Math is Awful. Here's Why.

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It’s no secret that I hate my statistics class. What do any of these Greek symbols mean? Do you reject or fail to reject the null hypothesis? It’s awful, irrelevant, and stupid.

Granted, maybe some of that is my professor, or maybe it’s my work ethic after finding out I didn't need this class AFTER the final drop date (come on Southern. Why you gotta do this to me??)

But the real reason statistics sucked is because my last math class was, well, amazing.

Coming into my first quarter at community college, I was confident; I had taken a pre-calc class in high school. This class would be a breeze, no matter the academic rust my year-off accumulated. My college pre-calc instructor seemed confident as well. He always dressed simply- plain slacks, blue sweater, and the same dark backpack.

In his first lecture, he affirmed my own confidence in the first practice problem, demonstrating the equation exactly as I had done in my notebook the night before.

Then he asked our class in his thick, Asian accent, “Did you do the problem like this?”

I nodded my head smugly.

“That's wrong,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Life is not that simple.”

And wow was my Asian pre-calc professor right.

During high school and my time at Bible college, I thought that life was very simple, that everything should follow a strict set of ideals, and if not, well sucks for you. And sure, 1+1 is simple enough, but add enough variables to the equation and life isn’t so simple anymore.

In a seemingly small way, this class changed my life. It encouraged me to dissect my beliefs, accept the nuances in my life, and free me from all the unrealistic expectations I had for myself.

All because life isn't so simple.

That pre-calc professor always made math relevant to the real world, even if the lessons weren't as deep as that first lecture. I never thought I'd say this, but he helped me appreciate math.

Well, except for stats. Just thinking about my stats class makes me ihulsSDJHaf fjkaLKf ffeilg