Need some advice. WWYD?

There are people, I believe them to be the root of all evil and blame them for what is happening in the world, that are bad at math. Consider that you would never go to a party and say "I really suck at reading...I hate, hate HATE to read. I've never been good at reading. I hate reading". Saying such things would have the effect of you being shunned as an illiterate. Yet, people will say in all manor of social settings "I hate math. I suck at math. I really don't like math". Now, I am not sure why it is ok to be innumerate, but not ok to be illiterate, but I think many things in society would improve (including the complete failure of multi-level marketing schemes) if people embraced math.

Now, I do not think you are an idiot (or I wouldn't be posting on this thread you created), and I don't think you have ADD (which I think is over-diagnosed and is a crutch for parents and teachers who don't want to be challenged by an exceptional kid). I DO think that you have suffered from uninspired mathematics education. I believe that if you can go backwards a step or two - take some kind of remedial courses and get your knowledge level where is should have been back in high school, but also try to embrace the subject - I believe you could have success. In fact, when you do this, why don't you make this the only classes you take. Also, and this is most important, please clear your mind of any previous math failures you have had. You are pre-conditioned to suck at math and it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Talk to some people - find out who is an inspired teacher that can help you with this, and then go with a mind-set that you are "good at math" and that "you like math". I personally feel that if you break the string of frustration you can master what you need to master.

For example, when my daughter was a very young child I made it very clear to anyone that had contact with her that if I heard them, or heard of them, telling Maggie that "Math is so hard" I would personally do violence to them. That is how seriously I took that. So...here we are almost 12 years later and we are discussing why she has blown her last math test (she skipped two years) because she only made a 95 - her lowest grade of the year by three points. She did salvage her 100 average because she always gets the extra credit questions. Point is, she loves math and has had exceptional teachers and I check her homework every single night - and when I'm out of town she scans and emails it to me and we go over it via phone. Point is, nobody ever told her it was hard, people encourage her and work with her and she loves the class - it is a passion for her. It can be for you - it isn't too late.
 
Jshutt64 said:
Don't take hard math classes.
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I wouldn't advise him to jump in to like multi-variable calc, but understanding what a limit is or dabbling in basic transfinite theory isn't going to hurt Einstein's book sales, and you might just find it fascinating. It will almost certainly give you a more enlightened perspective on how the modern world came to be...well, modern.
 
That may be part of the problem. The way the community college system works is its pretty much all general ed. Theres nothing fun. They had some photography classes and an aviation history class but dropped them due to funding issues. There isn't much to do there other than take whats required to start a major at a 4-year school and transfer. I'd love to take a geography or meterology class, but they don't offer one.
 
WacoFan said:
There are people, I believe them to be the root of all evil and blame them for what is happening in the world, that are bad at math. Consider that you would never go to a party and say "I really suck at reading...I hate, hate HATE to read. I've never been good at reading. I hate reading". Saying such things would have the effect of you being shunned as an illiterate. Yet, people will say in all manor of social settings "I hate math. I suck at math. I really don't like math". Now, I am not sure why it is ok to be innumerate, but not ok to be illiterate, but I think many things in society would improve (including the complete failure of multi-level marketing schemes) if people embraced math.
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That's actually a really, really interesting point that I had never thought about before. Kudos.
 
Break down the complex problems into a series of simple problems. Work them one at a time. No one says it has to be quick. Write it all out. Take your time. Triple check it all.

When all else fails, it uses lots of paper but try...
Q.D.P.A.

Question
Data
Plan
Answer

-mini
 
I actually minored in math as well. I didn't complete it because it was going to set my graduation back another full year, but I've been through a pretty interesting variety of courses. I started going to school at Georgia Tech for Computer Engineering and found it just wasn't particularly my cup of tea. I also never did exceptionally well in math there for a variety of reasons, but the important fact is that they were taught as standard, high volume lectures.

I transferred to Ohio State to pursue aviation and after determining that I had already achieved beyond the requirements, I looked into the minor. They placed me in computer based calculus courses and the difference was night and day. Before, where I'd struggle to learn a concept while trying to complete 100 or more assigned homework problems, the computer based courses allowed me to quickly learn the concepts and theory first so I could learn the procedures second. Now, all of our tests and in-class evaluations were by pencil and paper, so we truly had to learn the material, but the ability to quickly apply trial and error to a new concept brought a whole new understanding to math.

If you can find that type of class offered at your college, I strongly suggest it. If not, you might even want to look into purchasing a copy of Wolfram Mathematica in order to use personally as a learning tool while participating in the traditional pencil and paper classes.
 
