(no subject)
Sep. 23rd, 2007 12:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reipanDear HL Maths,
I am only going to say this one more time: you are not better than me.
Let's make this quite clear, shall we? Your paths in life are clearly set to be very different from mine. You all want to be engineers or biologists or IT specialists; I want to become fluent in six languages, be a comedienne or a journalist, and write books. It stands to reason, therefore, that in the professions I wish to pursue, I will have very little use for pure mathematics. You do. Good for you.
It doesn't make you more intelligent than me.
You're right, by the way - I can't do complex numbers. I can't do logs. I can't draw graphs that cross seven trillion dimensions and, if correctly interpreted, can predict the exact latitude and longitude of the spot on the face of this planet where you will be struck by lightning if you take God's name in vain.
But here's the thing - I don't want to do any of that stuff. Oh, I realise that some of it's very valuable, and I'm glad that there are superheroes like you out there to process the big bad numbers, but it's not what I want to do with my life. Let's be quite clear about this - that does not make me an idiot. It makes me different to you.
And let me just, in my small, arrogant way, point out one other thing: if I put my mind to it, I can do maths. The introduction of a few numbers into my brain does not stop up its basic functions and turn me into a shrivelled, screaming pile of ashes. If I were in Standard Maths, I could probably do okay. I'm in Maths Studies because I'm doing four Highers and a subject on the side, and it's nice to have a class I can nap through. I'm not incapable of getting my head around mathematics. But I have met none, or precious few, HL maths people who can say the same for the things I do. You know why? Because you don't want to. Are we spotting some sort of pattern here yet?
One last thing. For an elite race of superbeings, your grammar stinks.
Cheers,
Me.
I am only going to say this one more time: you are not better than me.
Let's make this quite clear, shall we? Your paths in life are clearly set to be very different from mine. You all want to be engineers or biologists or IT specialists; I want to become fluent in six languages, be a comedienne or a journalist, and write books. It stands to reason, therefore, that in the professions I wish to pursue, I will have very little use for pure mathematics. You do. Good for you.
It doesn't make you more intelligent than me.
You're right, by the way - I can't do complex numbers. I can't do logs. I can't draw graphs that cross seven trillion dimensions and, if correctly interpreted, can predict the exact latitude and longitude of the spot on the face of this planet where you will be struck by lightning if you take God's name in vain.
But here's the thing - I don't want to do any of that stuff. Oh, I realise that some of it's very valuable, and I'm glad that there are superheroes like you out there to process the big bad numbers, but it's not what I want to do with my life. Let's be quite clear about this - that does not make me an idiot. It makes me different to you.
And let me just, in my small, arrogant way, point out one other thing: if I put my mind to it, I can do maths. The introduction of a few numbers into my brain does not stop up its basic functions and turn me into a shrivelled, screaming pile of ashes. If I were in Standard Maths, I could probably do okay. I'm in Maths Studies because I'm doing four Highers and a subject on the side, and it's nice to have a class I can nap through. I'm not incapable of getting my head around mathematics. But I have met none, or precious few, HL maths people who can say the same for the things I do. You know why? Because you don't want to. Are we spotting some sort of pattern here yet?
One last thing. For an elite race of superbeings, your grammar stinks.
Cheers,
Me.
Confidential to
rionaleonhart: How was the trip? I hope no one's eaten you yet...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-23 01:31 pm (UTC)Plus, you want to be a comedienne? I never knew. I might do some stand up comedy some time in my life...
no subject
Date: 2007-09-24 08:33 pm (UTC)And I am fairly uneaten, hurrah! Is London a bleak and barren place without my glorious presence?
no subject
Date: 2007-09-25 04:03 pm (UTC)