Well now I can seriously say that I have been a serious student of mathematics going back well over thirty five years. You see, in my primary school years I was never fond of mathematics or arithmetic as it was called then. Basically I did not like it, I did not understand it and I could not be bothered to even make any type of effort to learn it. I was in the category of either you know it, or you don’t.
Then I left the UK and went to live in Nigeria which covered my secondary school years; this made the situation even worse due to the fact that in the Third World there were only two plains of thought: either you understood it (which represented intelligence) or you did not (which represented extreme stupidity) and I was definitely in the latter half. I concentrated on the artistic and social science subjects e.g. economics, history and geography, because as I thought at the time that was just my lot in life. However, as I finished my secondary education I began to realise that the true opportunities in the real world were in the STEM subjects. Therefore when I returned to the United Kingdom I decided to take a more experienced and practical approach to the subject. I realised that as I got older most of the mathematical theorems that I could not do when I was younger I could now do as a much more mature person. Basically now I had acquired the skill of patience and practice. This resulted in me making a fresh start in the subject from level one numeracy to the pre-GCSE mathematics course that I have just completed with Masha. Although I have experienced some serious family problems during the duration of the course I can safely say that Masha as a teacher with her unique methods of teaching (to me anyway) has more than doubled my confidence in the subject.
I now firmly believe that my lot in the subject (mathematics) is what I choose to make of it and definitely not what has been handed down to me naturally or by chance. I actually look forward to the future (or my future) in the STEM fields, because I now know the full requirements that are needed to improve and become very competent in the subject. In other words “thank you“ Masha.
Hi Andrew. I really liked reading your story, it showed that there is hope even if things started off difficult - I believe others will benefit from hearing your story. I’ve typed it up so that others can read it without having to open the PDF attachment. I’ll include it as another comment.
Transcription:
Well now I can seriously say that I have been a serious student of mathematics going back well over thirty five years. You see, in my primary school years I was never fond of mathematics or arithmetic as it was called then. Basically I did not like it, I did not understand it and I could not be bothered to even make any type of effort to learn it. I was in the category of either you know it, or you don’t.
Then I left the UK and went to live in Nigeria which covered my secondary school years; this made the situation even worse due to the fact that in the Third World there were only two plains of thought: either you understood it (which represented intelligence) or you did not (which represented extreme stupidity) and I was definitely in the latter half. I concentrated on the artistic and social science subjects e.g. economics, history and geography, because as I thought at the time that was just my lot in life. However, as I finished my secondary education I began to realise that the true opportunities in the real world were in the STEM subjects. Therefore when I returned to the United Kingdom I decided to take a more experienced and practical approach to the subject. I realised that as I got older most of the mathematical theorems that I could not do when I was younger I could now do as a much more mature person. Basically now I had acquired the skill of patience and practice. This resulted in me making a fresh start in the subject from level one numeracy to the pre-GCSE mathematics course that I have just completed with Masha. Although I have experienced some serious family problems during the duration of the course I can safely say that Masha as a teacher with her unique methods of teaching (to me anyway) has more than doubled my confidence in the subject.
I now firmly believe that my lot in the subject (mathematics) is what I choose to make of it and definitely not what has been handed down to me naturally or by chance. I actually look forward to the future (or my future) in the STEM fields, because I now know the full requirements that are needed to improve and become very competent in the subject. In other words “thank you“ Masha.
Hi Andrew. I really liked reading your story, it showed that there is hope even if things started off difficult - I believe others will benefit from hearing your story. I’ve typed it up so that others can read it without having to open the PDF attachment. I’ll include it as another comment.