The teacher called the division of schoolchildren into "humanities" and "techies" incorrect

Dividing people into "techies" and "humanities" is a very polarizing and simplistic view of human abilities. It is not capable of fully embracing and analyzing a person's potential. This opinion was expressed by Victoria Podsukhina, a teacher and head of regional teaching at the educational company MAXIMUM, in an interview with Izvestia on November 25.

"When we talk about our child, "he's a humanitarian" or "he's a tech guy," we unwittingly label and limit him, without taking into account all the features. At school age, when basic skills and an idea of the world are being formed, such a stigma can be harmful. It can ruin a child's future: they may tell him that he is a humanitarian, but in fact he had hidden technical abilities that could have been shown with a different approach, and vice versa," she warned.

Of course, all children have different styles and ways of thinking. For some, figurative constructions, languages, literature, history — what we call the humanities - are easier to come by. Others, on the contrary, are inclined to logical constructions, abstractions, analysis of cause-effect relationships, which helps them in mathematics, physics and computer science — technical sciences. However, according to the teacher, this does not mean an inability to a different type of thinking. This only indicates the initial preferences and inclinations. At the same time, the same causal relationships are critically important both in history and in literature. And for a technician, in turn, it can be difficult to work without images, because any abstraction is eventually built on them.

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The perception of a subject is strongly influenced by how it is taught in school. Mathematics is often presented too abstractly, without reference to real life and understandable examples. Take geometry, for example: many students don't understand why they need it. Meanwhile, it is necessary for an architect, a profession that requires both a creative and a technical mindset at the same time. If a humanitarian child does not see the meaning and significance in applying formulas and equations, he becomes bored. He might be interested in interesting practical problems or the connection of mathematics with the history of science.

"The problem is also closely related to gaps in school education. Mathematics is a cumulative subject. If at the initial stage the student missed something, did not figure out the multiplication table or fractions, then it will be very difficult to climb further up this ladder. As a result, he concludes: "mathematics is not my thing," although the reason was only to fill in the gaps in a timely manner," Podsukhina drew attention.

It is almost impossible to fill in the gaps on your own, but schoolteachers or teachers in online schools can help you figure it out.

The stereotype itself, the expert notes, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a child is constantly told that he is a humanitarian and he is "not given" to understand mathematics, he begins to believe in it and does not even try to figure it out. The teacher suggests correcting the grade, but the student does not see the point in this, because he has already accepted the imposed role.

At the same time, humanities students can be very successful in mathematics. The skills that are developed in the humanities — text analysis, argumentation, identification of cause-and—effect relationships - are excellent logic training. And logic and mathematics are inextricably linked. In addition, humanities students often work better with a large amount of information, are able to concentrate, highlight the main thing and structure the data. The perseverance developed in history and literature lessons helps them to work on complex mathematical problems, and the creative mindset allows them to find non-trivial approaches to their solution.

To help a student who considers himself a humanitarian understand mathematics, it is necessary to reconsider the approach to the presentation of the material. It is worth using more illustrative examples, puzzles, and games. If the child is interested in history, you can tell us who and why came up with the idea to designate variables with the letters X and Y. The most important thing is to identify and fill in the gaps, to return to the basics, to those topics from the fifth and sixth grades, where the first difficulties began. Only a solid foundation will allow us to move on.

"In general, it is better to avoid a sharp division into humanities and techies. There is no need to tell a child that he is not capable of something because of a stereotype. There is always a chance that with a different approach or teacher, he will be able to understand and even love an unfamiliar subject. The same applies to "techies" who need to master the Russian language," the teacher emphasized.

The ability to grasp the essence quickly will help them understand the mechanisms of solving language problems. Everyone is able to master both the exact sciences and the humanities — it all depends on approach, patience and self-confidence, Podsukhina concluded.

On October 24, vocal teacher, author of the phonopedic method of voice development and Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences Viktor Yemelyanov told Izvestia about the impact of singing on mental health. The specialist clarified that the voice function is initially protective and emotional in nature. According to him, singing can reduce anxiety, help with insomnia and stabilize breathing.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.