Homework!

Let's see...homework. By definition, it is a job, task, or duty that school teachers give to their students, to be done (supposedly) at home. By my definition, and one coming from a Math Major, homework is not something we have on a frequent basis. In almost three years of studying college, I have had the most number of homework in one month! Total! I've had eight assignments already (I'm calling them assignment because spellchecker in blogger underlines 'homeworks' red, and I'm pretty annoyed at it even if it's probably right), and they're all mind-blowing. By mind-blowing, I meant the literal one. Of course, I'm just joking. By mind-blowing, I meant the assignments were all darn hard. I know Math is a thinking subject (well, to be honest, it's just a thinking subject), and I'm not complaining, but how can I pass assignments if I don't get them?

Which leads me to my other point.

The other day there were a couple of foreign dudes, math dudes, who talked about the importance of math in school and why there is something like BS Math. I mean, almost everyone's wondering why we have to solve for x in a quadratic equation.

They said,
"Imagine yourself going to the gym for the first time. You want to become stronger, healthier, and more macho. You, of course, being a weakling, you start out with a one-pound weight. You lift the weight once with each hand, then go home. The next day, you lift the weight once with each hand, then go home. The next day, you lift the weight once with each hand, then go home. Even if you do that everyday for the rest of your life, you will not get stronger, healthier, and more macho. Instead, you will become weaker. Same thing with math. Think of your math subjects as the gym. You start out with a one-pounder, equivalent to the addition of numbers. You do that once and you're done for the day. Next you consider doing something more challenging, like increasing the weight, or doing some other kind of workout, or increasing the number of lifting you have to do.

As to WHY we do it, however, is a different thing. You won't get to use all that you learn in school. All those quadratic formulas, solving for X's, graphing the equations, those won't really matter. The only thing that you're being trained for in school is to think critically. If you do not know the answer to a problem, you try out one solution. If it doesn't work, you try again another one. You might have to change some variables, transpose stuff here and there, and you might have to group terms or something. The point is, you will only get to use the way you think after you graduate school. The jobs that are available out there won't really be using the same stuff you learn in school, because those jobs require different skills, and all of them could be taught to you. Now, if you think critically, creatively, and logically, as what math is teaching us to do, you will be able to learn those different skills required for those jobs as easily as an arithmetic problem...."

Okay, I could have explained that better.

Anyway, they also said something about "being the Master of Not getting It" and courage and ideas and how all these make me "get it".

For now, I am the master of not getting everything. And I have no ideas. Oh, and did I mention that I got "scared" of using one of the lessons to answer a problem? It turns out that lesson was what I should have used.