Mae Cotton Assignment 5

Whenever someone learns that I study math, they inevitably follow with an apology for not liking it as a child and how poor they were at it. I try to explain why it is so interesting to me, namely that it is a language for all of creation and it can scale in complexity as we learn more about our surroundings. I have a very simple rule for talking about different sub-fields of math, which I have dubbed "Bill Nye's Law". If I can't explain the main idea of a math concept in a way that my seven year old cousins can grasp it, I don't understand it myself. The downside of this strategy is that it tends to leave out nuance. However, this leaves a space for inquisitive minds to prod deeper if they so choose and often times is a feature, not a bug.

I find that most people's distaste for math stems from how it is taught in grade school. As someone who went through public school in the No Child Left Behind era, emphasis was put on problem solving tricks and not truly understanding concepts. This when paired with the unfortunate fact that all early math education is learning more tools to solve increasingly complex problems tends to alienate people. I don't have a good answer why someone should continue to study math when in their mind all they will learn is math for the sake of math.

On the subject of these conversations doing anything to advance policy, the answer is sadly probably not. As someone who is currently active in Congressional politics, many people have simply given up participating in the system. They feel, and not without merit, that they have no input on policy. During my brief experiment with lobbying, I was actually told not to bother my congressman until I had made a significant donation to his re-election campaign. I would guess that 99.9% of my peers would never even know how to make it through the red tape to get even that far.

This is why, at least in my opinion, asking what we can do to influence policy leaders is the fundamentally wrong question. The current system is so beyond the pale corrupt and stacked with ideologues who believe the best government is none that trying to change policy is about as effective as pissing in the ocean to raise the tides. We do however have one amazing power left to us. Every two years we can completely change an entire third of the legislative process, with the remainder staggered out in their various cycles. No matter how discouraged we may get along the way, so long as we have the power to reshape our government in pursuit of what we hold dear then there is always hope. And if you can't find anyone who lines up with your goals, run yourself! It's easy to get started, but all it needs is effort.