Most students who think they’re “bad at math” are just carrying invisible gaps.

(Note: This is an AI-assisted teaser for my prior manual writing. If you like it and want to read more details about this topic/perspective, then check out my 100% manually-written blog and books!)

Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.

Math is not a list of topics you pass and forget. It’s brutally hierarchical.

If you miss fractions, you struggle with algebra.
If algebra is shaky, calculus feels impossible.

But the system just moves you forward anyway to the next class. Even if you haven’t mastered the material in the current one.

And all these missing prerequisites keep stacking up over time, making future classes harder and harder.

From the outside, it just looks like “they’re not good at math.”

But that’s not the problem.

The problem is: no one is forcing mastery before moving on.

Most students who think they’re “bad at math” are just carrying invisible gaps.

Here are the 100% manually-written long-forms that this teaser is distilled from, if you want to dive deeper:

• The Math Death Spiral: How Knowledge Gaps Lead to Student Failure
• Why Can’t College Students Do Middle School Math?

Want to get notified about new posts? Join the mailing list and follow on X/Twitter.