Those who are educators, can you riddle me this?

[raccoon]

Why are English courses so much easier for most people than math courses?

[d_r]

1. here's a goofball answer

because most people are right handed.

[JaneyVee]

2. Because words are more interesting than numbers?

[MineralMan]

3. Because we use English on a daily basis.

Math, not so much. Every day we get to practice our English. We start learning it in infancy and continue to use it daily throughout our lives. We don't always use it correctly, but we use it.

We start learning math at age 5 or 6. We use it infrequently, really, and most of us use only the very basic mathematics on any sort of regular basis. When it gets any more complicated that addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, we are often stymied. We have calculators everywhere, even to handle the basics.

Lack of practice is why we do worse with math than with the language we speak.

[unrepentant progress]

4. Metaphor vs. abstraction

English courses deal in narrative and metaphor, while math courses (once you hit algebra) deal in abstraction and substitution.

[nessa]

5. My theory as a Math peson.

Math is objective it has right and wrong answers. You can't do well because you agree with someone's opinion. I personally believe, English is pretty subjective after you get past grade school. I think in some cases that makes it easier.

[antigop]

10. actually, I think it makes it harder. Your opinion may not be the "right" opinion, if you know what

I mean.

Teachers don't necessarily agree with your opinion -- which makes it difficult. A lot of English classes I took were not easy because I spent most of my time wondering what the teacher really wanted.

With math--it's easy. It's right or wrong. No subjectivity. You learn the formulas, you work the problems. Easy deal.

[a la izquierda]

6. Because math blows? Haha, j/k

Geometry is the only thing involving numbers that I am good at. I wrote a dissertation in no time, but ask me to add the weights on my barbell in the gym and I have to really concentrate.

Math= sad.

[frazzled]

7. I don't think your premise is correct

Many may THINK English is easier, but it doesn't mean they're any good at either reading or writing. As is proved by the average SAT score in 2012. People score much higher on math than on critical reading or writing.

For the class of 2012, average scores are:

Critical reading:496
Mathematics: 514
Writing: 488

http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/sat-reasoning/scores/averages

[raccoon]

9. That's not the whole population, just those who took the SAT. nt

[frazzled]

12. Yet you give no statistical evidence whatsoever

My point is: people think they know how to read and write and so assume it is "easier." But they may have little critical analysis of what they read and paltry writing skills. They think it's easier because there is no "right or wrong," and because they can turn in themes and read the assigned books. Grades are very subjective.

Often people think math is hard simply because they're not very interested in it and don't see the point. (I was like that in school.)

I had two children who were as different in this capacity as could be: my daughter excelled in writing and literary analysis, had a miserable time with math (though she is now a software engineer and working on an advanced degree in aeronautics). My son was a math whiz (now working on his Ph.D. in pure mathematics) and struggled with the creative parts of English. Turns out he's a good writer now, when he has something he wants to write about. It's largely about interest level in school.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. I think it's your circle of friends.

Math is much easier to me.

Reading comprehension, vocabulary both come pretty naturally. My problem was understand the teacher's question. "WTF? That book was english but the questions you are asking me are apparently not."

I don't appreciate subjective tests. A correct answer in math is correct. Generally, the incorrect answers can't be defended as subjectively correct.

[antigop]

11. HA! I just posted a similar response. nt

[mike_c]

13. I think it's cultural...

...and by that I don't necessarily mean U.S. culture, but rather a general feature of most human cultures. Parents tend to emphasize the development of language skills during the most formative periods of brain development in children, and spend much, much less time-- if any-- fostering the development of basic quantitative and spacial skills. What most people think of as "math" is methodological, but it's built upon a basic recognition of numerical and spacial relationships in the world around us-- finite numbers, ratios, rates of change. I think most parents neglect to work with very young children on developing those fundamental ways of looking at the world. Mine certainly did, and so did I when I was a young parent.