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Math
What has
math done for you lately? I have been learning math all my life. It
started when I was a baby. Then grade school came, where math was easy and
fun. High school math, I realized, was challenging to a stoned student.
With a new job and college, I found myself in trouble. As I think about
what math has done for me lately, I can say a lot. Math is math. It is an
everyday part of life, and no matter what we do in life, we are always using
math.
It
started when I was a baby. Before I knew it, there was someone teaching me
how to count. “One, two, buckle my shoe, three, four, shut the door,” or
they were messing around with my toes and fingers. “Come on Antoinette, how
many fingers and toes do you have?” I was a baby. How did I know?
Finally, I could count up to ten. I could count my toes, fingers, and my
head. Oh boy, what fun this counting is going to be. WRONG!
Then
came grade school math. This was fun. They gave you blocks to play with.
The numbers were easier. One plus one is two, two plus two is four and so
on. You even got to sing, “One and one are two. Two and two are four.
Four and four are eight.” That was the life. Count your toes and fingers.
Then sing your numbers. Oh boy!
High
school came, and then I realized the challenge was on! At first I was doing
okay, adding, subtracting, multiplying, decimals, and factoring. I held my
own for a while there until I got to the tenth grade. That is when I smoked
my first joint in high school. That was the end of math for me. By the
time I got to the eleventh grade I got a tutor who helped me a lot in math
until he found out I smoked. The next thing I knew I was getting high with
my tutor. After finishing the eleventh grade and going into the twelfth, I
dropped out of school.
Now here
I am back in school again, with a new job working with soils and trees.
Today I am in technical math, which is a math for people working with
measurements that deal with building, forestry, landscaping and welding. I
work the forestry part, measuring plants and trees, plotting the field, and
surveying the woods with a tape measure and GPS equipment, so technical math
is very important in my job. I also got a tutor that helps me understand
math.
I need
math. My guess is that math is here to stay, folks. What has math done for
me lately? “Plenty!” I am a better student. I can answer questions on the
job, or solve problems faster, sometimes even without a calculator. I like
it now that I can think. So what has math done for you
lately?
Antoinette Garrett
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