The educational system grooms children to be productive members of society. First coined in the days of one-room schoolhouses, the phrase “reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic” has become a common mantra of education. The third of these three r’s is mathematics, an infamous subject. It is incumbent in many professions, from accountants and doctors to physicists and teachers. Both hated and adored by many, math is complex, essential, and encompasses hundreds of topics. These topics can be sorted into four basics categories: elementary math, algebra, physics, and calculus.
Elementary math is the math everyone wishes he could go back to learning. It is the math of writing numbers, counting to ten, and adding two plus two. In elementary math properly scrawling a “7” merits a “good job” sticker, and math’s possibilities never stretch beyond the basics of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. “Mad minute” tests—tests with 60 basic math problems to be completed in under one minute—are perhaps the only frightening aspect of elementary math. Teachers do not struggle to find real-world applications for the four pillars of arithmetic. Eager-eyed students will be enchanted by the fact that they can now answer the classic, “If John has two apples, and Jane has three apples, how many do they have together?” The phrase, “No matter what you do when you get older, you will need to do math” is actually true in terms of elementary arithmetic, for everyone from custodians to CEOs uses skills like adding or dividing every day. With that in mind, elementary mathematics could be considered the most important type of math, despite its simplicity.
The end of this simplicity, algebra, is where a student’s math career can take off or plummet...
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... one of the lucky Math Lovers. Math Lovers will continue on to Calculus II, III, and beyond. They will become engineers and computer programmers. If a student thrives in calculus, he should feel proud of himself. He is a Math Lover—one of the fecund minds society reveres for their understanding of such esoteric mathematics.
Striking fear in some and adoration and others, mathematics is diverse. Its divisions of elementary math, algebra, physics, and calculus cover everything from counting to finding the area under a curve. While some occupations require expertise in math, others call for only the basics: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Those who struggle to understand much beyond these four pillars of arithmetic always have the other two r’s to fall back on. Together, reading, writing, and the notorious ‘rithmetic form the basis of education.
Abhi is a stage 3 student from Year 6, who recently attempted his selective school test. Having a conversation with his parents helped me to know that Abhi enjoys doing maths and is working at appropriate stage level. Abhi states that his most interesting topics in maths are place value, angles and geometry (I-04), as they are easy to understand (I-05). Whereas, he hates fractions and decimals (I-06) as he found them to be very confusing (I-07).
In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Achebe Chinua, the brutal downhill of Okonkwo is well displayed through his thoughts and actions. It becomes clear to the reader, Okonkwo is not who he thinks he is, he is soft and loving. He wears a mask and brings pride upon himself through the false belief and actions of whom he wants to be. In his search for the ideal and his future, he finds who he truly is, and reality finds him hanging. He was the strongest man who used his strength to drown the confusions of his life away. Nwoye’s father was a fearful coward, who could not find reality until reality found him.
From the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo rebukes Nwoye for being callow an avoiding arduous work. Even at the age of twelve, Nwoye causes “his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness,” (Achebe 13). Not only did Okonkwo fear to be like Unoka, his father, but he also dreaded that Nwoye would end up like Unoka,
To investigate the notion of numeracy, I approach seven people to give their view of numeracy and how it relates to mathematics. The following is a discussion of two responses I receive from this short survey. I shall briefly discuss their views of numeracy and how it relates to mathematics in the light of the Australian Curriculum as well as the 21st Century Numeracy Model (Goos 2007). Note: see appendix 1 for their responses.
Nwoye’s character was struggling to find where it was that he belonged. He was struggling to make the relationship with his father work, and the only thing Nwoye and Okonkwo had in common is their need to be completely unlike their father. Okonkwo made Nwoye feel like he was useless and unwanted. Nwoye just wanted to be peaceful, and to be his own person. Nwoye’s character affected the novel because his character was hopeless and unneeded at first, and then was able to find out where it was that he had belonged.
When Okonkwo’s cousin Amikwu witnessed Nwoye at the Christian church, Okonkwo was enraged. Once Nwoye returned him Okonkwo grab his neck and began to choke him, demanding to know where he was. After he was finished beating his son, Nwoye decided to leave and never return. He confided in a missionary Mr. Kiaga telling him that he has not decided to return to Umuofia and attend the Christian school to learn to read and write. Okonkwo looked at his son as woman like, who resembled his grandfather greatly.
