Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Math and Me (Math and I)
Math is done forever. Forever!
The seniors have left my AP Stat class, leaving only two other juniors beside myself. Today, a librarian asked the three of us to measure the square footage of the library, in attempts to show that it would be impossible for one librarian to supervise all 7225 square feet (the final number) of it. Everything now seems to revolve around the upcoming final budget cuts, including what poor unsuspecting Stats students are asked to do.
We measured and sketched and added and, after coming up with the final answer, the librarian, in awe of our mathmatical skills, called us geniuses and asked how we would use math later in our lives. I replied, "Never! I'm so excited because this is my last math class in high school and I'm done!" The librarian said "But you are so good at it!" I shook my head. "But you work hard at it, you enjoy it." "No, not particularly."
I am competent. I have worked hard this year, though not really hard enough to get an A. I am slow at math, slow to wrap my mind around the concepts, slow to even work the mechanics, slow to get the right answers. I can think abstractly enough to get by in Stats, but I wholeheartedly believe that if I ever took Calc, I would die. For my "chosen career pathway" (the librarian's words) I will need simple arithmetic, sometimes multiplication and division, nothing more. I will never use Stats again. I will hopefully never take math again.
I am Free! FREE!!! Forever!(unless they make me take it in college)!
The seniors have left my AP Stat class, leaving only two other juniors beside myself. Today, a librarian asked the three of us to measure the square footage of the library, in attempts to show that it would be impossible for one librarian to supervise all 7225 square feet (the final number) of it. Everything now seems to revolve around the upcoming final budget cuts, including what poor unsuspecting Stats students are asked to do.
We measured and sketched and added and, after coming up with the final answer, the librarian, in awe of our mathmatical skills, called us geniuses and asked how we would use math later in our lives. I replied, "Never! I'm so excited because this is my last math class in high school and I'm done!" The librarian said "But you are so good at it!" I shook my head. "But you work hard at it, you enjoy it." "No, not particularly."
I am competent. I have worked hard this year, though not really hard enough to get an A. I am slow at math, slow to wrap my mind around the concepts, slow to even work the mechanics, slow to get the right answers. I can think abstractly enough to get by in Stats, but I wholeheartedly believe that if I ever took Calc, I would die. For my "chosen career pathway" (the librarian's words) I will need simple arithmetic, sometimes multiplication and division, nothing more. I will never use Stats again. I will hopefully never take math again.
I am Free! FREE!!! Forever!(unless they make me take it in college)!
