There Is An Excellent Reasons Americans Are Bad At Math

Americans' math skills are not very good compared to the rest of the world. A big reason is because of something called "math anxiety". This makes people avoid math-related tasks. This then contributes to their poor performance on math tests. However, it doesn't necessarily correlate with word problems on math tests. This math anxiety also affects American girls much more than American boys. This problem is very serious if we want to improve our skills in STEM areas.

This Could Explain Why Americans Struggle With Math

To be more specific, my research shows that math anxiety leads to math avoidance.

Key Takeaways:

1
Participants knew they would be paid a smaller amount of money when they got the easier-ranked questions correct, and a larger amount for getting the more difficult questions right.
2
When you have high levels of math anxiety, you avoid math at all costs, and you perform poorly on tests
3
just like arachnophobia, claustrophobia, or aviophobia, Americans have dubbed an entire category devoted to this condition: “math trauma,” caused by a personal history of embarrassment and humiliation