Generations of kids weren't kidding: math does hurt

[merithyn]

Maybe that's part of the problem. None of my girlfriends were in my math class. In fact, I was one of only two girls in the class of 20+ students.

Did any of the girls you knew say why they didn't take that class?

I don't remember. I would guess it was because none of them expected to need them. At the time, you only needed to complete two years of high school math to get into college. Past Geometry, it was only useful if you wanted to go into Engineering or Science. Why bother unless that was your career goal?

Of course, most of the girls that I knew who were going to college were going to be teachers, nurses, or businesswomen. There were the few exceptions, but not many. In general, most weren't going to college at all. They took a few business classes (keyboarding, basic computing, and transcription) and got a job at an insurance company in town.

This was in the 1980s. When I said that I wanted to be a lawyer in 8th grade, I was told that that was a lofty goal for such a little girl.

[Valmy]

This was in the 1980s. When I said that I wanted to be a lawyer in 8th grade, I was told that that was a lofty goal for such a little girl.

So you were saved from being a lawyer?  Sometimes even bigoted prejudice can have a silver lining.

[merithyn]

This was in the 1980s. When I said that I wanted to be a lawyer in 8th grade, I was told that that was a lofty goal for such a little girl.

So you were saved from being a lawyer?  Sometimes even bigoted prejudice can have a silver lining.

Agreed.

[MadImmortalMan]

An interesting thing that jumped out at me from this transcript of an interview. The person being interviewed is a woman who became a man and had big testosterone injections. The whole piece is interesting, actually.

Griffin Hansbury

Something that happened after I started taking testosterone, I became interested in science. I was never interested in science before.
Alex Blumberg

No way. Come on. Are you serious?
Griffin Hansbury

I'm serious. I'm serious.
Alex Blumberg

You're just setting us back a hundred years, sir.
Griffin Hansbury

I know I am. I know. Again, and I have to have this caveat in here, I cannot say it was the testosterone. All I can say is that this interest happened after T. There's BT and AT, and this was definitely After T. And I became interested in science. I found myself understanding physics in a way I never had before.

One of the funniest things is her description of her new sex drive when she got the T. She said she finally understood adolescent boys.

[Eddie Teach]

I had this exact experience many times, particularly in BC Calculus, but all my friends were doing it so peer pressure made me keep trying.  I got it all eventually.

Really, there were like 3 of us eligible to take it in my senior class(I blew it off, much like the rest of my senior year). And that was because we'd taken dual enrollment math classes at the local junior college. Algebra->Geometry->Algebra 2-> Trig/Precal-> Calculus AB, algebra given 8th grade at earliest.

[Camerus]

Math was always may favourite subject as a kid, but then I found history and literature way more interesting suddenly around grade 9. 

[Razgovory]

I didn't like math at all. I still excelled at it. It's what men do.

I was always reading in math class, or writing short stories instead of working on problems.  That sorta put a crimp in my mathematical development.

Same here.  Yet when I took the standardized tests for math I got the top 1% despite being in a remedial math class at one time.  Being smarter then most Missourians is a uneasy feeling.  It's like being the king of the retards.

[merithyn]

Oh, I always tested in the 99% for math and science, too. But that's because standardized tests rarely went beyond Geometry. Even my ACT score was 25 in math.

Maybe I'm not as ignorant at math as I think I am. I just never felt like I really got it.

[Eddie Teach]

25 on the ACT is only around 80th percentile.

[CountDeMoney]

Oh, I always tested in the 99% for math and science, too. But that's because standardized tests rarely went beyond Geometry.

No kidding.  Showing up for standardized tests put you in the 99% if you've got half a brain.

God knows my Mom waved my Iowa results at me, screaming "If you can do this then why can't you do your homework!?!?" enough times, usually right before she started waving the yardstick.

[MadImmortalMan]

Maybe I'm not as ignorant at math as I think I am. I just never felt like I really got it.

I agree, you're probably not. My guess is these things usually come down to interest level and communication and not aptitude.


Raz--I also think that interest plays a big part in how "smart" people are too. People who exercise their brains in their recreation activities can boost their own IQ. People whose interests lend themselves to that will be "smarter". It's why you see IQ scores go down or up over a person's lifetime. Genetics matter, of course, but if you spend all your time exercising one muscle, you're going to have that one be stronger than everyone else's who does not do that. That's IMO of course.

[CountDeMoney]

but if you spend all your time exercising one muscle, you're going to have that one be stronger than everyone else's who does not do that.

That would explain my monstrous penis NYUK NYUK NYUK

[merithyn]

No kidding.  Showing up for standardized tests put you in the 99% if you've got half a brain.

God knows my Mom waved my Iowa results at me, screaming "If you can do this then why can't you do your homework!?!?" enough times, usually right before she started waving the yardstick.

Oh dear god. I'm Seedy's mom.

[CountDeMoney]

Oh dear god. I'm Seedy's mom.

It doesn't get any better.

IM NOT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL I WANNA BE A COP

[Brazen]

I actually run a temperature when I'm doing lots of maths-heavy thinking.