A parent recently confided to me that his sixth-grade son was now doing math that he’d never seen before.  He worried that he couldn’t check over homework, answer questions, or even understand the assignments.  His attitude could only be described as "anxious."  I spoke to the son about his math class as well.  Ordinarily a straight-A math student, he now said that math was "hard" and that he worried he would "fail" this year.  Granted, there is a distinct ramp-up in math expectations, particularly as students transition into middle school, but the student’s change in attitude was surprising.  It made me wonder how much of his new-found anxiety about math is a reflection of his father’s.

Parents worrying about their children’s math homework is not a new phenomenon.  Especially as math instructional techniques have changed over the years, parents often fear that their children are learning more complex ideas than they ever did.  And the expectations for math achievement continue to grow, fueled both by No Child Left Behind expectations and by the increasing demand for math-based skills in an ever-growing technological workplace.  This creates an anxiety for parents, even more so for the very involved parents who pride themselves on being able to assist their children with homework and studying.  This kind of anxiety crosses both cultural and socio-economic lines. 

Washington state Superintendent of Instruction Terry Bergeson noted in a talk given at the Northwest Math Conference that an important component of increasing interest and success in school math instruction is parental involvement.  She said that it is up to the schools to make sure that parents and teachers have a common vocabulary for discussing current trends in math so that parents feel comfortable assisting with homework and encouraging their children’s success in math.

Math anxiety is a common problem.  It’s a large part of the reason students fail to take important upper-level math courses.  But maybe talking to our students about their math fears isn’t all we need to be doing.  Maybe some of that fear is inherited, passed down from parents with their own math anxieties. Maybe it’s time for the schools to address the math anxieties of the parents as well.