05/03/2018

Children get ahead when their parents know math.

Reproduction from the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper.

Parents who lack mathematical skills and fail to project a positive image of the subject negatively impact their children's academic performance. Conversely, family involvement and attitude can lead to significant improvements, even overcoming social barriers.

A groundbreaking study in the country, conducted with parents and children, yielded evidence that, in a way, confirms preconceived notions.

Knowing the name of your child's math teacher, for example, can have a significant impact on the child's performance in the subject, with an 18% increase in children's knowledge.

When parents are aware of what their children are studying in class, the impact is 12%.

The study, coordinated by Professor Flavio Comim from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Cambridge (United Kingdom), interviewed and tested students and parents (1,512 pairs) from public schools across the country. The goal was to understand how family relationships impact children's performance in mathematics.

The focus was on children between the Tuesdays and Thursdays grades, with an average age of 9.6 years. This profile was chosen because studies show greater cognitive development up to the age of 10. The research was conducted through the project "The Brazilian Mathematics Circle," by the Tim Institute.

The effect is equivalent to a year and a half of classes. "It has three times the influence of unemployment (which, however, operates in the opposite direction)," the study states.

"Adults can harm children, not only because part-time schools are predominant in Brazil, but also because they pass on prejudice to the children," says Comim .

Because family members carry trauma related to mathematics, students do not engage in their studies. Thus, the children's failure becomes acceptable.

“Parents are afraid of math and warn their children even before they learn it. The child already develops the idea that math is a monster,” says Priscila Azevedo, professor at the Federal University of São Carlos and researcher in mathematics education in childhood.

The image of mathematics as an inaccessible universe is established over the years. At age 7, all girls find the subject "cool." By age 13, a third already reject it. It's like a "time bomb," as described in the study.

This age range coincides with a decline in parental attention to their children's schoolwork. On the other hand, 72% of children would like help learning math.

INDICATORS

The study's findings are consistent with other research linking success in mathematics to family culture. As Folha showed in December 2017, descendants of Japanese immigrants are a year ahead in mathematics.

The country's indicators are discouraging. At the end of the 9th grade, 86% of public school students did not learn what was expected in mathematics, according to the 2015 Prova Brasil exam. In PISA, an international assessment of 15-year-olds, even the results of wealthy students from private schools fall below those recorded by students of the same profile from developed countries.

In January, Brazil celebrated its ascension to the world's elite in mathematics. This is a select group that brings together the most successful nations in research in the field, according to the ranking of the International Mathematical Union.

What explains the gap between schools and academia? Marcelo Viana, director of IMPA (Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics), emphasizes that universities and schools operate on different planes and do not interact. But there is also the effect, he says, of the low status that education has in the country.

“National culture does not prioritize education,” says Viana, a columnist for Folha . “Teacher training is deficient, we don’t value teachers, and society finds it reasonable that they have some of the lowest salaries in the country, unlike in other countries.”

The study by the Tim Institute opens a window onto a broad challenge: a crisis that involves not only the school, but also relates to those who have already passed school age.

Research also conducted by Comim in 2015 showed that, in general, adults don't know math: 75% don't know how to calculate simple averages, and 63% can't answer questions about percentages. In this new research, 72% of parents made mistakes in calculating the time needed to leave home to catch the bus and arrive on time at their destination.

Statistics and studies link good results in children to their mothers' education level. In the scenario found in the mathematics research, a basic high school education of the parents has a greater effect on the development of their children than a university degree.

Thomaz is 9 years old, in the Wednesdays grade, and says he loves math. "I really like numbers," says the student from the Prudente de Moraes state school in downtown São Paulo. It wasn't always like that, says his mother, homemaker Sally de Souza, 29.

The boy's interest became apparent when he started helping her with her studies. Sally dreams of studying medicine and has signed up for an online platform to practice math.

“I study every day and he sits next to me, we do the exercises together and he’s very interested,” says Sally , who had to interrupt her studies in high school and is now finishing that stage at a school for young people and adults.

Having time to help your child with their homework also yields benefits. In these cases, the children's scores on the research tests increase by 9.4%.

Mathematics professor and textbook author Antonio José Lopes, nicknamed Bigode, teaches a math course for parents. “We need to discuss the importance of the parents' role in the learning process, but we ca n't blame them. Neither them nor the children , ” he says.

Bigode says that family support is often hampered by structural issues, such as a lack of teachers. "It's common for a student to have several teachers throughout the year. And how does he learn?" he says. "Sometimes not even the principal knows the teacher's name, much less the parents."