Let’s start with a multiple-choice question...
Question: Imagine that you’re at a party, and you’ve just struck up a conversation with a dynamic, successful businesswoman. Which of the following are you most likely to hear her say during the course of your conversation?
Answer choices:
a. “I really don’t know how to read very well.”
b. “I can’t write a grammatically correct sentence.”
c. “I’m awful at dealing with people.”
d. “I’ve never been able to think logically.”
e. “I’m bad at math.”
We all know that the answer is E, because we’ve heard it so many times. Not just from businesswomen and businessmen, but from actors and athletes, construction workers and sales clerks, and sometimes even teachers and CEOs. Somehow, we have come to live in a society in which many otherwise successful people not only have a problem with mathematics but are unafraid to admit it. In fact, it’s sometimes stated almost as a point ofpride, with little hint ofembarrassment. It doesn’t take a lot of thought to realize that this creates major problems.
Mathematics underlies nearly everything in modern society, from the daily financial decisions that all of us must make to the way in which we understand and approach global issues of the economy, politics, and science. We cannot possibly hope to act wisely if we don’t have the ability to think critically about mathematical ideas.
Look again at our opening multiple-choice question. It would be difficult to imagine the successful businesswoman admitting to any of choices A through D, even if they were true, because all would be considered marks of ignorance and shame.
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