You have to believe that eventually, you will be able to understand. You have to sort through what you understand and what you don’t. You have to then formulate a good question and be courageous enough to ask the teacher to answer the question in front of a classroom, admitting that you don’t understand something in front of your peers

 those who think of themselves “math people” can suffer from overconfidence

Focusing on the process of math helps both low achieving and high achieving students learn true mathematical logic and not get discouraged because they can’t reach a right answer, or bored because reaching the right answer is too easy. Many students know how to get the right answers on standardized tests but don’t know how to think about math.

people perform poorly on difficult cognitive tasks when there are extrinsic rewards for the successful accomplishment of those tasks. 

Standardized testing disregards the effort students have exerted and they deemphasize the processes of math

 Our job as role models is to give our students the freedom to make their own choices, including lucrative choices in fields that require math.  In my education courses, we were always told that modeling is more powerful than teaching.  Adults are modeling this self-defeatist attitude.

Education needs to be about personal growth and teaching students to enjoy and revel in their knowledge, not on grooming students and sorting them for a job market that may be entirely different in 10 years. If students learn confidence, flexibility and that they’re good at learning, they’ll be ready for anything.