Yes, that's right, I didn't like math homework. Somehow or other, I managed to put aside my dislike of the problems and focus on the math itself, which I found much more beautiful, quirky, and open to exploration and discovery. I did far more math than math homework in my high school years (as evidenced by literally hundreds of pieces of paper covered with tiny mathematical scribbles, none of which had anything to do with what I was learning in school - the following is one from back in 8th grade):
So people may ask - how? How could I put aside my dislike of the boring set of problems that had to be solved every day? How could I look through the giant obstacle of daily assignments that blocks so many other people from ever appreciating the cool stuff behind it?
And what I've recently realized is... I kind of cheated a bit.
A bit of background first. I've always liked math. From before I was even in elementary school, math was something I found interesting. Sometimes, it was just because I felt I did it well, so it made me feel good about myself. Sometimes it was because I felt it connected things well, or had interesting results. There were various reasons for my enjoyment of it... but it wasn't until 8th grade that I REALLY started getting into math. Up until 7th grade, I was doing the stuff everyone else was doing. Perhaps I did it better than average, or got the concepts quicker, but I was learning 7th grade stuff - figuring out how to work with variables, dealing with different types of numbers (negatives, irrationals), plotting points on the coordinate plane, and so on. By the end of my 7th grade year, I was really good at 7th grade math - no more than that. But within half a year, I had taught myself calculus. That's... a big jump.
Almost all the credit for this rapid change goes to my 8th grade math teacher, Mr. Finlay. I didn't realize it at the time, but what he did for me, essentially, was pulverize any ideas I had that math was to be learned in a strongly structured way. I started the school year at a new school in Canada (I was in Japan previously) and was given a 9th grade math textbook - no testing out of 8th grade math, no asking me if I thought I was ready, nothing - I was just put into a class of 8th graders learning 9th grade math (though some were working on 10th or even 11th grade math at the time). I accepted the challenge, and started working on 9th grade math. About a month into the year, Mr. Finlay pulls me aside and says "You don't seem to be having any trouble with this stuff. Why don't you take the 9th grade test and we'll get you started on 10th grade math?" And so, a week later, I got the 10th grade textbook. I officially stayed at that level through the year - but that sudden jump, from 7th grade to 10th grade math in just a couple months, gave me a lot of momentum, and I just kept moving. Kept exploring, kept discovering - until, as I mentioned, I learned calculus over Christmas vacation. Not well enough to take the AP test, definitely - I couldn't integrate anything more complicated than a polynomial, for example. But for the first time, I was hungry for math, not just interested in it. I basically ignored the textbook that whole year - and Mr. Finlay didn't mind at all. He knew I was learning more than the textbook could teach me.
Fast forward to the beginning of 9th grade - return to Japan, to a smaller school with fewer resources, and therefore a more structured learning environment (it takes a lot of resources - time, people, books, training - to provide a program that can be personalized to fit every student's learning style). After some hard work, I managed to get into 10th grade math (again). A bit of a step back in some ways, but it was definitely a new experience to be learning with people a year older than me, and I learned a lot that I never would have otherwise. I had a math teacher named Mr. Mhlanga, and he, like Mr. Finlay, understood that I didn't need the textbook problems in order to learn, that I was getting somewhere on my own. So he let me get away with not doing much work. Same in my 10th grade year, when I took AP Calculus AB - again, Mr. Mhlanga was the teacher, and he emphasized taking charge of your own education, meaning "do what you know you need to do." He graded very little - so I did very little, and did fine. 11th grade, I took AP Calculus BC... which wasn't actually a class at my school, so it turned into a study hall in which I basically didn't do calculus. And then in 12th grade, I had no math class.
So what do I mean by "I kind of cheated a bit?" Basically... I haven't done math homework regularly since 7th grade. :p
And it was after 7th grade that I started really getting into math.
Coincidence? Maybe. But that's not my point. What I meant to talk about is where I am now...
Do I like regularly assigned math homework now that I'm out of high school? I actually don't know. After not having done it regularly for five years, maybe my thoughts on it have changed. Maybe all the time I spent away from it, getting a solid foundation in other ways of doing math, will make me appreciate the math behind the assigned problems more. Maybe the fact that college problems are more interesting than high school ones will give me more motivation. But it could be the other way too... five years without regular math homework means five years of losing my touch. I'm not used to doing regular homework problems any more. Getting back on track could be very hard, very painful, and just make me hate regularly assigned problems even more. Which will it be? So far, I've done one assignment for each of my two math classes (both a week early!), and it's actually been pretty fun so far. But the real test will come once I have to start doing them over and over and over and over again. Will the novelty wear off? Will I get bored or frustrated? Or will I continue to find the problems invigorating? We have yet to see. I'll let you know in a couple of months.
Jonathan, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Dad ;)
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