Kids: Math vs. Reading (1 Viewer)

[Arizona Ron]

"Great" means they slightly exceed their respective grade's Math/Reading level

"Struggle" means they are slightly behind the rest of their respective grade's Math/Reading level.

 

[timschochet]

Thankfully my kids are Ok at both. But if I had to choose, let them struggle at reading/writing, because my wife has a Masters in reading development and was a Kindergarten teacher for years, and I've seen he do wonders with kids that struggle in those areas. For math, we would have to hire a tutor.

 

[Freelove]

People who can communicate and comprehend well have advantages in almost every arena of life. Those who struggle with math probably won't be engineers. Oh well. Buy them a calculator, and give me the kids destined to have social lives and influence.

 

[kutta]

I'm am engineer but would prefer my kids read/write well. There are tons of industries where you can succeed without math, but very few where you can succeed without reading/writing.

 

[Arizona Ron]

I'm am engineer but would prefer my kids read/write well. There are tons of industries where you can succeed without math, but very few where you can succeed without reading/writing.

See the OP definition of "struggle". I'm not talking about good at math but completely illiterate.

 

[Baloney Sandwich]

Thankfully my kids are Ok at both. But if I had to choose, let them struggle at reading/writing, because my wife has a Masters in reading development and was a Kindergarten teacher for

years, and I've seen he do wonders with kids that struggle in those areas. For math, we would have to hire a tutor.

I bet he do wonders...everything about you suddenly makes sense now

 

[sports_fan]

I may be wrong but I don't think there are that many careers that require good/great math skills. Even for something like accounting it isn't really necessary. It's more based on concepts. The math is basic and done automatically. Of course there are some fields that require advanced math (actuary for example) but not that many.

People judge you by the words you use and your ability to communicate. I think building a good vocabulary and learning to communicate efficiently and effectively is far more important than being able to hypotenuse your pythagorum.

 

[SacramentoBob]

There is a strong stigma attached to being bad at reading/writing. No such stigma for math. It's common for people to say "I'm not good at math" and everyone accepts that. Say "I'm not good at reading" and people will think you have a 50 IQ.

Practically speaking, excelling at math can get you $$$$. I was one of the few who chose the good at math option.

I think if there were a similar stigma attached to math, people would be better at it. There needs to be some sort of focus on mathematical literacy rate like there was for writing a century ago.

 

[SacramentoBob]

Slightly behind where they should be or slightly behind their peers who may be behind where they should be?

e.g. 8th grader reads a 6th grade level vs

Most 8th graders read at a 6th grade level and they are behind that still.

 

[Arizona Ron]

Slightly behind where they should be or slightly behind their peers who may be behind where they should be?

e.g. 8th grader reads a 6th grade level vs

Most 8th graders read at a 6th grade level and they are behind that still.

math is absolute (well, mostly) so I think a kid that is great at math can push through school easier. That same kid could struggle a bit in reading/writing and still do just fine in school, college and in their career.

"Twerk" was added to the Oxford dictionary for god sakes.

I think society is moving in a direction where we're less concerned about grammar mistakes because they're so many (thanks: internet, text messaging and using spell check as an excuse).

I'm not going to have a problem if a contractor from Belgium sends me a proposal and uses "your" incorrectly; I would have a problem if their proposal isn't mathematically accurate.

 

[Juxtatarot]

People who struggle in math often struggle with logic and decision-making. For that reason I chose the first option.

 

[Long Ball Larry]

People who struggle in math often struggle with logic and decision-making.

link?

 

[Long Ball Larry]

There is a strong stigma attached to being bad at reading/writing. No such stigma for math. It's common for people to say "I'm not good at math" and everyone accepts that. Say "I'm not good at reading" and people will think you have a 50 IQ.

Practically speaking, excelling at math can get you $$$$. I was one of the few who chose the good at math option.

I'm am engineer but would prefer my kids read/write well. There are tons of industries where you can succeed without math, but very few where you can succeed without reading/writing.

This is tricky because I agree with all of this. But I think that based on the definitions given in the OP, I would go with reading.

