simple, after 6th grade ask kids if they enjoy math, ask them if they want to continue learning math. If they say yes, put them into harder math classes. If they say no, let them continue to take basic math classes. 

There is a homeschooling strategy popular right now called unschooling. When children show interest in a topic their teacher or parent will teach them more about that topic. I think this is how math should be taught in classrooms. If a student is showing interest in math they should have access to learning it but it shouldn’t be forced on them. 

Math is a subject, in my opinion more than English, that is so easy to dislike because there is a right and wrong answer. And maybe that makes it easier to teach but it makes it much harder to learn. Which is why we need the option.