The fourth item on my Finish List might actually be my most difficult: Get an A in Intermediate Algebra (The equivalent of High School Algebra 2, which I have to take before I can take College Algebra). This may seem like an easy enough task, but for me. It may not be. This will be the third time i have attempted to take the class in as many semesters. The first time I tried it, about halfway through the semester it became clear that there was nothing I could do to pass the class. So I dropped it failing. This past fall semester I was in the class for three days before I decided I didn’t have the determination to see it through.
There’s three major reasons this is such a difficult class for me:
1: I’m bad at math. I just am. 2+2=4. I get that. 2×4=8. Yep. 32x(4-9+3)=78y+3(27-8). Uhhhh…I don’t get that. I just don’t. I sit in class and learn the principles, and formulas, and think I get them. I try to apply them to a problem? Nothing. I get it wrong.
2: Because I’m not great at it, I have a mental block to it. This just makes me being bad at it worse. Now I’m bad at it and I don’t care to pay attention to try and learn anything new, because they’re building on things I don’t understand. I get scared of 38 problem homework assignments, because I don’t get it. So I end up just not doing them )This? Will make you fail a math class. I don’t recommend it).
3: I’ve got to be honest with you. I don’t see the point. I can do basic math. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Those are all things I can take on. Basic things like that are vital to have in your everyday life (Thank God for cell phone calculators, am I right?!). But…why on earth do I need to know how to graph a parabola? I’ve never been given a good answer to that question (or others like it). I know that a big part of math is problem solving, and logic, and blah, blah, blah…but. I’ve got those things. I don’t need to learn them in a class that uses math beyond what my profession will ever require of me. I’m smart enough to know my limitations in math to know when I’ll need someone else to help me out with something. So, because I see absolutely no value in the class itself, I find it very hard to make it a priority in my life.
And those, ladies and gentlemen, are the things I’m up against this semester in my quest to get an A in this class. I don’t think it will be easy. I’m anticipating several attempts to give up. But I will not be allowed to do that this time. This year, I will FINISH my formal mathematical education.
Grace & Peace,
Stippick