I think that being slightly ahead in Math is not really going to lead to a big $$ career, but being behind at all in reading is probably a detriment. I think that being better in reading would probably have a better exponential effect and lead to more possibilities.

 

[Officer Pete Malloy]

People who struggle in math often struggle with logic and decision-making. For that reason I chose the first option.

 

[Arizona Ron]

People who struggle in math often struggle with logic and decision-making. For that reason I chose the first option.

You didn't do so well in math I assume.

 

[El Floppo]

I'm am engineer but would prefer my kids read/write well. There are tons of industries where you can succeed without math, but very few where you can succeed without reading/writing.

See the OP definition of "struggle". I'm not talking about good at math but completely illiterate.

"Great" means they slightly exceed their respective grade's Math/Reading level

"Struggle" means they are slightly behind the rest of their respective grade's Math/Reading level.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

People who struggle in math often struggle with logic and decision-making. For that reason I chose the first option.

You didn't do so well in math I assume.

He's right. Math is basically an exercise in symbolic logic.

 

[Ilov80s]

As a HS teacher, I see kids that are in both situations ( and even more extreme cases like best writer on the school newspaper that is struggling to graduate because it took 2.5 years to wrap his head around basic algebra).

School is a lot tougher on someone that struggles with reading and writing. It puts the student at a disadvantage in just about every class. If a kid is bad at math, they are only at real disadvantage in one subject. Yes, science uses math, but at the high school level, science uses reading/writing a lot more. I think it's also easier to improve in math. There are lots of little tricks that can be learned just to "get through" a class. There aren't tricks to reading. You can learn how to solve a system of equations by elimination, take the test and not really have to ever commit it to long term memory. Reading isn't like that, it takes a lot more practice. In addition, the Common Core and related assessments are using a lot more reading in math classes. Almost everything is a story problem. Some are rather lengthy with multiple parts.

 

[Juxtatarot]

People who struggle in math often struggle with logic and decision-making. For that reason I chose the first option.

You didn't do so well in math I assume.

Realize, of course, that I can make a choice based on a factor that tips the scales in favor of one side while still considering other factors.

 

[Ilov80s]

Also, there are two parts to math: calculation and reasoning. If your kid struggles with calculation, no big deal as they can just use a calculator. If your kid struggles with math reasoning, then high school courses will be very challenging. They aren't necessarily related. I have students that needed their fingers or a calculator to add 2+3, but were B students through algebra, geometry and algebra 2. They understood the reasoning, saw the patterns, knew how to apply formulas and check answers. They just couldn't remember or do basic math mentally. On the other hand, I have had kids that knew all their times tables, could do long division, but just could never figure out when to apply which theorem or postulate.

 

[Cjw_55106]

To be honest, Ive never seen someone who is good at math struggle with reading. However, the opposite can be true.

 

[Ilov80s]

To be honest, Ive never seen someone who is good at math struggle with reading. However, the opposite can be true.

They absolutely both are possible down to functionally illiterate people with above average math reasoning.

 

[Cjw_55106]

To be honest, Ive never seen someone who is good at math struggle with reading. However, the opposite can be true.

They absolutely both are possible down to functionally illiterate people with above average math reasoning.

Yeah, both are possible, but far less likely that a good math student cant read well.

 

[glumpy]

I would favor better communications skills over technical because it's less specific.

 

[Ilov80s]

To be honest, Ive never seen someone who is good at math struggle with reading. However, the opposite can be true.

They absolutely both are possible down to functionally illiterate people with above average math reasoning.

Yeah, both are possible, but far less likely that a good math student cant read well.

What are you basing that on? My experiences are very much contrary to that. I have worked with a significant number of students that had much more success in math and found reading/writing to be much more challenging.

 

[Cjw_55106]

To be honest, Ive never seen someone who is good at math struggle with reading. However, the opposite can be true.

They absolutely both are possible down to functionally illiterate people with above average math reasoning.

Yeah, both are possible, but far less likely that a good math student cant read well.

What are you basing that on? My experiences are very much contrary to that. I have worked with a significant number of students that had much more success in math and found reading/writing to be much more challenging.

You're the expert. I've just never seen an above average math student that was below average in reading.