Mathematics Phobia

Readers, there is nothing to worry about this phobia. Maths is one subject where you have to have Patience in every step. Many children at some time in their school career are challenged by anxiety. Symptoms include stomachaches, nausea, fatigue, shaking, a racing heart and frequent trips to the toilet.

I guess I never had this problem when I first stepped into my school. To me everything was comfortable as I saw everything with a positive attitude. Even when I plugged in Mathematics exam, at the tender age of four years, I had the innocence of coming up to my parents and saying, "See, I have got the best marks in class ( 10 / 3, I had turned the marks upside down whilst addressing it to my Parents)." My parents would end up saying, "Oh God! Not again!" This with a flustered expression and both of them would put their hands up in despair. My best subjects were practically eveything one could ask for in the academic year, except of course, my greatest enemy - "Mathematics."

The problem was not with me, but in the way the teachers put the very attributes of this wondeful subject across that always had me running to the nearest wash-room on some pretext or the other. The whole class would strain their necks to see when I would leave the class-room the moment the bell rang for this particular period. I was never taught to take an interest in this subject, simply because either the teachers only came for the heck of getting remuneration for that one hour period or they never had the patience to bring the interest in candidates like me, or they would see to it that they would go at a tangent, or worse, they were scared about answering for all the baffling questions I would shoot at them.

In simpler language, they had not done their homework very well. At the age of five years, I just did not grasp the significance of this enigma, i.e. 2 + 2 = 4, 2 x 2 = 4, but 2 - 2 = 0. The end result was that, I was always made to kneel down in the corridor of our class, whenever the wash room was occupied, much to my mental agony. I had resigned to my fate of treating Mathematics as a subject that was Labyrinthine to me, beyond my understanding. Why do the teachers always make any particular subject so obfuscate that always ends up with the students in a state of Lachrymose?

In the remaining subjects, I was sharp and could teach most of my class mates, a new chapter ahead of the time period. That was amazing to my school Principal. Today, when I think of it, I wish I had Amir Khan in my school days, to come and help me out of this Mathematics problem. English was my favourite subject and I simply enjoyed listening to stories and writing short essays, when I was in class six. I remember a crazy thing I did once. We had a special species of a teacher who had the knack of pronouncing things in a very slurry manner. I was asked to read out a particular page to the entire class along with the punctuations, in line for them to jot down for their home study. All went fine, until the time came when the sentence had to end and I landed up saying, " Police Stop" for Full- Stop. ( At times, she would sound like, "Foolish Stop", but I thought it could not be that word). The teacher had in the interim period gone for a Meeting with the senior school Faculty.

The next day was the day of my martyrdom, when there was a line of Parents, outside the Principal's office, wanting an immediate explanation to the "Police Stop", in their ward's notebooks. The concerned teacher was summoned and as it happens in Private sector offices, the beating or the banging seems to pass from the top to the next officer in line. I was watching a lot of heads roll with the utmost innocence of any child at that age. I was asked to read the Para in the presence of the school Principal, and guess what came out of my innocent pouting lips? "Police Stop". When asked, " who taught you this?" I innocently pointed my little finger at the culprit in hand - My English Mme, who was snorting at me, with the look, "Just wait till I get you." But I had the audacity to stay put and not cower. This teacher was also very well-known for her harangue. That was the last time I saw the wash-room of that school.

I was bundled off to the next school and this time, my parents made sure that the school faculty was up to the mark. No problem! This was where I reigned like a queen, as I was being guided all along with the best incarnation of Sir Issac Newton, who made Mathematics look like a beautiful game to me. I stopped having nightmares of numbers and even "Police Stops", much to the relief of all at home. I began having a strong adulation to this teacher and to the subject. That was the year I was on cloud Nine, topping the class in Mathematics. My instant reaction was to run and hug my mathematics teacher.

As Bacon quoted: " Pure mathematics do remedy and cure many defects in the wit and faculties of individuals; for if the wit be dull, they sharpen it; if too wandering they fix it; if too inherent in the sense,they abstract it."

I was made to understand that the study of mathematics is like climbing up a steep and craggy mountain; when once you reach the top, it fully recompenses your trouble, by opening a fine, clear, and extensive prospect.

Mathematics cultivates the reason; that of the languages, at the same time, the reason and the taste. The former gives grasp and power to the mind; the latter both power and flexibility. The former, by itself, would prepare us for a state of certainties, which nowhere exists; the latter, for a state of probabilities, which is that of common life. Each, by itself, does but an imperfect work: in the union of both, is the best discipline for the mind, and the best mental training for the world as it is.