Math post 2

Welcome back everyone! This week I will try to share some of my ideas regarding a certain philosophical question related to mathematics. The question I'll consider asks, "is there a negative opinion about mathematics?". My short answer is, yes. Although mathematics is often talked about in a negative way, I don't think people genuinely feel that way. I think this may shock some people, so let me explain. I'm certain many people have gone through a time when they hated mathematics, or, even if they themselves never experienced any trouble, they know someone else who did. With that being said I'd like to take a step back; way back. I think it would be very silly to claim someone was born hating mathematics. I think we are all born neutral. As we grew older each of our experiences along the way helped shape us into the people we are today. Personally, I remember growing up as a child in elementary school and I loved mathematics! I had many good experiences with mathematics growing up. My elementary school teacher would explain everything to me very slowly, and would provide me with many examples until I finally mastered the concept we were studying before moving onto the next lesson. The next lesson would also be a perfect transition from the previous lesson we just covered. It was very easy to follow. My mathematics teacher would also give us little riddles and 'brain teasers' that required us to use all the mathematical tools we acquired in order to solve it. It was a little challenging, but that's what made it even more rewarding when I finally got the answer. My teacher would pat me on the back and tell me how proud he was of me and how impressed he was with my work. When I went grocery shopping with my parents I would try to calculate how much one orange would cost if a package with a dozen oranges costed 3 dollars, or try to calculate how much the total cost of all our groceries would be before talking to the cashier. My parents would chuckle and smile from ear to ear. I loved mathematics! Then I went to high school... In high school my experiences with mathematics would change. High school was nothing like elementary school. The teacher wouldn't go through everything as slowly as my old teacher in elementary school. In high school we had to quickly copy down a note off the chalk-board. The high school teacher never went through example after example until I finally mastered the concept, instead, if I ever had difficulty understanding something, I was expected to refer back to the note I had just copied off the chalkboard and walk through the steps again on my own. If I still didn't get it, I would have to come back during lunch time or stay after school for help. I felt as though I was being punished for not grasping the concepts quickly. I started to feel an immense amount of pressure, which was something I never felt before. I felt the teacher had a set schedule, and a set lesson plan and the all the teacher cared about was making sure we were right on schedule, rather than caring about whether or not I had understood the concepts. Math class had become like a train that was right behind me, either I picked up the pace and kept up, or I would get ran over and the train would simply just keep on going. There was no time for having fun, and trying to solve brain teasers and riddles because we had to quickly move on to the next lesson. There seemed to be no genuine care as to whether or not I mastered any of the concepts, let alone a pat on the back for when I finally did. There was no time for me to even celebrate on my own and pat myself on the back because it was already time for the next topic. All the fun and enjoyment of mathematics had evaporated, and eventually it became a burden. It started off as a dream; a dream in which I had been dating Beyonce, and everything was going great, and we eventually decided to get married! However, on our wedding day, right before we're about to exchange vows, she takes off her mask and its Jay-Z! Now if that's not traumatizing, I don't know what is. And its exactly that kind of trauma I think many people are suffering from. It is not the fault of mathematics, it is the fault of the people who made mathematics such a terrible experience that it scared people to the degree that they would never give mathematics a second chance. I'm sure none of us feel uncomfortable when we are shopping and we see a 50-70% off sale sign, on the contrary, we are so excited, even though it might require us doing mathematical calculations as to what the new price will be and how much money will we save. I think the only time math will make anyone uncomfortable is if it reminds them of their traumatic experience. Therefore it is that particular experience we want to stay as far away from as possible, not math! Mathematics is something we use all the time! Mathematics is subconsciously something we love and couldn't live without. Which brings me to my conclusion. If we plan on becoming teachers, I think we have to be strong and force ourselves to go back and re-visit our nightmares, study them, take notes, and then make a promise to ourselves that we will do everything in our power to ensure that no student of ours will ever have Jay-Z interrupt their wedding day! 2