"The value of an education ... is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think something that cannot be learned from textbooks."
— Albert Einstein
Since I have been so consumed in my mathematics for quite some time, and since my math midterm is right around the corner, I have been thinking a lot about different aspects of the world in terms of mathematics. It is really quite interesting looking at the things in such a way because you begin to see the many possible relations math creates when trying to explain the mysteries of the world and in the universe! Mathematics is a very simple yet complex language, but just like any other language practice is needed in order to fully grasp the meaning of that language. You cannot just look at a language and expect to understand it in the matter of seconds, you have to continue to use it in any way you can. Many students, including myself at times, find mathematics to be very difficult to grasp and that is because they do not take the time to practice and understand the underlying meanings, just like in English class. We practice English every day, many of us speak it and practice it throughout the day which makes us understand this language so quickly.
Mathematics is more so similar to language in the sense that it makes our minds think in new and different ways as we try to explain the meaning of a problem. In math one is constantly encountering problems that require a little extra thinking on how we approach and view the problem so that it seems not as complicated as what it really is. Once we are able to see the problem in a different way by the use of our critical thinking skills, we can finally figure out the mystery on what is the solution to the problem. This is no different than what we do in our English classes. In English class, we read a novel and we look at the plot, story, and characters in a critical way so that we see the underlying meanings that the author left. As we continue to further analyze and search and collaborate different possible meanings of the work, we can come to a final conclusion on what was the author’s intent in writing the novel.
Although this relationship between Language and Mathematics may seem too farfetched, however we still must not see the two as being worlds apart from each other. Both subjects share similar aspects and practices in reaching one goal, and that is training our minds to think of the world and different problems in a more critical way. And isn’t that the true value of our education as a whole.
