Mathematics as a Language
Far too often, we’re forced to choose between sciences and arts. We’re told that we’re one type of person and figure which subject we resonate with most - but by the way, you also need a well-rounded education so that you can be successful in your chosen field. . .
The truth is, language exists within EVERYTHING we study. We learn through reading, writing, listening, and speaking regardless of the subject we’re studying - we read textbooks; we write essays or solve math problems😉; we listen to teachers and lessons; we respond to discussions with questions and insight in spoken form. And like languages, each subject, especially math, has a set of rules and vocabulary that govern it and serve as the foundation of that subject based on what the leading researchers have discovered in their studies over the centuries.
Every person is capable of learning math and languages
As a former high school math teacher, I can confidently say that learning and teaching math is much like language studies - it’s definitely as challenging as language learning and often perceived with a similar amount awe in admiration of the people who are able to learn it successfully: wow! you teach/study math, you must be so smart! or people who speak multiple languages have a knack for it. While it is true that some people learn some subjects more easily than others, and each person has a different amount of intelligence and skill set, you definitely don’t have to be a genius to learn math or another language. You have be dedicated and willing persevere when you encounter obstacles; you have to know how you learn best and create the ideal environment for your learning - both with the resources YOU need in order to be successful and by surrounding yourself with people, space, and time YOU need to learn well.
I used to hate math as much as I hated Spanish
It actually makes me sad even to write this, but there was a time when absolutely hated Spanish and hated math. Whether it was because I was forced to learn them in school or because, for Spanish at least - I was surrounded by it and frustrated by not being able to understand people who were different than me, I can’t be certain. But I absolutely wanted nothing to do with either of them throughout my childhood until I began studying them both, voluntarily, in college.
I know now, though, that this hatred of these subjects was less about the content or people who spoke the language, but rather how I perceived myself.
I felt isolated when I went to school and the other kids spoke a language I could not understand or relate to.
I felt inadequate when I couldn’t understand how equations worked and why I couldn’t seem to learn them.
I didn’t think they were important to learn because I was distracted by home and social life.
I didn’t APPLY MYSELF the way I needed to in order to learn well, and it took me YEARS to figure out how I learn and what resources I need to be successful, and by the time I figured it out, I was behind and needed even more support to catch up.
As long as time exists, there’s time to improve
It can be frustrating to realize later on in life that you didn’t learn as much or as well as you wish you would have, but this is beyond our control. More than that, it’s insignificant because you can decide at any moment to improve and that ability to improve is what we learn above all else.
There will ALWAYS be more to learn and more ways to improve, and we’ll never achieve all of it no matter how far we get; we’ll simply peel away the layers of knowledge that have been developed over time - studying what has already been discovered - until we reach the complexity of knowledge that is yet to be discovered.
While we, potentially, could have achieved more within the time we have, the amount that we’ve missed is so small when compared with ever-evolving wealth of education that exists in the world. It does not matter what has passed; what matters is who we are and what we do in this moment because, you see, it’s not the completion of learning that’s the accomplishment; it’s act of learning itself and how it allows us to expand and grow within our beings and share this knowledge with who are ready for it.
Math teaches us to think, to reason, to understand
It teaches us how to persevere through not only the challenges of learning, but life - which may not be entirely separate. It teaches us logic as we create functions that behave predictably, and it teaches us the ability to create new systems with the tools we already have when encounter a problem that cannot be solved by a formula that already exist and requires us to create our own.
There are no circumstances in life that are identical to other people or situations because all things change with time, and each person is a unique variable. Each person must find her own way through life, through the systems that have already been created for us, like a variable being input into a function. Each will have its own output, and the function will not work for every variable, even though it may work for the majority.
We learn from of these functions. We learn either to adjust to “work” within it, or we learn to create a system of our own.
