"Math People" - Do They Exist?

This week in class we watched a video by Jo Boaler, a math professor at Stanford University. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxru8H6XbR4)  In the video, she spoke of the plasticity of the human brain; that is, the brain's ability to make new connections and stretch and change to learn new things.  She argues that there's no such thing as someone "not being a math person".  She says that we all can be math people, because the brain can learn anything if we put our minds to it.

While I agree with much of what she says, I disagree with the idea that there are not "math people".  Why do I disagree?  Because I'm a math person.  I'm definitely a math person.  And what I mean by that is not just that I can do math, but that I actually like it.  I believe that in order to learn something, you have to be interested in it, otherwise your brain is just not going to be motivated to make the new connections.

Now, it might be a "chicken or the egg" situation in the sense of why non-math people don't like math.  Could it be that they initially found it very difficult and, thus, didn't like it?  Or was it that they didn't like it and, thus, didn't want to try very hard to learn it?  Hmmm, could be either...

Also, Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences (https://www.learning-theories.com/gardners-multiple-intelligences-theory.html) does suggest that there is a difference between having a logical-mathematical intelligence versus linguistic, visual-spatial, etc.  If someone is not strong in the logical-mathematical intelligence, would this not hinder their learning of math?

The other reason I feel this way is that I have experienced this with music.  I love musical instruments.  I've played the alto sax since I was about 12 or 13 years old.  When I picked up the saxophone, it felt easy; I learned quickly and within a few months I was invited to play in my high school's jazz band.  Others in my school who were learning sax didn't have quite the same easy experience.

Now, you might think that I maybe just have the ability to pick up any instrument quickly, but this is not so.  My husband is very good at electric guitar - he picked that up as a teen with a similar ease to how I picked up saxophone.  Here's the thing, I have tried to learn guitar. My husband has taught me the chords, and I've tried to remember them and play them, but I just find guitar really difficult.  I get frustrated with it.  Funny thing is, I've tried to teach him to play saxophone and he feels the same way!  Now, could I learn guitar?  Sure I could, but I don't want to because it doesn't come naturally.  It would take a lot of work to learn it and to me it's just not worth it.  I'm not a "guitar person".

 I think that people feel the same way about math.  Could they learn it?  Sure, but maybe they simply feel it's not worth it and don't make the connections.  After all, there's more to life than math (isn't there?) and people who don't like math tend to have other strengths, such as writing, art, or history to name a few.  Maybe it's not such a bad thing to dislike math and not be "good at it".  After all, I'm not good at art and I'm alright with that.  I can appreciate it and I do enjoy drawing and painting - it just doesn't come easily and I'm not very adept.

So maybe the goal should not be to make everyone "math people", but rather just to make everyone "people who aren't scared of math".  And that's what I want to do as a teacher.  I just want to show students that math is not scary, and even if you don't like it, or find it difficult, you can get through it and maybe, just maybe, develop a slight appreciation for it.  I want to tell my "non-math person" students, "This too shall pass....and so shall you."