Blue Falcon

Undervalued Education

Many people that know me will tell you that I have a deep appreciation for Mathematics. I love working out problems with math and letting the numbers guide me to an answer that ive been searching for.

The other day, however, i was thinking: "When did I start to like math?". The answer that came to me was my old grade 9 math and science teacher: Mr. Blais. He was the one who would always tell his class that, "Though i may not look important right now, its the basis to what you will learn in high school." At the time, i thought that what he was saying was a joke.

It didnt hit me till grade 12 calculus that he was right. When I first started taking derivatives and such, I noticed the things that he had taught us about slope and linear graphs, where the basis of this abstract math we were learning. Without what he had taught us all those years ago, I would not have been able to get through calculus.

I recently went back to my Junior High School, to visit him and say thank you for all he had taught me. He told me that there were still people like me telling him that "they will never use this sort of math anywhere." I told him that in a couple of years, some of those people will be back here thanking you, and telling you: "you were right".

Cheers to Mr. Blais, and cheers to all those teachers out there who do so much for us students, and get little thanks.

This is Falcon, signing off.

posted by Blue Falcon @ 9:12 PM