Math
One day when I was in third grade, my dad was going to drive me to school, but a stuck truck1 was completely blocking our country road and there was nothing we could do but stop and wait. To pass the time, he taught me about negative numbers and how to add and subtract them. I loved math that day.
But years went by and the numbers never changed, every year in school was review review review and maybe a few weeks' worth of new knowledge. I lost all interest in numbers and started writing sonnets in math class. Fractions regained some minor interest when I took up photography, but it wasn't until I started working in financial services that numbers really came alive again.
Now I’m sitting in this classroom through endless review, and as much fun as options can be, the repetition is slowly squeezing out the life. I haven't learned a thing in three days and I’m drafting LJ entries on my notepad just to stay awake.
The good news: I'm "working" six hours a day under no pressure and almost no supervision, while getting paid for eight hours a day at my normal high-pressure sales wage.
The bad news: If a classroom setting can make a financial nerd fall asleep on company time during a discussion of advanced options strategy, what chance do real students have? School has always been one of the greatest impediments to learning.
More good news: I learned a great new equation this weekend:
(unexpected annual bonus) - (50% savings rule) = Scrabble board
Yes, yes, I have three already. But now I will have a better one.2
Of course, this means I'll have to actually learn to play the game.
1: hink pink for a large automobile that can not move.
2: I don't like stuff. I can move in half a day, and except for one table I'd be willing to part with, everything I own fits in my car. So why do I have five cameras and five teapots, and why am I now buying my fourth Scrabble board?
But years went by and the numbers never changed, every year in school was review review review and maybe a few weeks' worth of new knowledge. I lost all interest in numbers and started writing sonnets in math class. Fractions regained some minor interest when I took up photography, but it wasn't until I started working in financial services that numbers really came alive again.
Now I’m sitting in this classroom through endless review, and as much fun as options can be, the repetition is slowly squeezing out the life. I haven't learned a thing in three days and I’m drafting LJ entries on my notepad just to stay awake.
The good news: I'm "working" six hours a day under no pressure and almost no supervision, while getting paid for eight hours a day at my normal high-pressure sales wage.
The bad news: If a classroom setting can make a financial nerd fall asleep on company time during a discussion of advanced options strategy, what chance do real students have? School has always been one of the greatest impediments to learning.
More good news: I learned a great new equation this weekend:
(unexpected annual bonus) - (50% savings rule) = Scrabble board
Yes, yes, I have three already. But now I will have a better one.2
Of course, this means I'll have to actually learn to play the game.
1: hink pink for a large automobile that can not move.
2: I don't like stuff. I can move in half a day, and except for one table I'd be willing to part with, everything I own fits in my car. So why do I have five cameras and five teapots, and why am I now buying my fourth Scrabble board?