I recently purchased a book written by one of the Math professors of Ateneo, Dr. Queena Lee-Chua. It was written (and published) long before she was married, I think, back when she was just Queena Lee. The book is entitled Eureka! and it is a compilation of various articles, researches, fan mail, etc. from her column at the Sunday Inquirer.
I purchased the book mainly because it dealt with matters regarding, what else, Math. I fancy myself a Math enthusiast, however, I do not possess the vast knowledge of numerous Mathematical ideas, nor do I have the capacity to. Frankly, with all things considered, I am a very, very, slightly-above-but-only-slightly-that-it's-negligible average Math ... student? Er...
I can only pride myself with the title of slightly-above-but-only--you get it-average Math student simply because of the fact that I got into Management Engineering so... yaay for that. But, like I said, all things considered I am just average. I don't know exactly WHY I'm telling you this, nonexistent reader, but I have an inkling it is related to the reason I bought Eureka.
And indeed it is. I bought it because I had read in the Table of Contents that the last bit was about some helpful hints and tips on how to survive the Math that I am currently undergoing. I thought it would at least be helpful. BUT this book was published, I'm guessing, in the mid to late 90's and so... yeah, there might be a lot of outdated things in there...
For example, Dr. Queena Lee-Chua's research on whether the Chinese are better suited for Math than Filipinos (or the rest of the world for that matter) or whether boys are better than girls at Math, etc. I find those articles very interesting and have come to the realization that I had it half-and-half.
The book talks a lot about "math phobia" and how students' (and parents') predispositions towards the subject may be a cause of problems in the subject itself. Looking at my educational career, I see that I have always been told by my father that I was good at Math (because I was, at least, I was good at O.B.'s Math) while my mother rarely talked about my proficiency in any subject unless it was "cards out" season. Therefore, I have no reason to have this "math phobia" because my parents never really gave me a reason to fear Math. And to be honest, the Math in OB was as easy as breathing (I may be exaggerating but that is how I see it now that I have experienced Ateneo's Math). THERE. I said it, and in saying it I have found the reason why I am only average in Math.
It is because of O.B.! Yes, let the wave of bitter rage begin! The reason I feel like shmuck in Ateneo is because I was not given enough in my high school. Our Math, though slightly more advanced that Ateneo's in terms of the vastness of its curriculum, was very simple, very straightforward, much unlike Ateneo's wherein you must THINK, and think HARD, for the solution to the problem. Also, O.B. does not offer much options. Not that I am in favor of this kind of education but O.B. doesn't have any advanced classes or anything so if you're good, you're kinda stuck in the same section as those who aren't (I totally meant no offense in that) so you don't have the chance to broaden your horizons because it would be unfair to those who cannot.
I know, I know, there are things that I could have done myself, like read up on more textbooks and stuff, but seriously, I was a high school student and I BARELY studied on Exam days, much less on regular days. Do you really think I'd go out of my way to buy a Math textbook and learn stuff? Hellz no.
But now that I am in high school and well aware of the situation I am in, I am kinda in the mood to broaden my horizons NOW. I want to learn more, I want to know about cool Math tricks like how to win at chess using Math, stuff like that. I find pleasure in the THOUGHT of doing these things, especially in laying on my bed answering exercises, but that's just it. I only THINK about it, and never actually DO it.
I am a painfully lazy person and I am not kidding. When they told me you couldn't be lazy in college and that you had to study for Math 18 a/b and Math 21, I thought
and I did! I may have started the school year answering exercises over and over, reviewing and reviewing, but towards the end I sort of gave up. And now I'm back to studying only before the test.
I am no psychologist or sociologist or anything, but I still blame these bad study habits on O.B. haha. They made it REALLY easy to get high grades. And so I never really tried. So, anyway, that's my ramble on O.B.'s system.
Oh, and you might be thinking, hey, this girl doesn't study, she should be flunking out of college, eh? Well fortunately I am NOT failing YET. As you might remember, I got a barely-passing C with Dr. Garces AND (I am actually more proud of this than I am of the grade) I passed by him in the corridor once and HE said "hi" first. I am glowing with happiness, seriously. I was planning to, of course, but he was talking to a student so I wanted to be polite and not bother him, but he saw me coming and gave me recognition. I got a C, but he is still very awesome about it.
P.S. I also got a B on my first LT in Math 21. Not exactly groundbreaking but hey, I'm doing all right.
So I don't really know what this post is about. I guess I just needed to tell someone about how I felt about Math on this day, the 21st of December of the year 2011. Hang on... in a year, wouldn't the world end on this exact date? Hahaha. Anyway. It would also be fun to look back at this when that time comes. And if ever I do... couple of things I want myself to know about how I spent the day one year before the supposed end of the world.
1. I woke up at around half past seven because my eldest brother came over to pick up Blake who slept over last night. He was still wearing his long-sleeved, soft, jammies.
2. I cleaned my bedroom and closet. Yes, the ones mentioned above.
3. I played Bleach: Soul Ignition and leveled up a lot of characters in order to unlock most of the level-up grid pathway things.
4. I watched How I Met Your Mother season 5 and 6.
5. I went on Omegle and chatted with a racist party company driver. We talked about his work for a couple of minutes and then when he asked where I was, I told him 'the Philippines' and he disconnected without another word. I don't know if he was being racist or not, but let's say he was.
6. It is the first time since I had returned home that I used the desktop and will continue the Alice episode.
7. I also read Bleach manga.
Thank you and good day.
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