Female Teachers Pass Down Math Anxiety to Girls

Like many stereotypes, the idea that women and girls are naturally bad at math appears to be a learned trait, according to a new study from the University of Chicago.

Early education, the start of many of our educational issues, is dominated by female teachers. As a result of a virtually math-free college curriculum (and, no doubt, low societal expectations), these instructors are often nervous about performing problems in front of their young pupils. And just as a love of reading can pass from student to teacher, the fear of math is then transferred to their female students -- but not to  the boys, who were left unaffected by their teacher's behavior.

At the beginning of the school year, there were no differences based on sex, but by the end, girls with a math-anxious teacher were overwhelmingly less efficient in the subject. The girls' perception impacted results also: Girls who believed that women were worse at math did worse than girls that did not buy into the stereotype. Researchers reasoned that the little girls' tendency to copy-cat from an older person of the same gender impacted them while allowing the little boys to get away scot-free.

What may be hard to quantitatively prove, but is sure to be a huge factor, is the idea that teachers may encourage little girls not to develop their math skills. If she buys into the stereotype herself, why wouldn't she spend less time helping girls understand, make unconsciously disparaging remarks about ability, or even push the females toward "girly" subjects like English?

This study demonstrates that we need to be vigilant in the intellectual and emotional development of young women. Most of us rise to the level of expectations set before us, and it's important that girls have the chance to realize their educational potential, in math or any other discipline.

Photo: woodleywonderworks