I am 76 and most of what I learned in math was up to about 1978 when i got a B in grad level Research Statistics. I am particularly skilled in reading and writing which I far prefer to math; mostly starting with books at home pre-K. But I have sat in on dozens of meetings where people listed 3 and 4 digit numbers on tear sheets and I had the total almost as soon as they finished the list. Other worked calculators and figured it out by totaling columns.
How can I do that. not being in love with math or some kind of prodigy. Easy, Catholic school for 12 years. And my parents always took the side of the priests and nuns. My dad would say whatever they do to you at school it will be ten times worse when you get home.
Went to a 4 room school in a boarding school in Paintsville, KY. The school is still there but no boarders. By the end of 2 grade knew my times tables up through 12X12 and by end of 4th could divide any number by any number. By 6th square root and so on. Tyhe nuns at boarding school were not harsh, just supportive and taught us responsibility. Home work every day, write a letter home once a week even though we went home on Fridays, and no excuses for not doing your work or you didn’t get to go home. Everyone had daily chores.
In HS, we had cathloic priesnts off the streets of Dublin and Belfast.who “disciplined” us if we didn’t do our homework talked in class etc. I worked corrections and learned early if you pull hair it doesn’t leave a mark. But I learned it from the priests in HS who could bring a tear to your eys and get you to stand on tip toes if you talked in class or didn’t know what you should have known. (Our HS won the first soccer championship in SoCal. The priests challenged the team to a match. It was called off at half time with the priests a head 13-0.) I still have a dent in my shin from being kicked by a 27 year old all star soccer priest. I can feel the kick 71 years later.
That’s how I learned math.
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