A couple ideas:

Be like me and get a degree in communication. My comm degree only required one math class and a lot of writing/speaking classes. In my opinion, anyone who has decent spelling skills and isn't socially retarded can get a comm degree. I've even seen a few slip through without either of those criteria.

You don't need to have a college degree to be successful in life. My boss never finished college and he has a great life. Sells a few million bucks worth of aircraft every year, has a nice house, wife and three kids, and always seems pretty happy. Of course, he hardly ever actually *flies* nowadays, but he used to fly a lot and doesn't really miss it much. For him, that's success. He's satisfied in life.

Now, if you're determined the only way to be successful is to fly for a major airline...that's not going to happen without a degree. But if you start measuring success by a different metric, you can do quite well for yourself without school. It's only a matter of finding what you love that doesn't require a degree.
 
I was not good in math in High School either--took 6 years of fine Marine Corps training to convince me I was ready for college and that math was a necessary part of that learning. Some folks can do things easily naturally and some of us actually have to work at it. That was me and math-it required a lot of work-I kept working at and did well. I don't think you should give up--keep working at it. Things that come easily to us have no value.

My .02
 
I guess I'll give this next semester another go, but I'm only going to take a math class to get it out of the way so I can channel 100% of my focus onto that one course. Once that is out of the way, I can probably say everything is downhill from there, as nothing drives me crazy more than advanced algebra.
 
ChasenSFO said:
I guess I'll give this next semester another go, but I'm only going to take a math class to get it out of the way so I can channel 100% of my focus onto that one course. Once that is out of the way, I can probably say everything is downhill from there, as nothing drives me crazy more than advanced algebra.
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Don't look at it as "getting it out of the way" - that is stinkin thinkin. Take a remedial type of course - algebra 1 or pre-algebra, or brush up on those things prior to next semester. Fill in the gaps of your knowledge (Math is like a house, it builds from the foundation up. You either have a solid foundation or you have an excrement foundation. It sounds, based on your post, that you are trying to build on an excrement foundation. Rebuild the foundation and you will build a strong house - and, you may even like it).
 
Most of the CA Community Colleges allow you to take the math classes pass/fail and still count for transfer credit for a UC or other school. Talk to an adviser and see how that might work for you. It won't make the class any easier but if you know you don't have to pull a letter grade but rather just get the material enough to "pass" it may take some stress off.
 
Boris Badenov said:
You'll see this a lot with relatively bright humanities types. Try to think of it as a game. Understanding what you're doing comes after you learn how to do it. Seems weird but it works.
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I saw this in a lot of people when I was learning Laplace Transforms in DiffEQ. A lot of people got hung up on why we were doing it and getting very confused. On the other hand people learned how to apply the transforms regardless of why they were doing it. They fared well a week later when all the pieces fell together when we started applying them to solve problems.
 
Chasen: Sounds like you don't excel at it because you can't find a reason to want to. I am only basing this on your one post with regards to why. So I will solve that for you, or attempt to. It is to teach you, and force your brain, to go about problems in life in different ways.

English/Writing/Art classes allow you to exercise methods of abstract thinking. There are rules, but with the right creativity you can bend and break most of them. So in essence, this is more an outside the box kind of thinking.

Math/Science is your analytical. You are given sets of rules and must take a systematic approach to the problem. Those rules, for the most part, are pretty much set in stone. There may be multiple ways to achieve the same answer, but each method follows a strict rule set.

Consider this: Find a friend of yours who is really good at math, maybe a math major. Then find another friend who is an art major. Give them both a simple word problem and ask them to explain how they go about that problem. It will shock you the difference in their methods of approach.

To conclude, there are two main ways to go about problems: analytically and abstractly. Their goal is to give you an equal balance of both.

I would recommend going to your colleges math resource center or tutoring center. I don't know of a college that doesn't have something like this set up. Spend an hour a week there going over your homework. The teachers presentations might not work for you, but someone else's likely will.


Mini: Interesting analysis of the reading vs math. Though I don't totally agree because I have openly admit, many times, that I am a poor writer and hate reading. I am very slow at it and, used to at least, do as little as possible.

I even told my english teacher second semester something along the lines of, "listen I really don't care about this stuff, I am going to use it to write a resume and that is about it. All I am looking to do is pass." Surprisingly, he had a great deal of respect for my openness and had the biggest influence on my writing through college.
 
minitour said:
Break down the complex problems into a series of simple problems. Work them one at a time. No one says it has to be quick. Write it all out. Take your time. Triple check it all.
Click to expand...

Interestingly, this is the western philosophy for math and the eastern philosophy is completely opposite. The chinese are taught to look at the whole problem and work from there. Where as we are taught to break it down and build up. Wonder why 8th grade chinese kids are doing advanced algebra/calculus...:eek:

I wrote a paper on this for my internship, it is some pretty interesting stuff IMO.
 
