Lara 1

Bryan Lara

English 101

Professor Batty

29 May 2019

The Day My Heart Stopped: The Struggle of Math Anxiety

It’s early in the morning and today is the math test you studied for. You take out your pen

and paper. Pen in hand and your palms are sweaty. The test is in front of you and you get a

stomach turning feeling. Already looking at the first problem and you feel like your life is about

to end. You turn it in feeling defeated and discouraged to move on with the rest of your day. This

is what is called math anxiety. Did you know that 25 percent of four-year college students and 80

percent of community college students experience “math anxiety” during their college careers

and after that it still doesn’t go away; unfortunately (Mortiz). Sometimes it’s not the lack of

motivation from teachers but rather the teachings of self care. Students aren’t taught how to

confront their personal issues and specifically in this case their math anxiety. With a few minutes

of meditation and self care exercises it will help improve student success in math but as well in

their other academic courses.

So what is math anxiety? Well anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease from

how something will turnout. Math anxiety can develop at the youngest age of five years old

(Heinemann). In this article “How to Help Kids With Math Anxiety” by Rachel Ehmke defines

the development of how math anxiety forms in the consciousness of a student. Most of the time

young students with their first experience with math can be good or bad and that’s when math

anxiety can take effect or not. Ehmke asks and then states “Where does this anxiety start? One

factor may be that children haven’t developed positive associations with math before they start
 Lara 2

school” (Ehmke). For our young students there’s this stigma of success in math is rare and that

math is a very challenging subject. It intimidates young students and makes them avoid math.

One way to help this is to encourage math but I understand we can’t go back in time to

encourage math to the students that are now in college; the only thing we can do is teach students

about meditation.

Not that long ago one of my students was suffering from almost having an anxiety attack

during their math exam. I noticed that they were fidgeting and couldn’t really keep their eyes on

their own paper. They kept looking back and forth at the clock. They kept flipping the pages of

the test and overall couldn’t focus on one problem. They put their pen down and just stared into

their paper clenching their fist under the table and started breathing hard. I felt their frustration

and anxiety from where I was so I asked the professor if can take the student out of class for a

breath of air; just to get their mind off the test for a few seconds. The professor understood and I

took the the student out to calm down. I told him to control his breathing. I told him to focus on

your environment and think about the things that make them most happy. They were able to calm

down and I asked what they felt. Their words were “I felt that my heart was about to stop.” and I

had told them “It’ll all be okay, it’s just a grade. Yes it is important but your well being is also

important. If anything just focus up for the next exam you have and make sure to have a stress

free mind because it’ll help you get through the next math exam.”

So this is what anxiety does. It blocks your ability to learn, think, focus, and to

remember. When my student was taking the test, they couldn’t remember the slope formula

which is not the most complicated equation but one of the most known equations. After they

took their test, it affected their ability to focus and learn in the other classes they have. School in

general can be discouraging at times but for a college student, it’s a bit more damaging because
 Lara 3

there are a lot more responsibilities and consequences as an adult. Besides just going to class and

getting good grades there is more to that. Having a job, taking care of children, supporting

yourself, and getting up everyday to do the same thing. It can not only be physically exhausting

but also mentally exhausting. Going through college there will always be more downs than ups

and sometimes it can be very heart breaking to a student. That’s why mental health is very

important and school shouldn’t be the reason why they get anxiety. We can not neglect our

students mental health, and let them handle it themselves; We must be be as resourceful as we

can to our students by teaching them methods of self care and meditation. Dedicating time to

help students with their anxiety.

Having ten minutes of self care and meditation in the beginning or the end of class has

helped students improve their scores through meditation and self care teachings. A form of

meditation is telling yourself “that the nervous feelings you have will actually help you do better

in the math exams” (Mortiz). In this online article about math anxiety, math anxiety exist more in

STEM majors than in humanities or art majors because of how the levels of math get more

difficult. In LAVC there’s been a new regulation of not having anymore prerequisites and start

taking college level classes and since that also eliminates prerequisites to help students get their

math skills up to college level. Since that is happening more students are bound to get more math

anxious if there isn’t going to be math classes to help them prep for college math. So the help

from meditation will make them feel a little more at ease and able to have a clear and open mind

to the effects of this new regulation.

Professors and teachers are certified for CPR when a student faints. So why not have

professors and teachers to be certified meditation coaches? But there are a few things to also

keep in mind, for example will teachers and professors get paid more if they have the meditation
 Lara 4

certificate? Well that can be an extra benefit but the more reason to have professors and teachers

to get it is to help the students with their anxiety and stress and it’ll also keep the professors and

teachers stress free as well. It wouldn’t have to cost anything but time to have meditation

certificates for our professors and teachers. Just like how teachers went on strike; it took time but

eventually they were able to organize it. But what does teachers striking have to do with students

with math anxiety? Well not much but it’s the fact that teachers went on strike to make students

have a better experience with school (Sakuma). So why wouldn’t we do this for our students. I

understand it isn’t a teacher's job to teach a student how to deal with their problems but it’ll not

only help students be less stressed and anxious but also help teachers and professors practice

their own meditation and self care because one day it’ll be already there to help them with their

own struggles.

There are many forms of self care and meditation. One form of meditation that we can

teach our students is mindful meditation. What that is mindful meditation? It is “ a mental

training practice that involves focusing your mind on your experiences (like your own emotions,

thoughts, and sensations) in the present moment” (Wong). This practice can only take up to ten

minutes and actually dedicating time for our students at least once a day everyday, will make a

huge difference for our students mental health. What this does for our students is that it allows

them to relax and let their minds wander off. To recognize that whatever they are feeling matters.

School shouldn’t be something that oppresses them, they shouldn’t feel this way at all coming to

school.

Experiencing math anxiety as well it’s something that should really be addressed more.

Anxiety can not only affect how a person feels but it can affect their everyday routine. Anxiety

leads to the fear of failure and we see failure as something that is very bad. Students should feel
 Lara 5

that it’s okay to fail because it’s an importunity to grow. Sometimes I still feel that I get math

anxious but these practices of meditation, breathing, and self care has helped me get through it.

That’s why it is important that these practices are exposed to students because that will help

college students with math anxiety.

Works Cited

Heinemann Publishing. “Our Students Have Math Anxiety - Now What?” Medium, 4 April 2018

https://medium.com/@heinemann/our-students-have-math-anxiety-now-what-

40fa0dcc8bed

Mortiz, Katie. “'Math Anxiety' Is Real, Even If You're Good at Math.” Rewire, 15 Dec. 2017,

https://www.rewire.org/living/math-anxiety-real/
 Lara 6

Sakuma, Amanda. “Why Thousands of Los Angeles Teachers Are Going on Strike.” Vox, Vox,

14 Jan. 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/1/13/18181010/los-angeles-teachers-strike

Villines, Zawn. “7 Types of Meditation: What Type Is Best for You?” Medical News Today,

MediLexicon International, 22 Dec. 2017,

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320392.php

Wong, Cathy. “Mindfulness Meditation - How Do I Do It?” Verywell Mind, Dotdash, 30 Sept.

2018, www.verywellmind.com/mindfulness-meditation-88369