This motif of achievements and successes is continued throughout the story as every so often the narrator repeats and reminds the reader of Okonkwo’s achievements. This repetition shows the importance of achievements in the novel, and furthermore their importance to Okonkwo, as shortly after listing his achievements the narrator states that Okonkwo has “no patience with unsuccessful men” (4), which becomes quickly clear through the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye. It is evident that Nwoye is under a lot of pressure to be a successful man when the narrator says “his father wanted him to be a man. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women’s stories. And when he did this he saw that his father was
I also learned that mathematics was more than merely an intellectual activity: it was a necessary tool for getting a grip on all sorts of problems in science and engineering. Without mathematics there is no progress. However, mathematics could also show its nasty face during periods in which problems that seemed so simple at first sight refused to be solved for a long time. Every math student will recognize these periods of frustration and helplessness.
[“And so Obierika went to Mbanta to see his friend. And he found that Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye” (Achebe 144)Because of Okonkwo’s exile, Nwoye and him haven't been able to bond like a father and son would, and with Nwoye becoming a convert brings their relationship to a halt.]
"It is difficult to understand why so many people must struggle with concepts that are actually simpler than most of the ideas they deal with every day. It is far easier to calculate a percentage than it is to drive a car." (Dewdney 1993, p. 1) To many people, the words "math" and "simple" do not belong in the same sentence. Math has such an aura of difficulty around it that even people who are quite competent in other areas of life are not ashamed to admit they can't "do" math. Innumeracy is more socially acceptable and tolerated than illiteracy (Dewdney 1993; Withnall 1995). Rather than discussing specific ways to teach math to adults, this Digest looks at emerging perspectives on numeracy and their social, cultural, and political implications as a context for new ways of thinking about adult numeracy instruction.
In the beginning of the story, Okonkwo’s relationship with his son was strained. Toward the end of the story, Nwoye has left is his family and will never see his father again. The elders of the village put much emphasis on family life and helping fellow clansmen. Okonkwo’s family life had increasingly gone downhill as the story progressed. This book can be related to any family, even though it was written in a different time and place. Family problems affect everyone and this story shows the reader how certain problems are dealt with. I don’t believe, however, that Okonkwo’s family took care of their problems in a productive manner. With better communication, Nwoye’s leaving and Okonkwo’s death may have been prevented.
Nwoye resents his father for constantly criticizing him and he feels as though his father does not truly understand him. He grew sad because of this constant disapproval and is described as “Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.”(13; ch.2) This type of disconnect between father and son and continually disapproval is not unique to this situation, but is in fact seen across the world in every culture and in every era. Nwoye is much like Unoka in the sense that he is very thoughtful and somewhat feminine in his thinking. When Ikemefuna comes, Nwoye accepts him with open arms. He feels as though he is someone that he is understood by and someone that he can look up to as well as confide in; much like one would do to a real father. He treats him like a father figure and a brother all at once. When Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna, Nwoye totally loses respect for his father and as what may be an act of rebellion against him, he converts to Christianity. He realizes that he is not a failure or inadequate to everyone, and that the whole world is not based off of masculinity and power but that there are other ways of life. Okonkwo and Nwoye clearly demonstrate that when one does not know how to love someone for their differences, it is difficult to expect love in return and that the cycle of disconnect between father and son is one that is very hard to break as time goes
As a secondary subject, society often views mathematics a critical subject for students to learn in order to be successful. Often times, mathematics serves as a gatekeeper for higher learning and certain specific careers. Since the times of Plato, “mathematics was virtually the first thing everyone has to learn…common to all arts, science, and forms of thought” (Stinson, 2004). Plato argued that all students should learn arithmetic; the advanced mathematics was reserved for those that would serve as the “philosopher guardians” of the city (Stinson, 2004). By the 1900s in the United States, mathematics found itself as a cornerstone of curriculum for students. National reports throughout the 20th Century solidified the importance of mathematics in the success of our nation and its students (Stinson, 2004). As a mathematics teacher, my role to educate all students in mathematics is an important one. My personal philosophy of mathematics education – including the optimal learning environment and best practices teaching strategies – motivates my teaching strategies in my personal classroom.
What is math? If you had asked me that question at the beginning of the semester, then my answer would have been something like: “math is about numbers, letters, and equations.” Now, however, thirteen weeks later, I have come to realize a new definition of what math is. Math includes numbers, letters, and equations, but it is also so much more than that—math is a way of thinking, a method of solving problems and explaining arguments, a foundation upon which modern society is built, a structure that nature is patterned by…and math is everywhere.
When I graduated from high school, forty years ago, I had no idea that mathematics would play such a large role in my future. Like most people learning mathematics, I continue to learn until it became too hard, which made me lose interest. Failure or near failure is one way to put a stop to learning a subject, and leave a lasting impression not worth repeating. Mathematics courses, being compulsory, are designed to cover topics. One by one, the topics need not be important or of immediate use, but altogether or cumulatively, the topics provide or point to a skill, a mastery of mathematics.