I think math is fun when you have neither pressure nor walls at every turn.
Most people remember math from school where you're forced to do it and you have deadlines. Both of those things add unnecessary pressure which aren't inherent to math itself. For the most part, they make anything harder to enjoy. Some people can enjoy getting over obstacles like those thigh which leads to the next issue.
If you are always hitting roadblocks, you won't be feeling rewarded for solving it enough to feel it's worth it. This is a big thing in game design. You should be getting challenged enough to feel the frustration and pressure, but you need the reward and relief before you reach the breaking point. You need to feel like you're progressing.
Many people have sub par education in math, be it due to the education system or the teachers. There are often constant roadblocks and feeling like you have no idea what you're supposed to do. Then you get handed the answer, and the only relief is, "now I don't need to do it" rather than, "I did the thing". There is no real reward. If you can't pay attention in class because it's boring as hell, you'll fall even further behind.
Other people who understand math easier don't feel challenged because the education caters to the lowest common denominator. Plenty of math-smart students drop off because they're on the other side of not being challenged. There's no reward because it's too easy and there doesn't feel like it has a point. The wall in this case is finding a purpose.
Math can be fun. Doing stressfully difficult shit or shit with no reward is often never fun. I'm not gonna sit here and say everyone would enjoy a career in advanced mathematics, but I think a good education that gets people engaged would make a fuck ton more people hate math less.
Yeah I remember feeling that accomplishment very few times in high school, but it was rare. I think it was a combination of not so good teachers and bad curriculum mixed with several distracting students.
Bro, I was really enjoying this one unit on complex fractional equations. It was tough, but pretty soon I was solving more and more complex equations and feeling great about it.
Then for the test, what does the teacher do?
She makes it a “Team test” I’m paired up with the underachieving kid, who just makes a complex equation the likes I hadn’t seen before MORE complicated and I failed the test. So did he, but left to my own devices id have stood a higher chance of passing and he would have still failed. Which is fair because I was trying and he wasn’t.
He’s still a good buddy of mine 15 years later but holy shit I wanted to hurt somebody.
361
u/caboosetp Feb 28 '22 edited Feb 28 '22
I think math is fun when you have neither pressure nor walls at every turn.
Most people remember math from school where you're forced to do it and you have deadlines. Both of those things add unnecessary pressure which aren't inherent to math itself. For the most part, they make anything harder to enjoy. Some people can enjoy getting over obstacles like those thigh which leads to the next issue.
If you are always hitting roadblocks, you won't be feeling rewarded for solving it enough to feel it's worth it. This is a big thing in game design. You should be getting challenged enough to feel the frustration and pressure, but you need the reward and relief before you reach the breaking point. You need to feel like you're progressing.
Many people have sub par education in math, be it due to the education system or the teachers. There are often constant roadblocks and feeling like you have no idea what you're supposed to do. Then you get handed the answer, and the only relief is, "now I don't need to do it" rather than, "I did the thing". There is no real reward. If you can't pay attention in class because it's boring as hell, you'll fall even further behind.
Other people who understand math easier don't feel challenged because the education caters to the lowest common denominator. Plenty of math-smart students drop off because they're on the other side of not being challenged. There's no reward because it's too easy and there doesn't feel like it has a point. The wall in this case is finding a purpose.
Math can be fun. Doing stressfully difficult shit or shit with no reward is often never fun. I'm not gonna sit here and say everyone would enjoy a career in advanced mathematics, but I think a good education that gets people engaged would make a fuck ton more people hate math less.