Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin has hit out at her ex Ryan Tubridy – after she didn’t agree with a segment on his daily radio show on RTÉ Radio One.
On Thursday morning Ryan started a segment about being bad at maths, admitting that he himself has struggled with the subject since he was a child.
Revealing that he even struggles to help his children with their maths homework, preferring English and History, Ryan said he now realises he has “math-o-phobia”, a fear of maths.
“Apparently you’re not destined to be bad at maths…I’m not so sure you might be a scientist and all but I don’t believe you,” he started the show.
“I can’t add essentially, I can’t do anything to do with sums and maths I couldn’t from a very early age. This could be though…you suffer from learned helplessness,” he explained.
“It’s true. I accepted it…even to this day I fear the world of maths…I’m useless, absolutely. It’s embarrassing really,” he added.
Ryan then spoke about “maths anxiety”: “It takes root from the term math-o-phobia. This is what it is. I realised today. I like the fact that I am now officially a math-o-phob.”
The Late Late Show host then encouraged listeners to admit they were bad at maths. But his former love, who is a Professor of Science and Maths, hit out at the claims.
“There is no such thing as math-o-phobia @RyanTubridyShow,” she wrote on her Twitter page.
“There is maths anxiety and it occurs due to the classroom cultural & clasroom messages about maths (that you have to be fast, that you’re born good at the subject etc.) Go to @joboaler website for activities to counter it.”
There is no such thing as math-o-phobia @RyanTubridyShow There is maths anxiety and it occurs due to the classroom cultural & clasroom messages about maths (that you have to be fast, that you’re born good at the subject etc.) Go to @joboaler website for activities to counter it.
— Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin (@aoibhinn_ni_s) May 14, 2020
“If we call it a phobia it will give more people a reason to avoid the subject & this is not a good outcome,” she explained.
“We need people who are literate & mathematicallly literate, particularly in our Information Age,” she added.
Ryan then read out Aoibhinn’s comments live on air during the show, but bizarrely called her “Maura” when he read out her tweet, adding “thank you for that top tip”.
You can listen back to the episode HERE.
Ryan and Aoibhinn dated from 2009 until 2014, with Aoibhinn frequently working on RTÉ during their relationship.
Last year Aoibhinn welcomed her first child, a boy named Nisha Garcia, after tying the knot with Carlos Diaz in 2017.
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