[Rhodes22-list] JW in college

[brad haslett]

Jim,

Your report gave me a good chuckle.  I never did pass
calculus but was able to find a university that didn't
require it for an accounting degree.  The first time I
attempted it I sat next to a girl from my home town.
Oh, she was a pretty little thing but dumb as a box of
rocks.  We were in day three of calculus with a
Chinese instructor and I leaned over to whisper to
Christie "do you understand anything this guy is
saying?"  "Yeah, he makes it pretty simple" I put in
for a drop that day. I never made it in calculus or
with Christie.

Brad Haslett
"CoraShen"
--- Jim White <jdwhite at utpa.edu> wrote:

> Rik:
> Part of my inability to succeed in college the first
> time around was just 
> sheer lack of discipline. Girls, fishing and
> partying. It was a 
> smorgasboard of carnal delight...
> 
> Funny you should mention math....
>   I too had (have) a definite struggle with
> mathematics. I was a product of 
> the California approach to teaching, back in the
> early 60's (grade school), 
> was tested for "IQ", placed in accelerated classes
> in the 3rd grade and 
> introduced to algebra without a background in basic
> math. So I struggled 
> throughout public school, until graduating at almost
> the bottom of my 
> senior (high school) class. I am also dyslexic,
> which wasn't understood in 
> those days.
> 
> My training in the military (aviation structural
> mechanic) helped, at least 
> in practical math, I later went to trade school
> worked as an airplane 
> mechanic for a number of years, and went back to
> college as an "older 
> student" in the late 80's through early 90's. I am
> not ashamed to admit 
> that I had to repeat calculus and differential
> equations, struggled with 
> biometry as a grad student, and am constantly on
> guard for dyslexia in 
> numbers...especially in my line of work. I did
> maintain a 3.4 average as an 
> undergrad (sans U of O scores) and the requisite
> same through grad school. 
> I worked my butt off.
> 
> Today,  I quality check my own work, and am adamant
> about peer review, no 
> matter how much it smarts! I  understand and use
> higher math almost daily 
> to define and describe lots of aspects of research,
> but like so many other 
> fellow biologists have become pretty lazy with
> computer modeling programs 
> and routines available to handle mathematical
> functions.
> 
> Well that's about the extent of my story...hope it
> wasn't too much of a 
> sleeper.
> 
> jw
> Jim White
> Le Menagerie
> 
> At 06:57 PM 10/29/2004 -0500, you wrote:
> >JW,
> >
> >In an earlier reply to the list you wrote:
> >
> >"Flunked out after almost 2 years. But, got an "A"
> in fly fishing 
> >addiction. Drifted back to Texas. Several degrees
> and lots of years later, 
> >here I am"
> >
> >That statement raises my curiousity. Do you have a
> theory as to why you 
> >couldn't get anywhere at the U of O, but were
> obviously able to do quite 
> >well at other schools? I wonder about things like
> this a bit. I was a 
> >terrible math student from the 5th grade on. I like
> to blame my fifth 
> >grade teacher, Mr Peterson, who I absolutely
> couldn't seem to get along 
> >with to save my life. But, now that I am out of
> school, I seem to enjoy, 
> >at least simple math. I am now able, for instance,
> to figure 
> >transmission/rearend ratios vs tire size and tell
> you what the ground 
> >speed of a vehicle will be in a particular gear.
> Hardly basic addition and 
> >subtraction. Never was able to get a handle on
> algebra though. It seems 
> >that "sideways" math doesn't work for me, has to be
> up and down. Don't ask 
> >me why the difference.
> >
> >I just find it interesting that I am able to figure
> these things out on my 
> >own, but through this particular teacher, I failed
> at it miserably and was 
> >never able to get a good grasp on the subject for
> the rest of my days in 
> >school.
> >
> >Just curious, if you don't mind.
> >Rik
> >__________________________________________________
> >Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help?
> www.rhodes22.org/list
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Use Rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org, Help?
> www.rhodes22.org/list
> 



		
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