Mathematics can be deemed as a very difficult subject. Sure, it was easy when we were in primary school, when all the mathematics we were doing in class revolved around the idea of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, etc. However, as our grade levels increase, the difficulty of our lessons also increases. Some subjects are still tolerable despite the added struggle, but mathematics is an entirely different level.
At the start of high school, we are introduced to algebra, an Arabic method of finding the values of missing numbers. The confusion starts to grow restless inside our heads, asking the question “Why are there letters in mathematics? I thought math only had numbers?”. I remember being so afraid of entering high school because of this ideology, terrified of even attempting to teach it myself. I developed a phobia of mathematics, believe it or not.
Looking back at it now about six years ago, the topics I faced weren’t really that difficult. I just had no idea how these topics the teacher was bombarding us with were to be used in everyday life. A lot of lessons involving letters stretched my mental ability, hate for mathematics starting to stir up inside of me. Another question arises in my head as the years go by, which my other classmates were also wondering even to this day, “Why are we even learning this? Is this really important?”.
I can still clearly remember back in the 9th grade, when the Quadratic formula, with all of its wonders, we're introduced to our unsuspecting minds. Due to its high level of difficulty when compared to our current mental ability, along with my classmates, we started bashing at the entire idea of it. Our hatred for mathematics continued to boil as we found no way of using this topic in our everyday lives.
You may even be thinking the same way, even after graduating college, and I am going to tell you:
It ain’t useless! Everything they taught us, ‘though was not deemed important at the present time, is very essential in the future.
Don’t let the difficulty of the subject blind you to its importance.
I am going to be honest here; all throughout my mathematics subject, starting from the 7th grade up to now, none of my teachers had finished our curriculum. Heck, we had books, but we never even reached the other end of it. Why? Because students simply aren’t able to sink all of this analytical solving in just a span of 10 months. At the time, I thought it was a blessing. Looking back at it now, it was the worst thing any teacher was to do.
Think of it this way: you’re climbing up a ladder where success is at the top of it. If you take out one stick to hold onto, it will still be possible to climb up, there would just be a gap you have to go through. Now, if you take 15 sticks, that’s where the trouble starts to come in. I’ll give you another example. If you’re planning to watch a movie in the theaters but you were extremely late, only able to begin watching the movie 50 minutes in, you’ll have a hard time trying to understand the plot or whatever is happening right before your eyes.
The same goes for mathematics. You will experience a lot of struggle if you haven’t mastered the previous lesson or mastered all the topics from the previous grade level. Mathematics is a progressive subject, if you can’t understand the rudiments, you will face difficulty in attempting to understand the higher tier topics.
Remember the Quadratic formula example? Guess what. It may seem like it had no use as a 9th grader, but previously from my Physics class when we tackled Kinematics, it was used when trying to find the value of time. I faced a struggle in using the Quadratic formula because I just pushed it away. Now, I might only give one example, but they're loads of other higher-tier topics that can not be easily understood if you didn’t study the basics.
If you blindly enter college, especially an engineering course, thinking you’re ready to face it despite not fully understanding all of the basics taught in the previous grade levels, you’re in for a world full of hurt. You will struggle and you will face a lot of pain because you aren’t ready.
This is my regret, and I am attempting to fix it before I go to college. Senior high school was a big eye-opener for me. It made me realize the parts where I am lacking. It revealed which aspect of my academics I had to pay more attention to. It made me realize that mathematics, in all of its contents, is important, especially for someone like me who’s planning to make a career in engineering.
If you are reading this and you are or if you know someone that thinks their current lesson in mathematics is useless, don’t let them face the same mistakes I did. At the beginning I hated math, now it’s my best friend. Remember that people hate what they don’t understand. Understanding is the key to a higher level of knowledge, and knowledge is what will bring you to success.
If you’re a mathematics teacher or even generally a teacher, don’t allow your students to go to the next stage of their academics if they are unable to master the previous lesson. They might hate you for it, but it’s a worthwhile reward.
Don’t get me wrong, my teachers in mathematics were brilliant, ‘though some were more memorable than the others, nevertheless, they were amazing teachers. However, they lack two simple things: they didn’t make mathematics fun and they didn’t give us a map of lessons where we can relate each lesson to the others. We were just mindlessly following their lesson plan, not knowing the importance nor relevance of these topics.
If you are like me who’s only realizing it now, it’s still not too late. Every day is a chance to learn something new. Go grab your old books in mathematics or gadgets, go search up your past lessons, and try to understand each and every one of them. Don’t move on until you’ve mastered the topics. Today is the age of technology where virtually everything you need is on the internet, accessed by our gadgets.
Go on. Learn. Do this for yourself.
