19.12.2025

(Hint: it’s not because they’re bad at it)

Most kids don’t hate mathematics.

They hate how it feels to be confused, rushed, and made to feel stupid for not already understanding.

By the time students reach secondary school, many already believe they’re “not a math person.”

That belief isn’t innate. It doesn’t appear all at once.

It forms through repeated classroom experiences that quietly teach students what mathematics is and how they’re expected to survive it.

What follows are some of the most common ones I see.
 

1. Fear is used as a motivator

Some classrooms treat intimidation as motivation.

“I’ll make this the hardest test you’ve ever had.”

This doesn’t raise standards. It raises anxiety.

Threat shuts down reasoning — the very thing mathematics depends on. When students associate mathematics with danger, their brains shift into survival mode rather than thinking mode.

Rigor is clarity plus challenge, not humiliation.

2. Vague explanations create artificial difficulty

Students are often given instructions like:

“You just move it to the other side.”
“You’ll see why later.”
“That’s just how it works.”

“Just use the formula”

These aren’t explanations. They’re shortcuts.

When meaning is skipped, students are forced to memorize patterns they don’t understand. Mathematics starts to feel arbitrary — like a secret code everyone else already knows.

Mathematics becomes hard when reason is removed.

3. No one tells students what they’re actually being assessed on

I’ve worked with students who, months into the school year, still don’t know:

• how many exams they’ll sit
• what each exam tests
• when calculators or formula booklets are allowed
• how the course is structured across the year

Assessment becomes a guessing game.

Uncertainty breeds anxiety. Anxiety erodes confidence.

Assessment should never be a surprise.

4. Memorization is mistaken for thinking

In some classrooms:

• formula booklets are discouraged or withheld
• calculators are delayed until “students are ready”
• rapid recall is treated as intelligence

But mathematics — especially IB mathematics — is not a memory test.

It’s a thinking test.

Tools don’t weaken thinking. They reduce cognitive load so reasoning can happen.

5. Missing foundations turn into shame

Most students don’t “fall behind” suddenly.

They miss one foundational idea:

• what an exponent actually represents
• which algebraic steps are valid
• how functions behave

Then the class moves on.

Questions pile up.

Confusion compounds.

And eventually, asking feels too uncomfortable. 

So students stay quiet — and conclude they’re bad at math.

They aren’t.

They just can't find a safe way back in.

The truth

Kids don’t hate mathematics.

They hate:

• being scared
• being confused
• being rushed
• being made to feel stupid for not already knowing

When mathematics is taught with:

• clear structure
• explicit expectations
• conceptual explanations
• emotional safety

Most students don’t just tolerate it -

They understand it.

And understanding changes everything.

Final note

When a child says they “hate mathematics,” they’re almost never talking about ability — they’re describing an environment.  It doesn't have to be this way.