TITULO MUNICIPAL

The variable involved in this category is V11 (1. Mathematics is a difficult subject). A detailed examination of the distribution of the responses to V11 shows that 37%, 61% and 46% of the Business, Biomedical Sciences and Mathematics students, respectively, believed that mathematics is a difficult subject. I suggest that the perception that each of the above group has about mathematics being difficult is dependent on the difficulty they faced in using mathematics (this is particularly true of the Biomedical Science students) or the difficulty in understanding the concept (this is what the Mathematics students perceive mathematics to be). It is also observed that almost half (46%) of all the respondents perceived mathematics not as a difficult subject (Table 4.3, p.80). From the Logistic Regression of V11 (Table 4.7, p.88) it has been shown that the regression coefficients for gender are marginally significant (p = 0.071) and that of Area of Study (Course) is significant (p = 0.039). Moreover the estimated odds of male students agreeing to mathematics being a difficult subject is 1.8 times (with a 95% confidence interval of (1,

3.2)) more likely than the female students. A similar analysis as shown in Table A4.24 (p. 269) shows that the younger students are 1.5 times (with a 95% confidence interval of (0.8, 2.7)) more likely than the mature students to agree that mathematics is a difficult subject. The results of the interviews on the same issue are given below.

Some learners of mathematics tend to view mathematics as a difficult subject because they find it hard to get the correct solution (usually one given by the teacher) for a given mathematical problem. In addition, the discourse of learning of mathematics requires the belief and positioning self in the learning of mathematics (Section 2.4) and this may be achieved by repeated practice/doing of mathematics which some students find boring and too repetitive. Simon responding to the perception question, described mathematics:

…as a nuisance, complicated, because me [I] and mathematics depart; we’re no longer friends….. where it becomes nuisance.…. It brings frustration then I would rather avoid frustration

(Simon, Nigerian, Male, Finance and Banking, in-depth interview).

Simon perceived mathematics as a nuisance that brought frustration, and this perception impacted on his emotion (Evans, 2000), which he expressed metaphorically as breaking a friendship. Simon did not want to have anything to do with mathematics. As pointed out earlier learners of mathematics need to spend ample time doing mathematics to succeed and achieve results (Smith, 2002). By perceiving mathematics as a nuisance, Simon may have been drawing on the natural ability discourse and relying on his innate ability only. Simon was completely influenced by the negative perception of others, that mathematics was difficult and hard (Section 5.2) and hence he found that the subject to be in line with the discourse of the nature of mathematics (rigid, one correct answer, etc.). Carole’s perception of mathematics was similar to Simon’s:

I believe it is difficult subject... I think it is a difficult subject for lots of people. It is very specific; answers are always a correct answer.

You know there is no room for debate or discussion about. I think it is quite difficult (Carole, White, Female, Biomedical Sciences, in-depth interview). And her perception of mathematics as a difficult subject had its basis not on the views of others but on the discourse about mathematics that by its nature of being very specific, answers being always correct, with no room for debate (Schoenfeld, 1992). This is the perception that Carole had from her earlier school lessons (Section 5.2). Elsa agreed with Simon and Carole, by saying that she thought mathematics to be a difficult subject because she did not ‘fully understand the complication in maths …and need to have a brain that is able to understand the logical aspects of maths’ (Elsa, Ghanaian, Female, Biomedical Sciences, in-depth interview). Ed, a mathematics student, thought otherwise:

…maths is thought to be one of the most difficult subjects and it is fundamentally not an easy subject; the mass media makes it even more difficult, but with the right environment anybody can do maths

(Ed, Nigerian, Male, Mathematical Sciences, in-depth interview).

Here, the right environment implied the pedagogy and the support variables (Sections 5.2 and 6.2). Ed suggested that the media to be responsible for both exaggerating and making mathematics appear difficult and thus beyond the reach of many people. Another mathematics student said, ‘Probably it is an easy subject’ (Rao, White, Male, Mathematics, in-depth interview) while Mario, also a maths student, perceived mathematics to be difficult because it was an ‘intimidating subject, full of numbers, full of equations and when people look at it they back away’ (Mario, White, Male, Mathematics, in-depth interview). Harriet explained how the fear of mathematics being a ‘difficult’ subject could have originated:

… But I do believe that it got to be passed down from generation in the sense that if my mom and dad were never supportive and said to me ‘girl, we told you about it; mathematics, you can just get through …; it is English you need to be good at; …I do believe that what makes you good at a subject is what you are told

Harriet’s view is supported by research, and in the UK it is socially acceptable if you find mathematics difficult (Boaler, 2009). This is because traditional mathematics is seen by many people to be full of abstraction which has no apparent application in real-life situation. Marr’s perception of mathematics was similar to some of the participants mentioned above:

…mathematics is boring and clinical…when I was learning it, it was a dry subject; it wasn’t interesting… You know, one and one are two; it is not very easy sometimes…And after a certain degree it gets quite difficult to understand; not knowing how to do it…

(Marr, White, Male, Australian, Biomedical Sciences, in-depth interview).

Marr’s perception of mathematics as clinical, boring and dry might have originated from an associated feeling that he did not know how to do it, and even if he attempted to do it he was unable to get the right answer. The perception about mathematics presented above is consistent with the perception of secondary school students who find school mathematics boring and difficult to understand because they do not see any application of it in the real world (Schoenfeld, 1992; Boaler, 2009). This might also be the case with Marr where the mathematics taught to him seemed to have no apparent application in his area of studies and he could not relate to it. Maya, in agreement with the non-specialist participants mentioned above, also perceived mathematics to be rigid and she said:

…there is no flexibility...you understand it or you don’t. Because in maths you have the right answer but with other subjects, for example English and similar subjects, there is no, as such, the right answer... maths is all technical. In one word I say it is difficult. It needs a lot of focus, practice, to understand

(Maya, Bangladeshi, Female, Accounting and Finance, in-depth interview). In line with the nature of mathematics as lacking flexibility and being technical and its learning requiring practices and focus, Maya found mathematics to be difficult when compared with other subjects.

Putting together the results of the quantitative and the qualitative analyses, it can be seen that the views of the interviewees from the Business and Biomedical students (non- specialists) were identical, that they believed mathematics is a difficult subject. On the other hand, the Mathematics students appeared to re-iterate the views of the non-specialists but they were happy to studying it. The views of the specialists were summarized by Mario, who said ‘…it [mathematics] got a bit more difficult but [I] still got my head round it’. Similarly, the perceptions of the participants of the two focus groups are also in line with the course they were studying, where the majority of the Biomedical Sciences students believed that mathematics was a difficult subject, while some of the Business, and most of the Mathematics, students doing mathematics believed otherwise.

The positions taken show that the male students were keeping the socially-constructed position of mathematics as a difficult subject; while the female students were challenging it by agreeing with V9 (10. studying mathematics will make me more employable and help in

my career) and see with the discourse that relate mathematics to high wage earning

potential, the advantage of studying it under any external or social pressure.