Reply to Amazing, accomplished DD thinks extremely critically of herself because of her weakness in math

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It sounds like math isn't a huge weakness, just not her main strength.  Bs in math are in the normal spectrum and if she's in a in a math-heavy school they probably put her above average.  Can you point to high standardized test scores to prove your point?

At the same time, I think I might not tell her to focus on her strengths, but rather get her tutoring (or have her do Khan Academy) for weaknesses.  It sounds like she would be motivated to do this, and you want her to keep her options open for the future.  (Too many girls/women claim they "cant' do math" and this really limits what types of careers they try.)

[/quote]

OP here: I am one of those women who advocate for more girls in STEM, so I always reassure her that yes, while math might not come as easily to her as it does to some of her peers, this is still not really as much of a weakness as just not an innate strength. If she were failing math, I would call it a weakness and get her a tutor. But she understands it and does relatively well in it. As you point out, she is average to above-average at the national/state/district level on the MAP and PARCC tests. But since she is not 1 or 2 grades above in advanced math classes, she feels she is "terrible at it". Which, objectively, she is not otherwise she'd be getting Cs and Ds or doing terribly on the standardized tests.

Regardless, as you and some other posters have pointed out, maybe even though she is not failing math or struggling with the concepts, it would help to have a tutor just to be a third-party person there to go over homework with her and say "yes, you got it" or "why don't we work on that type of problem a little bit more to build up your math skills in that area?". I like your suggestion and I appreciate your reply.[/quote]

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