I hated math. Absolutely loathed it. I had a terrible algebra teacher (8th grade) that left me a gap I never truly closed until college.
However, the 'lights' finally came on in my senior year of high school. I took an experimental trigonometry course, instead of calculus. This course focused on the application of trigonometry to real life problems.
It was by far the best class I've ever had, and it opened me up to understanding the application of ALL of the math that I had been taking for 12 years. It was truly seminal to me. That I had gone 11 years without ever being taught how to actually apply those principles is, in retrospect, mind boggling.
However, the 'lights' finally came on in my senior year of high school. I took an experimental trigonometry course, instead of calculus. This course focused on the application of trigonometry to real life problems.
It was by far the best class I've ever had, and it opened me up to understanding the application of ALL of the math that I had been taking for 12 years. It was truly seminal to me. That I had gone 11 years without ever being taught how to actually apply those principles is, in retrospect, mind boggling.