So, at back to school night last week I gave the parents of my 6th graders a survey.  One question said, “As an adult, where are you on the love/hate scale when you think about math?” They marked an “X” along a line with the words hate and love at opposite ends.

Here are the results:

• 11%: Hate it
• 30%: In the middle
• 33%: Middle/leaning toward Love
• 26%: Love it

My experience as a math teacher is that what parents think about math has a direct effect on their child’s perceptions about math. That often translates into kids feeling like they “can” or “can’t” do math. I love it when parents are open minded and have a positive attitude about learning math!