Timely Snow

I’m a math moron. No, really, you don’t understand—I’m a math moron. – By Emily Yoffe – Slate Magazine

There had to be something wrong with me because here I was, literally back at 2 2. As I came up with the answer—yes, I got 4—I had a vivid memory of tormenting my first-grade teacher when she wrote this calculation on the blackboard. I insisted she explain to me where the second 2 came from (this makes no more sense now than it did then). The Kumon homework quickly moved into two-digit territory, and down came the curtain that descends in my mind whenever numbers come up. Amazingly, I really didn’t know addition and subtraction of sevens and eights. I forced myself to keep my fingers still as I figured out 8 3. My daughter looked over my shoulder when I got that, then watched as I hesitated at 8 4. “Mom, just add 1 to 11!” she said, adding, “Mom, you’re hopeless.”

Wow. I don’t know what else to say.

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