I was born in 1973 which was a pivotal year for women’s rights. Unfortunately there is a big difference between legal rights and societal views. As I was growing up during the 1980s, there were strong views about women’s capabilities. I was told repeatedly that “girls aren’t good at math,” and because I heard it so much, I believed it.
As a little girl, I knew that I was good with shapes. I intuitively understood how shapes fit together and how they support one another. I was a toddler when I figured out that a triangle was stronger than any of the other shapes, so my K’nex structures were stronger than all of the other preschool kids’ structures (even withstanding tantrums at times).
At around eight years old, I told my Dad that I wanted to be an architect. I thought that he’d be excited and proud of me. I’ll never forget the heart sinking disappointment I felt when he responded with, “Oh, um, that’s great, honey, are you sure?”
I still tried. In ninth grade I took drafting. It was horrendously boring. I spent a year drawing boxes. Towards the end of the year I had finished everything that I was assigned, so I looked ahead in the book and tried something more complicated. It was still technically a box, but it had more dimensions to calculate. My teacher said that I had done a great job, it was completed correctly, and docked me a quarter of my grade for being so “presumptuous”. That is when I gave up on architecture as a career.
I still had a fear of math in general. I went to college late in life. To finish my Bachelors, I needed take some basic math classes. I kept putting those classes off because the fear of math that had been instilled in me as a child had continued to grow. Eventually I was unable to put those classes off anymore. As I faced college level algebra classes, I felt almost panicked. I had been told all of my life that “girls can’t understand math,” and now I had to do it. Then I took Algebra I.
It wasn’t hard, at all. I took the class at Chabot Community College in Hayward, California, and the Professor I got explained the material so well. I finished the course with an “A” and went on to do the same thing with Algebra II. This experience was eye opening. My fear was completely unfounded. It was caused by a psychosomatic reaction from being told that I was incapable of performing well in math. Fortunately that reaction did not go so far as to affect my actual performance.
After my experience at Chabot, I decided that I want to see what I am actually capable of. I haven’t really had a chance to test those limits, but the current situation may offer me that opportunity. Since I am stuck at home with a lot of time on my hands, I am going to take advantage of MITs free online math courses. Who knows, maybe I’m a math wiz…
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