Before publishing, a few years having passed, I went back once again to see what was being said on the subject. I even left some comments 😉. I came across David Bessis, Olga Paris-Moraskevich and a few teachers who are trying to clarify things without succeeding, at least for noobs like me... In short, no big changes: the guys are just pretending to take into account the fact that people are bad at maths, that they have understood that their subject seems daunting to many. And why have they understood this? Or rather, why is it a problem? Because they are starting to lack students in the branch, since the reform that makes maths optional in certain classes... I think that otherwise everything would be fine for them. No problemo!
Psy Maths
The worst thing is that they completely misunderstand the state of mind we are in. Some people assume, purely on principle, that you are bad at maths because you are ashamed to say that you don't understand and don't ask questions. Personally, I have never been ashamed of not understanding maths, precisely because in all other subjects and in real life I understood either very well or as well as everyone else. But strangely, not in maths. And I did ask questions, but, as I said before, my teachers were as unable to see the abyss of incomprehension I was in as to motivate us or even stimulate our curiosity.
We also often hear about a “fear of maths”. Again, a false diagnosis as far as I'm concerned. I was never afraid of maths, I just didn't understand it at all. I'm not afraid of a closed door: if I can't open it, I lose interest in it and I go through the one that opens, where I'm also welcomed. It's extremely different.
One of the YT speakers also tells us about her joy of being a maths researcher, convinced that she is talking to those who don't understand anything about it (it's even in the title of the TedX conference), which is absolutely not the case, as I am in a good position to realize. From time to time, she mentions us, the unfortunates who struggle with maths, but without going into details, in fact only talking to others, who have at least a basic understanding or are already convinced. Bonus: the moment she explains that both her parents and two of her grandparents were mathematicians. Apart from that, we would all be equally equipped when faced with mathematics.
Nothing changes: they keep talking to their peers, their fans, maths geeks, and once again, you find yourself outside (not alone this time if I judge by some comments) and they are on the inside. The loop repeats itself, over and over again. What's that called again in maths? A recursive loop, right?
