4.28.2008
boiling ice cubes.
Is it good for a man to feel uncomfortable with pretty much all of the churches he has visited or been a part of, when he is planning on becoming a pastor himself?
4.13.2008
why math class is so important
I have a biology exam tomorrow. So far I haven't done very well on my biology exams. I don't have a biology mind. I didn't really want to take biology for my science credit, I wanted Environmental Earth Science, but my advisor insisted that EES wasn't a real class or something, and he suggested Biology wouldn't be too challenging. Well, it's challenging enough I guess.
But it has to be better than chemistry. I took chemistry my junior year in high school because I thought, "Hey, in TV shows they get to blow up stuff in chemistry classes," and I wanted to blow up stuff too. But we didn't get to do that. The coolest thing we got to do was make tye-dye shirts at the end of the year. And that didn't even have to do with anything we were learning.
What made chemistry so frustrating for me was the fact that it combined complicated science principles with math. And if there's one thing my brain stinks at more than science, it's math.
Math.
Every year through Junior High and High School I heard numerous students ask their teacher the same thing about new concepts we were learning, "What are we going to do with this stuff in the real world?" And the teacher's response was usually always the same: "Um, well..."
Yes. The "Um, well..." which was usually followed by a desperate cover-up answer:
"Um, well you use it whenever you're measuring triangles and your ruler isn't working properly."
"Um, well you can use this whenever you are at the grocery store and need to know the square root of 34.57."
"Um, well you can use this formula in case you ever go on a trip to the Sun and your electronic measuring and computing devices aren't working."
Are you seeing a pattern? Here's the truth: Unless you are going to work for NASA or become a math teacher, there is no reason for learning most of what we learn in math class. Really we learn all we need to know as far as math goes before we're even halfway done with elementary school.
Let me illustrate my point:
Fig. 2
But it has to be better than chemistry. I took chemistry my junior year in high school because I thought, "Hey, in TV shows they get to blow up stuff in chemistry classes," and I wanted to blow up stuff too. But we didn't get to do that. The coolest thing we got to do was make tye-dye shirts at the end of the year. And that didn't even have to do with anything we were learning.
What made chemistry so frustrating for me was the fact that it combined complicated science principles with math. And if there's one thing my brain stinks at more than science, it's math.
Math.
Every year through Junior High and High School I heard numerous students ask their teacher the same thing about new concepts we were learning, "What are we going to do with this stuff in the real world?" And the teacher's response was usually always the same: "Um, well..."
Yes. The "Um, well..." which was usually followed by a desperate cover-up answer:
"Um, well you use it whenever you're measuring triangles and your ruler isn't working properly."
"Um, well you can use this whenever you are at the grocery store and need to know the square root of 34.57."
"Um, well you can use this formula in case you ever go on a trip to the Sun and your electronic measuring and computing devices aren't working."
Are you seeing a pattern? Here's the truth: Unless you are going to work for NASA or become a math teacher, there is no reason for learning most of what we learn in math class. Really we learn all we need to know as far as math goes before we're even halfway done with elementary school.
Let me illustrate my point:
Fig. 1
See, up through middle school we learn all of the shapes we will need to know to get through college and even get us on to retirement:
Fig. 2There you go.
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