John Rosemond, a syndicated columnist, believes that math might not necessarily be the problem. Through a question and answer format that his column runs on you can see where parents have a question and he provides an answer. In this case, a family’s son has always been good in math but now when he does his math homework he nearly has a meltdown.
Do you hate math? John Rosemond says that math itself isn’t the problem.
Students struggling with math may just need to ask for help.
Anyone would argue that this year’s math is much more difficult than the previous year’s math. But, the truth is that while you believe that your son has always been good in math might be a myth. If he can perform basic math functions but has faltered with more complex problems, the problem might not be math but that the student needs to ask for help and it will be given.
Dramatic professions of helplessness are typical of immature human beings of any age. When playing the victim attracts an audience, the immature human being of any age will invariably choose “I can’t” over “I can” even though “I can’t” is obviously self-fulfilling and, as such, self-defeating.
Laura Lurns · Learning Success expert
Key takeaways
- John Rosemond fields a question from a parent who is concerned about their child who is having a difficult time with his sixth grade math.
- Rosemond suggests that the problem may not be the math itself, but the situation.
- The author explains that the parents need to refrain from enabling the child’s outbursts by having the child take ownership for their own learning.
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