The Negative Effect of the Media's View on Math

Throughout most of modern day media, we see the negative backlash math has on the youth. More kids are hating math because it seems the majority does. Popular television shows have made it seem like math was the bad guy we should all stay away from. For example, an episode from Kim Possible shows a villain named the Mathter. He is evil and tries to harm the protagonists. We are starting to see this hatred for mathematics being catered to younger generations. This not only harms the kids but, also future generations to come. If you grow up with this negative stigma surrounded around math, then you are more likely to not want to associate with it. This will then lead to a drop in grades which can cause self-esteem issues.  
Movies and television shows tend to particularly paint woman in an uneducated and unfair way. We are seen as incapable of doing math. Shows tend to dumb down woman and make their characters seem one-dimensional. This is really harmful to young girls around the world. Young girls are very perceptible to media influences so much so, that if they see their idols don’t like math then they’ll want to mimic them. This will cause a drop in woman becoming educated in mathematical fields. Statistics have stated that girls are more likely to drop in math after middle school than boys are. The reasoning behind this statistic is that boys treat math as a skill whereas, girls treat it as a talent. This mindset is what tarnishes girls’ perspectives on math.  A skill is something you can build on. A skill is taught rather than already having the natural abilities to do them. A talent is something you are born with.Talents are seen as something that comes natural to you. If girls view math as just having a talent, then they don’t believe they can improve on it. They are stuck in this mindset that if they aren’t born with it then they will never get it. Which means they are less likely to focus on it. Since boys’ view math a skill, they are more likely to want to improve themselves. They would put in all the extra work in order to get better at this skill. They would view it as a challenge to overcome rather than something they could never obtain. 
Girls’ viewpoint and the effect media has on them is what is causing this decline in woman mathematicians. It is up to teachers, parents, and the media to knock this negative stigma out of the minds of young girls. They need to be shown that they can do math, as long as they put their minds to it. They need to be taught that they can learn these skills and they don’t have to be born with the natural ability to do math.  
Once we create this positive stigma around mathematics, there will surely be an incline of woman looking for careers in the field of mathematics.  

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