My daughter has recently taken to advising almost everyone within earshot that she can't do math. Having known her for some time now I wish to set the record straight. She can do math. At least 8th grade math, which will generally get one through life fine and dandy. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Almost all math is just a variation on those operations. (Did you notice I just snuck in a math term?)
Anyway, I am having none of it. Here is a math award she won in the 8th grade to illustrate my point. She may not be great in math; she may not like math. But she can do math. Don't listen to her. She ought to be able to figure out things if she cares too. There!
Maybe I am jealous. I never got a math award. Ever. I'm not good at math.
2 comments:
to: my one & only father dearest
from: your one & only daughter dearest
i am mathematically challenged! accept it, it's the truth. maybe others enjoy defining themselves by their inabilities, but not me. that ain't my M.O. i prefer to concentrate on other forms of expression and communication, such as photography and literature and foreign languages. if i don't quantify my world, maybe my world is more qualified??
but sincerely, in this instance, i'm being honest & open with my short-comings. how else can you explain my uncanny ability to misuse a basic calculator? or hold up 9 fingers properly (instead of 6)? or figure out why a quarter of everything doesn't automatically incorporate the number 25? decimal points, fractions for Christ's sake... i'm getting a headache just thinking about them!
dad, i made a 'C' in the only college math class i took - the Nature of Mathematics - where we spent two days doing our numerology and discussing the philosophical concept of the almighty zero! sometimes you just have to face the facts, your daughter is not a mathmagician. i will admit that, thanks to repetition, i have successfully remembered and recited my multiplication tables since, oh, the 5th grade or so. but subtraction!? oh the HORROR. i can't divide well either, and addition is iffy because of 8 and 6 and 7 and 9. i can handle adding 5s to things (especially if i'm adding 5 to a number divisible by 5, like 10).
final thought: i got my damn B.A. in French and gradumatated with a 3.1 WHICH MEANS, per our arrangement, we speak no more of my schooling and you are to consider my educational career a success. i believe we shook on that, Sir.
(thanks for always having faith in me - but really Dad, the numbers, the numbers, well, it's their fault!)
LOVE YOU ALWAYS
and after further recollection, i remembered that Mrs. Doris Poteet was such a kind and thoughtful teacher, the sort that always says "Yes Dear" and remembers everyone's birthdays, that she would've given this award to Ralph Wiggum.
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