Chapter 9: I’ve Got A Secret: Math Anxiety

I have taught high school mathematics for 23 years and have also instructed undergraduate mathematics at the university level as a sessional lecturer for 18 years. One of the courses I have taught is Math 101, a degree requirement class for general arts and elementary education. In my first time teaching this class as a six-week summer course, I asked my wife (an elementary school teacher) who I might find in this group. She told me to expect a significant number of “middle-aged female elementary school teachers” taking this as their final requirement for their degrees. (Over the years, teachers here have been required to have a degree to teach, with many taking evening and summer courses.) When I came home from the first class session, my wife asked me who was in the class. Amazed, I said she had been correct. There was an extraordinarily high number of “middle-aged female elementary school teachers”—how did she know? She paused thoughtfully and said, “Be kind. They are terrified.”