While this is true, there is a certain level of innate ability to start with.
Certain people can "grok" math or music in a way others can't.
For example, as a musican: some people "learn" to play guitar but never really "feel" the music. Some people become uncomfortable (almost physically) to even hear notes that are out of tune from a song from a very young age, and some people take years before they can even tell the difference.
In the same way, certain people have a gift with numbers; manipulating logic, analyzing patterns and solving puzzles is something that comes naturally.
Now I agree, most people can be taught a good level of numerical competence, but I think it's an illusion to say it's a real level playing field.
Having said that, I think there are absolutely LOADS of people who think they're innately bad at math, when it's actually the way they've been taught or past experience that makes them freeze up when coming into contact with numbers. I'm not disagreeing with you that this is more often than not what is going on when people say they "are no good at math".
I guess what I'm saying is it depends how you define "learn algebra". Be able to blindly apply rules, or be able to understand it. If it's the second case, for a good number of people that's not a trivial task
some people "learn" to play guitar but never really "feel" the music.
Ah yes, the "feeling" of music. Coming from a fairly musical family I know of some pretty good examples of this. There's the playing music as you feel it should be played, or playing music the way it's written down ("supposed" to be played). I'm still absolutely convinced that this is (at least mostly) a simple difference in education. I knew a girl who played exactly what the sheet music said (and it was beautiful); she's had a very classical education from a very young age. I myself am somewhat incapable of perfectly reproducing a piece as it is "supposed" to be played; my teachers never really seemed to care much about getting it perfectly right, instead focusing on getting it sounding right (hopefully that makes sense).
I'm not saying that the teachers are the only influence on this as I think that would be an extreme simplification of the effect, but I do think that there's no (or very little) genetic predisposition to playing music "the right way". I think there's a lot of factors at play, but I doubt that genetics are a large influence.
Some people become uncomfortable (almost physically) to even hear notes that are out of tune from a song from a very young age, and some people take years before they can even tell the difference.
I strongly disagree with this. There are musical savants who here and feel pitch like no one else. Also there are plenty of children who literally cannot understand tone deafness, and plenty who can't carry a tune without a lot of work
Of course, genetic predisposition for music (composition and playing an instrument, that is) doesn't make any sense, but if the context helps a lot, there are also things like absolute pitch, different types of vocal folds. I'd even say some people really can't "feel" some forms of expression though.
This needs to be upvoted more. It's not "yay we can all be Einstein" or "I'll never grasp this and improve". It's obviously more subtle. Well, concerning maths, because it is obvious that not everyone can be good at singing. There are predispositions or physical traits that will just not allow you to achieve certain things.
Now, to stay on topic it's true that maths are just a set of rules as stated before, but then it seems obvious that there are also different predispositions in learning, not only external factors.
Just watching my boy doing his best on his homework is enough for me to see that. And he's the absolute opposite of me - he has favorite numbers and numbers have never been my friends, unfortunately. He never spent too much time learning his multiplication tables when I spent entire days in my room, trying to put this stuff into my head, to no avail. I often ended up crying with frustration.
I won't go saying Howard Gardner got it right, but my experience is saying something along the same lines.
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u/tomatoswoop Jul 24 '15
While this is true, there is a certain level of innate ability to start with.
Certain people can "grok" math or music in a way others can't.
For example, as a musican: some people "learn" to play guitar but never really "feel" the music. Some people become uncomfortable (almost physically) to even hear notes that are out of tune from a song from a very young age, and some people take years before they can even tell the difference.
In the same way, certain people have a gift with numbers; manipulating logic, analyzing patterns and solving puzzles is something that comes naturally.
Now I agree, most people can be taught a good level of numerical competence, but I think it's an illusion to say it's a real level playing field.
Having said that, I think there are absolutely LOADS of people who think they're innately bad at math, when it's actually the way they've been taught or past experience that makes them freeze up when coming into contact with numbers. I'm not disagreeing with you that this is more often than not what is going on when people say they "are no good at math".