Many students at CSSJ experience academic difficulties when it comes to passing their classes. However, one subject that students appear to most struggle with is mathematics. Math can be an enjoyable subject when students fully understand the material, but when the concepts become challenging, it often turns into a source of frustration. To gain insights into students’ experiences, I sent out a survey to the whole student body and they answered them anonymously in addition to interviews. The questions asked included: Do you find mathematics to be an enjoyable or dreadful subject? Rate the class on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 representing enjoyment and 1 representing dread. The other question asked was whether students believed math was the most difficult subject. In addition, interview responses revealed mixed experiences. One student stated that math was enjoyable at first and neither the best nor the worst subject; however, as time progressed, it became a class they dreaded attending, despite the explanations provided by teachers. Another twelfth-grade student explained that math had always been one of the most difficult subjects to pass, but over time they improved and developed a greater appreciation and enjoyment for learning mathematics. The survey responses that showed that 7 out of 10 students believed math is not the hardest subject during the school day.
These two graphs show majority of students do not believe math is the hardest subject, but the majority said that they neither enjoy nor dislike the subject. More responses would have given us a better picture, however this gives us a rough estimate.
Ian, a junior at CSSJ said, “I love it but at the same time I hate it. There are topics that I’m good at and there are other topics that I’m bad at, and I feel like I’m a visual learner because I understand it more [when it’s visual].”
In conclusion, despite what our society usually assumes about math, more students at CSSJ feel that math is NOT the most complicated subject and in general they do not hate it.
