My Math Career
I can distinctly remember sitting at a desk during a scholarship interview saying, "I enjoy being challenged."
I don't know if this was because I hadn't faced very many real academic challenges, because I hadn't, or if this was because it was really true for me then or if I just thought it would sound good to those across the table from me. After many math courses, I can't say I enjoy every challenge, but I am more prepared for many that lie ahead. I can describe my math career in three words: challenging, frustrating, and rewarding.
There are so many reasons that it was challenging, and I can explain most of them. A large reason that I was challenged was because these classes are simply not easy. The effort I put into my high school courses ranged from literally none to not a lot. My definition of literally none being taking an online accounting class which I took for the purpose of being able to rush over to the disc golf course which was about 10 minutes away, quickly play through the 18 holes, and then rush back. I ended up with the same grade as I received in Calc AB, which was the high school course I put the most effort in (although I actually took it in 8th grade). Taking Calc AB in 8th grade was another reason that higher level math became challenging for me. At this point in my math education, I had been through Algebra 1 and 2, and geometry and pre-calc at an accelerated rate. This left holes in my math background that I partially blame on myself for not diving as deep into the material as I should have and also on the course material that was covered (some concepts that became important later on were not focused on such as matrices or limits). These holes would haunt me in the future.
My math career really began in 10th grade when I dual enrolled at Hope College for Calc 2. This was awful. Partially the fault of the holes in math knowledge, partially the fault of me not giving my absolute all, and partially the fault of the course. I did try very hard, but there's only so much 10th grade me is willing to do. The problems with the course itself really became evident when the professor literally just left during the semester for personal reasons. There was then a temporary professor who I think was the head of the department, but he was only there for a week or two before the final professor for the course took over. Those changes in teaching style and lack of overall cohesiveness to the course did not help me. Let's just say there was a reason I chose to drive the 30 minutes to Grand Valley for my next dual enrollment course. That Calc 2 course was the beginning of my frustrations, but those frustrations lied dormant over the next couple of years as the courses I dual enrolled in at GV went well, and I then took my senior year off from dual enrollment.
The real frustrations began in the upper level math courses when I would struggle for hours on a proof or problem or spend hours on tedious math. But these frustrations ultimately resolved themselves with a solution or a lower grade than desired, but not because effort was lacking. I find that there are some courses that created frustration which was equally matched by what I was then able to learn and retain, but there were some where that balance was not what it should be. I believe that this is because of some of the reasons described above and also somewhat due to the structure of the course. This MTH 495 course has been structured in such a way that I actually want to go out and explore every part of the math being covered. This has not been the case in my other math courses, and the ones that had the worst balance caused me to want to explore the math the least. Of all the styles of teaching and different course structures I've encountered I get the most out of courses that get me excited about the material. That's why I've always loved math, because it was exciting and made sense to me. This excitement and clarity faded for a time, turning that love into hate, but with all I've learned and a renewed excitement, I'm beginning to feel the love again.
I believe that everything could have been a lot easier had I put in maximum effort from the start, as well as had other factors go my way. If that perfect scenario had come to pass, I would want to continue studying math more, but as it is right now, I don't see that in my future. Instead, I will draw from all of my math classes and my Information Technology minor to support companies and their networks and computers. I also plan on doing some application development and incorporating my math skills as I create algorithms and equations that will make the programs I develop that much better.
I don't know if this was because I hadn't faced very many real academic challenges, because I hadn't, or if this was because it was really true for me then or if I just thought it would sound good to those across the table from me. After many math courses, I can't say I enjoy every challenge, but I am more prepared for many that lie ahead. I can describe my math career in three words: challenging, frustrating, and rewarding.
There are so many reasons that it was challenging, and I can explain most of them. A large reason that I was challenged was because these classes are simply not easy. The effort I put into my high school courses ranged from literally none to not a lot. My definition of literally none being taking an online accounting class which I took for the purpose of being able to rush over to the disc golf course which was about 10 minutes away, quickly play through the 18 holes, and then rush back. I ended up with the same grade as I received in Calc AB, which was the high school course I put the most effort in (although I actually took it in 8th grade). Taking Calc AB in 8th grade was another reason that higher level math became challenging for me. At this point in my math education, I had been through Algebra 1 and 2, and geometry and pre-calc at an accelerated rate. This left holes in my math background that I partially blame on myself for not diving as deep into the material as I should have and also on the course material that was covered (some concepts that became important later on were not focused on such as matrices or limits). These holes would haunt me in the future.
My math career really began in 10th grade when I dual enrolled at Hope College for Calc 2. This was awful. Partially the fault of the holes in math knowledge, partially the fault of me not giving my absolute all, and partially the fault of the course. I did try very hard, but there's only so much 10th grade me is willing to do. The problems with the course itself really became evident when the professor literally just left during the semester for personal reasons. There was then a temporary professor who I think was the head of the department, but he was only there for a week or two before the final professor for the course took over. Those changes in teaching style and lack of overall cohesiveness to the course did not help me. Let's just say there was a reason I chose to drive the 30 minutes to Grand Valley for my next dual enrollment course. That Calc 2 course was the beginning of my frustrations, but those frustrations lied dormant over the next couple of years as the courses I dual enrolled in at GV went well, and I then took my senior year off from dual enrollment.
The real frustrations began in the upper level math courses when I would struggle for hours on a proof or problem or spend hours on tedious math. But these frustrations ultimately resolved themselves with a solution or a lower grade than desired, but not because effort was lacking. I find that there are some courses that created frustration which was equally matched by what I was then able to learn and retain, but there were some where that balance was not what it should be. I believe that this is because of some of the reasons described above and also somewhat due to the structure of the course. This MTH 495 course has been structured in such a way that I actually want to go out and explore every part of the math being covered. This has not been the case in my other math courses, and the ones that had the worst balance caused me to want to explore the math the least. Of all the styles of teaching and different course structures I've encountered I get the most out of courses that get me excited about the material. That's why I've always loved math, because it was exciting and made sense to me. This excitement and clarity faded for a time, turning that love into hate, but with all I've learned and a renewed excitement, I'm beginning to feel the love again.
I believe that everything could have been a lot easier had I put in maximum effort from the start, as well as had other factors go my way. If that perfect scenario had come to pass, I would want to continue studying math more, but as it is right now, I don't see that in my future. Instead, I will draw from all of my math classes and my Information Technology minor to support companies and their networks and computers. I also plan on doing some application development and incorporating my math skills as I create algorithms and equations that will make the programs I develop that much better.
Very interesting read. We really want to be able to appeal to students like you, interested in turning math into their own kind of career. If you have ideas about what would have appealed to freshman Josh, let me know.
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