Current Events > Why is Calculus so difficult for many liberal arts majors?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Here's how I can explain it. I like words, I like conceptual problem solving, and I like writing. Words speak to me. Words have voices, nuance, and colors. Numbers are mute to me. I know math is ultimately creative, but I find it hard to express creativity through numbers, unlike words. Consequently, my interest in math and numbers has always been stunted. I do not enjoy math, it doesn't come naturally, and it takes me so much effort for minor results. I generally can understand math concepts pretty quick, but the actual application is a struggle.

My basic computational skills are not strong. This snow-balled over time and made actually doing higher level math tough. The toughness made my interest flag even more. I feel like as an adult, in a low pressure but guided situation, I could develop strong skills in math, but it would require going back to basics building towards algebra and calculus.

***

Story time

I have a MA in a social science. My undergrad studies took place in a college of liberal arts.

I am bad at math. The most advanced version I took in high school was Algebra II. In undergrad, I had to take another algebra class. My major in undergrad also required I take major-oriented statistics course (research methods, the "science" part of the social science.) I found those math classes in undergrad hard.

I took the GRE around 15 years ago. I botched the math section.... still got into grad school though.

I went to a new university to ultimately work on a doctorate. The doctorate was going to require like 12 hours of advanced 600 level statistics and research methods courses. I took the first one and scraped by with a B. By the second one, I did so bad I was told the doctorate was out of the question.

Here's the thing. That class in grad school that nuked me. I had a young instructor, a new associate professor. She was brilliant with numbers and research methods. I remember going to her telling her about my struggles, during an open discussion in class. She was basically like, anybody smart enough to be this in school is smart enough to learn this material. I never did. I was spending huge amounts of time trying to learn it that it took study time away from other courses.