I’ve recently embarked on my second attempt at a higher education. Like many jaded adults, I felt that it was time for a career change. I had long felt disconnected with the world. Feeling as though I was not making any meaningful contribution to society.
After a several jobs various financial markets and a change in lifestyle, I am right back where I started a long time ago. Unhappy with my career choices. Jaded, disgusted with all the capitalistic desires which society has deemed a necessity for every day life.
Ooooooo… a new iPhone is out, I have to have it.
I just got my iPhone, but now there’s a new Galaxy, I have to have that.
Now, change phones with cars, clothes, watches, shoes, handbags, houses. You name it, we’re constantly chasing something that’s somehow suppose to make our lives better. Whatever the next gadget is going to be, it’s going to make our lives much better. That’s a guarantee. Or so we are led to believe in this consumer driven society.
And I get it, it’s because we need consumers to consume in order for the economy to grow. But you know what, maybe the economy should shrink down a little bit? To a sustainable level, where we’re not constantly purchasing junk today to only throw it out in two days’ time?
I am sick of the never ending cycle that is my consumerism life, but that said, I went out and got myself the latest “toys” to help me with my studies. Do they really? Or am I just unable to break out of the habits of old? I’ll go with option number two. Let’s call a spade a spade. I may be sick of consumerism, but I am a product of this society, and I’m still not quite able to see the forest for the trees, not just yet.
So, with a semi crusader mindset, I have gone back to University to do my Masters in Education. Oh gasp horror! Why oh why?
Why? It’s simple really. Because I’ve always wanted to teach. I love to teach. I want to actually contribute to society, and I want to help people. I expect to be challenged every step of the way, I expect my students to act up, and I expect to really hate some of them. But, I’m also hoping that the challenges I face will make me into a better person, and to rise up to the occasion. I am also hoping that my students will act up in a funny manner so that we can all laugh at it, themselves included, because I believe that it is important to learn to laugh at yourself. There will always be a place for a class clown, and who knows, maybe one day that class clown can go on to write for a comedy show, or be a comedian. And I hope that the kids that really test my patience and bring forth my resentment for having chosen this as my profession, will turn around when they realise that I’m not going away and will not give up on them. I have a lot of hopes for my future as an educator.
Sure, I am also delusional and think that if I’m charismatic and knowledgeable enough, the kids will respect and like me. And I’ll be able to control a group of teenagers with ease. I can handle 5 easily, but 35? Who knows. Your guess is as good as mine.
I have spoken passionately about teaching for the longest time, I’ve had the fortune to go to outback Australia rural communities and interacted with the primary students there, once upon in another life, as a part of a corporate sponsorship deal. It was one of the most confronting experiences of my life, but, it was also one of the most rewarding.
I came back a semi-changed woman. It lamented what I had always thought, I wanted to be a teacher. But what it lacked at the time, was a punch for me to realise that corporate life wasn’t for me.
It wasn’t until I met my partner that I realised that my dreams of being a teacher could very well be a reality. We don’t want the fancy house, cars or holidays. We’ve both been there and done that ourselves when we were younger.
The pity in all this is that teaching is a pay cut. It’s not a little pay cut, it’s a massive one for someone like me. Sadly, there are others out there who are like me, people who would love nothing more than to teach, but money gets in our way when it comes to decision time.
Teachers teach for various reasons, mine is because I inherently enjoy it. I’m loud, I’m talkative and I love Maths. Am I brilliant at it? Well, compared to some of the nerds I’ve worked with, no. But compared to some of the non-nerds I’ve worked with, I am. It’s all relative. But I am good at, is relating it back to the real world.
To me, Mathematics is not a stand alone principle to be taught and learnt. It is interactive, it is important and most of all, it is relevant. We all use Maths in our every day life, but we just don’t realise that we do.
I believe that there is a who, what, when, where, why and how for Maths and all the different theorems that is taught and learnt in school. Sometimes, it may not seem apparent, but it is. Let’s take calculus, how ridiculous is calculus? For a normal every day person:
Who: You. You actually use it.
What: the first derivative is known as the “rate of change” in Calculus, which is the the change in the underlying measuring unit, eg. price.
When: when you invest in a property or shares. When you’re investing, you are hoping that the value of your home/shares go up. The speed at which the price goes up is actually calculus. It’s the “rate of change”.
Where: whenever someone asks you how much “profit” you’ve made.
Why: to see how much profit/loss you’ve made over the course of the investment.
How: In this case, it would just be the price that it’s valued at right now, minus, the price that it was when you purchased it, divided by either the number of days/months/years you’re talking about. If you bought Facebook shares for $200 last year and it’s worth $150 now, well, then, you’ve lost $50 a year. If you held it for another year, and the price was still $150, then you’ve only lost $25/yr, even though you’ve lost the same total amount.
Maths can be simple, it’s just a matter of understanding what the question is asking, and phrasing it different. Let’s try this question. I have bottle a cap, I sell the bottle with the cap for $1.25, but sell the bottle alone for $1., how much is the cap worth (if the price of the bottle plus the cap is the same as buying the bottle and cap at the same time)?
You will look at this question and be able to intuitively answer it, it’s $0.25. Ah drr… No, ah drr… what you’ve done is algebra. You just didn’t realise it.
And that’s the beauty in Maths. It’s all in the explanation. It can be so simple, it can also be incredibly beautiful. But it’s been taught to us in such a complex manner that it just makes just want to curl up in a ball and cry ourselves to sleep. The amount of people I have come across in my professional life who have Maths Anxiety is alarming. The most basic of tasks will stump people, and it’s not because they’re stupid. It’s because they’ve had bad encounters with it all throughout their youth, and have created this belief that they are innumerate. Are they really? No, they’ve just scared themselves into thinking it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that everyone can go on a do advanced calculus with ease and understand the most complex theorems of mathematics, there comes a point when it just stops making sense. I get that. But I am going to try and up that point for as many people as I can.
I do have reservations as to whether or not I’m going to succeed. But at least I can say that I tried and gave it my all.
Ranter & Banter 