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.
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.