And it begins…

Hello everyone! Call me Maelstromista.

Let me tell you a story.

When I was in second grade, I had one bane of my existence- math.

Oh, how I hated math.

I hated my teacher, I hated my class. I hated the stupid timed tests that I never could manage to finish. I hated that no one else seemed to have any trouble.

I really hated the fact that my teacher suggested that I be held back.

The problem wasn’t that I was bad at math. I understood the concepts. Addition and subtraction? Fine. I get it. Multiplication and division were just fancier versions of the same thing. Most questions I answered were correct, so what was the issue?

Self-doubt.

I double-checked myself constantly. I would do one problem, realize that I wasn’t sure about the answer, erase everything, and start over. This was repeated several times per question. By the end of allotted five minutes, I had finished about 10 out of 100 problems.

That was a failure in my teacher’s eyes.

You see, I didn’t feel secure in my own judgment. I didn’t think I could possible have gotten the correct answer- how could I? According to my teacher, I would never succeed in math (as she told my mother during a parent-teacher conference). According to her, I would be better off if Mom and Dad held me back a grade.

Thank goodness they didn’t listen.

Now? I’m majoring in mathematics and physics. I adore math. It calms me. And I still take a longer time to do it. Because guess what I found out?

It’s a really good idea to check your answers.

However, that’s not the point of this story. The point is that I was a young girl, unsure and easily affected by a teacher who didn’t support me. The point is that if it weren’t for my parents, I would most likely have given up on math and science. The point is that this is not an isolated case.

Girls and boys are different. Yes, this is true. We have different emotional and mental chemical triggers. But to quote Madeleine L’Engle, “Like and equal are not the same thing at all!” Girls are EQUALLY capable of contributing to math and science. But no matter how many times I say it, nothing will change until girls start BELIEVING it.

That’s the point of this project. I’m here for you, girls of the world. I welcome all of you, young and old, humanities and science majors, sure and unsure, to join me. I want you to realize that you are capable of great things in ANY field. I want you to realize that you are perfectly capable of having access to the power of mathematics and science. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist. You don’t have to be book smart.

You are still capable of harnessing the logic and power of knowledge.

This blog will consist of many things- anecdotes from my life in the math and physics world,  help with problems, and questions for you. I will try to provide you with help if you ask and encouragement all of the time.

So for my first question:

What do you think is the most intimidating thing about math and science ?