Because at 7 you obviously also already have 7 years of experience behind you. Sure, it is not as much as an adult, but it still matters a lot. Different environments and stimuli make it so that also for 7-year-olds, they can have vastly different prerequisites for anything.
Often aptitude is not aptitude at all, but all of the above.
Then, during learning anything, the same thing also applies. How much support you get from teachers and parents. What sort of environment you have available to practice in. And a lot more.
Finally, when all other factors are equal, aptitude can play a certain role. But one that in an educational setting is largely irrelevant. Because if everything else is perfectly in place to teach something, including learning any prerequisites, aptitude is only something that matters in hindsight.
Which is extremely important as well. Labeling someone as lacking aptitude can be highly discouraging. Repeatedly hearing that they aren't “naturally” good at something can lead them to stop trying, even if it's not true.
I really don’t understand this cope. It’s scientifically established that intelligence is highly heritable, especially the analytical kind. It also agrees with experience, we all know people who have a very hard time understanding mathematics, while others sail through it.
Of course it’s not fair, life isn’t fair. But the good news is that you can quite easily compensate for lack of aptitude with more work, and that is most definitely the case for mathematics, up to and including undergraduate level.
I grew up in Sweden where everyone goes to the same kind of pre-school, that does very little math teaching. Still, the difference in aptitude when we started school was significant. But we all know this.
I've read that in some families, especially from Asian cultures, you're started off with math tuition as soon as you can read.
And some people are just lucky to have the right environment. I happened to have had access to some more advanced books from older relatives as a kid and I noticed that it gave me an edge over my peers in some areas.
Asian families, for sure. But that’s doesn’t explain that vast chasm we all observed between non-Asians in school growing up. Why not just accept that it’s possible to be born with an aptitude for math?
It's not the "access" to those books that gave you an edge, 95% of children would be completely uninterested in those books. As you know, today 100% of Western children have free and instant access to the best math teaching material you could imagine, right from the phones, but math grades keep falling.
creesch|1 year ago
Often aptitude is not aptitude at all, but all of the above.
Then, during learning anything, the same thing also applies. How much support you get from teachers and parents. What sort of environment you have available to practice in. And a lot more.
Finally, when all other factors are equal, aptitude can play a certain role. But one that in an educational setting is largely irrelevant. Because if everything else is perfectly in place to teach something, including learning any prerequisites, aptitude is only something that matters in hindsight.
Which is extremely important as well. Labeling someone as lacking aptitude can be highly discouraging. Repeatedly hearing that they aren't “naturally” good at something can lead them to stop trying, even if it's not true.
Grustaf|1 year ago
Of course it’s not fair, life isn’t fair. But the good news is that you can quite easily compensate for lack of aptitude with more work, and that is most definitely the case for mathematics, up to and including undergraduate level.
I grew up in Sweden where everyone goes to the same kind of pre-school, that does very little math teaching. Still, the difference in aptitude when we started school was significant. But we all know this.
0xpgm|1 year ago
And some people are just lucky to have the right environment. I happened to have had access to some more advanced books from older relatives as a kid and I noticed that it gave me an edge over my peers in some areas.
Grustaf|1 year ago
Grustaf|1 year ago