Math Sucks

I recently underwent a battery of aptitude tests and revisited a personal hell of my own. Math. As a language, mathematics has its own way of describing the world, one at which I was a poor student. As I sat trying desperately to remember how to express the volume of a cylinder I was tempted to yell out my usual response, "I'll never use this in the real world." As it turns out I could have, but wonder, like any devotee of Star Trek, how my life would have been different if the nuances of numbers had settled into a cohesive system in my brain.

I was also quite stunned, in a P.C. kind of way, when I was told that the vast majority of us actually reach our potential in relation to our employment. "Stupid is as stupid does." was what I was told. I'm no Occupational Therapist, but I was pretty surprised to find that for the most part the proof is in the data. There's an argument here, however, for a chicken and egg kind of debate, but what matters is the reality of the situation and that is that most of us have exactly the aptitude to do what it is we do. The key, not surprisingly, is reading and comprehension because if you can't read or understand the warning you'll likely stick your head in the chipper to see what's got it all bunged up. Not considering those who have perception issues, like dyslexia, the door closes on any who aren't paying attention in class as the single most important factor in determining someone's abilities in the workforce is reading and comprehension. Now before my conspiratorial back gets up I'd like to point out the most obvious flaw in this argument. The number of students entering University with below level language skills is unbelievable. I shudder to think about all those essays I wrote for people who currently exist as anomalous members of the test group. It also makes me wonder why I didn't just cheat in math class and go on to become a physicist.

Anomalies aside, it's important to remember that the language that O.T.s use to explain all of this is a close cousin to the language of math; statistics. It's fair to say that given my low aptitudes in that area, there's likely something going on here I just don't understand. I need to find someone to sit in for me during the next round.