Chasen -

I attempted (and dropped) calculus at three different colleges before I finally passed it on the fourth try at a fourth college. It wasn't the calculus that got me, it was the algebra. There's no doubt that it's tough for us abstract thinkers to follow the "rules of algebra." Talk to your friends and see if you can find a math teacher that's actually engaging - this was the key for me. When I finally passed calc it was at night school with a guy who taught high school math.


As for the "I am never going to use this in real life" mindset, that's a way of rationalizing things. You're never going to have to graph the function of a square root in real life, but unfortunately society has set up a series of hoops for us to jump through in order to get the degree. A college degree doesn't prove that you're smart. It simply proves that you're willing to do what it takes to get the stinkin' piece of paper.

You don't need the degree to be successful. That said, a college degree sure won't make success more difficult to attain.
 
WacoFan said:
There are people, I believe them to be the root of all evil and blame them for what is happening in the world, that are bad at math. Consider that you would never go to a party and say "I really suck at reading...I hate, hate HATE to read. I've never been good at reading. I hate reading". Saying such things would have the effect of you being shunned as an illiterate. Yet, people will say in all manor of social settings "I hate math. I suck at math. I really don't like math". Now, I am not sure why it is ok to be innumerate, but not ok to be illiterate, but I think many things in society would improve (including the complete failure of multi-level marketing schemes) if people embraced math.

Now, I do not think you are an idiot (or I wouldn't be posting on this thread you created), and I don't think you have ADD (which I think is over-diagnosed and is a crutch for parents and teachers who don't want to be challenged by an exceptional kid). I DO think that you have suffered from uninspired mathematics education. I believe that if you can go backwards a step or two - take some kind of remedial courses and get your knowledge level where is should have been back in high school, but also try to embrace the subject - I believe you could have success. In fact, when you do this, why don't you make this the only classes you take. Also, and this is most important, please clear your mind of any previous math failures you have had. You are pre-conditioned to suck at math and it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Talk to some people - find out who is an inspired teacher that can help you with this, and then go with a mind-set that you are "good at math" and that "you like math". I personally feel that if you break the string of frustration you can master what you need to master.

For example, when my daughter was a very young child I made it very clear to anyone that had contact with her that if I heard them, or heard of them, telling Maggie that "Math is so hard" I would personally do violence to them. That is how seriously I took that. So...here we are almost 12 years later and we are discussing why she has blown her last math test (she skipped two years) because she only made a 95 - her lowest grade of the year by three points. She did salvage her 100 average because she always gets the extra credit questions. Point is, she loves math and has had exceptional teachers and I check her homework every single night - and when I'm out of town she scans and emails it to me and we go over it via phone. Point is, nobody ever told her it was hard, people encourage her and work with her and she loves the class - it is a passion for her. It can be for you - it isn't too late.
Click to expand...

Good post. I was in the same boat as the OP. The highest level of math in HS i got to was geometry(also got a B lol). And I just hated math. So when i got to college i failed my first two math courses(not because it was hard, i just already felt defeated). My whole mindset was "I suck at math, whats the point of all this."

I really don't know what happened over the past year, I guess I just had a epiphany, lol. But I sucked it up and took a couple remedial classes, and now I love doing math. You just have to get it in your head that you can DO this stuff, its not that hard..
 
I was in the same boat as you when it comes to math. I took plenty of advanced math courses in high school, but we're talking about the fine public education system of Mississippi though.:)

I failed the first math course in college. Even with all of those advanced courses I had taken, I found that I really didn't have a solid foundation. It was the first class that I'd ever failed and I felt really dejected because all of my friends and classmates had such an easy time in the class! I wondered if I was cut out to be in college or be a pilot if I couldn't pass a simple algebra class. Three weeks later, I enrolled in a course at a community college during the summer and focused only on that one class. I passed the course with a high B and was happy as can be. Sure it took away from my summer, but it was well worth it.

My advice to you is to take a remedial course in math if available. Develop and good foundation and go from there. Be sure to study before and after class everyday! It will really help you retain the information. It's best to do that in all of your classes! It really helps! If you do this, there will be a good chance that your grades will go up. It worked for me!

STUDY EVERYDAY!
 
It seems that you know, or at least suspect, that you are affected by a potentially grounding disorder, and yet are doing nothing about it. In fact, you appear to be deliberately concealing it. There is a reason ADD and other disorders are grounding. For you to ignore that in order to achieve a desired outcome is unprofessional at least, and touches on arrogance.
 
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