MATH (COMPUTER) ANXIETY AND THE BIBLE
by Bob Barrett Rev. 1/97
I have been impressed with the similarities between the parable of the talents and a student with learning anxiety. In this parable the servant who receives one talent becomes an anxious underachiever and hides his gift in the ground much to the vexation of the master. In the learning situation, many students who don't fall into the gifted category become choked with fear and achieve significantly less than their potential would allow. In teaching circles this syndrome has been popularized as math anxiety and nearly all math teachers have had firsthand experience with students who are overcome by what is called a mental block against math. (There is a close relative called computer anxiety.)

THE DIAGNOSIS:
The parable becomes sharply focused in the direction of anxiety when the servant explains why he did not achieve as his fellow servants did. "I knew that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow . . . so I was afraid and went and hid your talent" Matthew 25:24, 25. RSV In another telling of this parable in Luke the following answer is given, "for I was afraid of you, you take up where you did not lay down" Luke 19:21.

When applying this parable to learning anxiety or more specifically to math fear, we see the object of fear is often the teacher. He is perceived as hard, stern, and fear instilling. This is a partial misconception because the teacher does affirm those who used their talents well. However, the unmerciful treatment of this underachiever would strengthen the master's or teacher's image as unyielding and hard.

A second misconception deals with the use of the talent. The servant believes the master is above normal agricultural laws and can reap without planting. The servant does not possess these magical properties so he cannot use the talent he was given. In the learning situation the student thinks learning (especially math) is done by miracle or magic. The student thinks the teacher just knows math without ever studying. Perhaps the teacher and other special students come "pre-programmed" with the answers. Somehow "math types" can just pull the answers out of the air without going through any struggle or process.

The teacher may have tended to hide his own developmental processes and strengthen his image as a math magician with words like, "This is so easy" or "Everyone knows that. . . " The student responds, when he is in a kind mood, by thinking "It's hard for him to get on my level." So in the student's mind the teacher and favored students swing effortlessly like Tarzan and Jane above the math jungle, from algebraic vine to vine. He, however, is forced to cut his way through the jungle undergrowth. Tarzan can talk to the animals in their own (mathematical) language which is quite unintelligible to the normal person "sweating it out" on the jungle floor.

To summarize, the twin problems are the hard image of the teacher and the magical abilities math requires which the student does not have. This situation keeps the student in a state of high anxiety and causes him to keep his talent undercover and hidden even from himself.

THE CURE:
The parable itself suggests remedies for the anxious learner. First, he needs a new image of the teacher-one as a caring, helpful person. Second, he needs to realize that he has a talent and it will increase with use. Lastly, he needs to develop his talent and experience its increase as the other two servants did. We can take a more general look at the solution to learning anxiety and give the three following words to stand for the remedies given above.

1. Person
2. Power
3. Practice

The image of the math teacher (or any teacher for that matter) is vital. Does he foster a hard image? Does he want to impress the student with his own mathematical prowess? Or does he identify with the student's struggles? Does he show his own developmental processes? The teacher as an enabler goes far to help eliminate anxiety. The verse "Casting all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you" (I Peter 5:7 RSV) indicates how a caring master serves to reduce worry.

Part of this solution is identification with other students who feel the same trepidation about math. In a survey on math anxiety at Messiah College, students responded to factors which helped them. One student answered, "Others did not understand and neither did I; I had company." "Others with equal feeling" gave one student assurance to continue learning math. Shiela Tobias in her article "Beyond Math Anxiety"1 suggests "a math circle organized with your friends." However, peers are not a substitute for a teacher but sharing the struggles and problem solving process can be very helpful.

The second help for math anxiety is characterized by the word power. The student needs to be helped to discover the talent he possesses. In the parable no one is left without a talent. Often the student defeats himself and denies his talent; he is not a math type. Even when he does succeed at a problem he often negates the benefit of "victory" by calling it luck or that it was a very easy problem. He needs to eliminate this "self-defeating self-talk" Ms. Tobias points out. Instead the student should be affirmed and told that he can succeed in math and develop his math skills. Six students who were asked the most important thing you learned in a concepts of math course responded with comments like "that I can do it" or "I could comprehend mathematical concepts."

Philippians 4:13 is helpful, "I can do all things through He who strengthens me." The scope of this verse needs to expand to include mathematics. Another helpful verse is "My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness" (II Cor. 12:9). Who wants to compare math to a "thorn in the flesh"? The Lord's grace is sufficient. His power may show through more brightly in our one talent area rather than our ten talent area.

The third word suggesting a cure for math anxiety is practice. Past happy experiences in math do much to relieve fear and dread. This cure of course involves removing the talent from its hiding place. As one gets practice trading with one's talent and using it, the talent is easier to remove from hiding. In discussion sections students can be encouraged to practice their math skill in a less threatening environment than a large lecture. Positive reinforcement becomes the best backdrop for future development in math.

Just the process of discussing this parable and learning fears along with coping strategies will be part of the solution. This observation was given when a student wrote that he was helped when "the teacher verbalized this fact (about math anxiety) and talked about it openly." Anyway, the nature of this course with its stress on both team learning and projects will be a definite aid in your doing well in this course esp. if you work hard. Indeed with some of these projects, students have done much more that required to get an A grade!

References 1. Beyond Math Anxiety, a World is Waiting, Sheila Tobias, Graduate Woman, Jan./Feb., 1980, p. 10. 2. General Statistics, Haber Runyon, Addison Wesley, 1977, p. 262, 263.
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