282 Days Until the Big Five-0

Geometry, What’s In a Name

If A = B and B = C than A = C. I hated math and loved Geometry. I never thought of Geometry as Math and maybe that is why. We get so caught up in Labels. We give things names, whether it is a subject in school, “History” “Social Studies”, a place, our neighborhoods, West Rogers Park, Humboldt Park. We cannot find a book in the store or in the Library if it does not have a title. We have to give everything a “name” and the name becomes a label and the label eventually becomes more than just a representative, or a way to find something. A name in a phone book leads us to a person but it also leads us to a feeling, an impression and can determine the direction in which we may approach something or someone. If I had really thought of Geometry as Math, I would have given up before even trying. I knew I was bad at “math”. It started in Fifth Grade. For anyone who has read this Blog you may recall at one point I was writing about my travels through school chronologically. I began in kindergarten and got all the way through 4th grade where I stopped but promised to pick up again one day. I am not ready to cover that heavy topic, but a portion of it had to do with my coming face to face with a full blown math phobia. My dysfunctional relationship to the subject of Math all began in Fifth Grade but it did not end there.

When I was a freshman in High School I managed to escape Algebra without failing because the teacher knew less than most of the students. Then, in my second year of High School I had to take Geometry. The teacher had a reputation for being tough, but good and she was. But, the topic did not fit neatly into the “math” label I was use to applying. And I started loving Geometry. I simply decided for myself that Geometry was more philosophy than math. It was about relationships and the numbers were simply little annoyances one had to deal with when figuring out theories. I believe it is called Cognitive Dissonance (a term I learned in a Psychology 101 class in college). I found my way around the Math label and the rigid mindset within which it had imprisoned me and I kicked ass in Geometry.

Then Junior Year, I nearly failed out of Trigonometry. You see, I got cocky and thought since “ometry” was part of the name that Trig would be like Geometry and I could continue to excel in this area. I guess this is why I am not an etymologist. I cannot trust my linguistic analysis to lead me in the correct direction. After realizing Geometry and Trigonometry had little in common, I lost faith in my language skills as well. No more spelling bees for me. Not to mention, I had nearly failed Honors English my freshman year. Another day, another label, another blog entry…