I've discovered two circles currently happening in my life that are important and pertinent (to me, maybe not to you) and definitely not boring because it's happening right now.
The first circle is the good one. It goes like this:
Enjoy something. Spend more time studying it. Get better at it.
Basically you enjoy what you're good at, and because you enjoy it you work more at it, and because you work at it you get better at it and that leads to, what do you know, enjoying it more.
This is the dark side of that circle:
Hate something. Don't study. Suck at it.
You can probably agree that when you hate something you spend less time on it, which means that you don't do well in it, which means your feelings of hate are validated and strengthened and it starts all over.
I'm currently stuck in the dark circle with math. I'm trying to break out of this circle because
1) life is too short to spend time on something I hate
2) but life is too long to go through with no math skills
2a) especially in a country like this, where you can't do anything without math
2b) and anyway the Principal will disown me if I don't do more math than just college algebra (he's an engineer)
3) I actually have, for very brief moments, enjoyed math
4) but only when I was good at it
5) which reinforces my circle theory.
So anyway, my logical conclusion (be aware that my logic is a completely different brand of logic than what anyone else uses) after considering these points is that if I can't ditch math (where would I go for free food on Thanksgiving if I was disowned?) then I need to ditch hating it.
I have therefore decided to stop hating math.
I'll give you an update at the end of the semester on how well it worked. My teacher is talking about rational fractions, which is a polynomial on top of a polynomial and is graphed like two boomerangs who aren't talking to each other, and I'm having some (very small) doubts that this is going to work.
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Rational fractions? There's nothing rational about math in my mind. (Yes, I'm in the math-hating category.)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about the circle, though. You're so right. When you have a bad attitude about something, you're definitely not going to put in the time to make it better. I look forward to seeing how this works out for you - good luck! (:
(And would your dad *really* disown you for not doing more math than college algebra? My dad didn't disown those of us who are clueless about cars . . .) (;