Math; Suks or Doesn't Suck?

Math Suks!  
In 1999 Jimmy Buffett took some inspiration from graffiti he glimpsed in Key West,  Florida and wrote the song Math Suks.  Quick rebukes came from the National Council of Teacher's of Mathematics (NCTM) and the National Education Association (NEA), condemning JB's new song.  Also in response, an actress named Danika McKellar wrote a book Math Doesn't Suck to counter the damage done to young minds by Jimmy's song.


I quickly took Jimmy's side.  Although I'm a member of both NCTM and NEA, and I don't have anything against Danika McKellar, deep inside I knew that math really does Suk!  


To be fair, and with the risk of being a bit "Clinton-esque", I guess it depends on your definition of Math.  Math means very different things to different people.  Math to some means a classroom they were forced to spend time in while memorizing some arithmetic facts and a few formulas....I think most of us agree, that Suks!  We usually blame poor teachers for not making math fun, but that's a whole other can-o-worms that I won't open right now.  


Frustration is an essential part of any kind of real learning.  When you learn something new, the filing system in your brain sorts through all of your previous knowledge and experiences and tries to find a place to file this new info.  If it doesn't fit in to your current filing system, that means you don't "get it".  This means you need to rethink the concept, see it in another way, try something different.  When you do all these things, and you still don't "get it", you get frustrated!  This type of thing happens often when studying math, and it Suks!  


Teachers and professors are well known for quotes such as: "This is easy" or "Math is fun!".  Ms. McKellar, the Math Doesn't Suck author, has even said; "Math is sexy".  I agree, math can be fun and easy after you've made it through the frustration stage.  Sure it's easy, and sometimes fun, if you understand it!  I'm still working on the "sexy" part of math...I think I skipped that day...probably nursing a hangover after a Jimmy Buffett concert.


It's not my intention to slam NCTM, NEA, nor Danika McKellar.  They all have math students' best interest in mind, but shouldn't we at least attempt to be honest with our students?  Math does Suk!  Not "Math" the content, but learning math certainly does suk.  I enjoyed being a math student because I worked through the frustration, but the frustration Suk'd!  I have seen students in graduate school brought to tears, even Einstein has shared his frustration with math.  Did Einstein think math was sexy?  Does it really help students to tell them what they've been struggling with is easy or fun?  I guess this is a good idea if you really want to make them feel horrible, or if you're really trying to just piss them off.   Is a 27% on a math exam "sexy"? 
 Hell No!  Math Suks!...... and that's OK!