The Risk Caused By Avoiding Mathematics -By Usama Abdullahi

Aside from the fear it sparks in the minds of students, Mathematics is the most underrated subject today. Why I said so? I’ve met so many people who think that mathematics has no value to add to their lives. That it’s simply a subject for fun. You could discern the stupidity in what these people think of the subject. Their thoughts are possibly inspired by the fear with which the subject fires up. I have never taken Mathematics for granted even though some equations, say, algebra, don’t always correlate with our daily experiences. Despite its mystical nature, I still find the subject interesting.

Even at the basic level, I never frowned at the subject nor skip a class because of it as many students did. I believe that, the fear of mathematics is often caused by students’ anxieties toward some complex or puzzling equations. Such complex equations, when treated by a fierce and unqualified teacher, intensify one’s phobia for the subject. I’m raising this issue because of a tragicomic incident that happened at the bank this evening.

It was exactly around 3 pm today when I went to the bank to deposit some cash. Upon getting to the bank, I met a provoked crowd surrounding the bank’s entryway. The people whom I considered the calm ones among the waiting customers were sitting on the seats reserved for customers in the shade of two separate, white-coloured canopies. There was an uproar following the approval of those who the security officers referred to as “exclusive customers”. Luckily, I happen to be one of these “exclusive customers”.

Although I have yet to be given an exclusive card, but they still recognise me as one. In trying not to heighten the already heated uproar, I didn’t join the crowd. I stayed for a while, then I reached out to the Chief Security Officer of the bank on phone. He picked the call immediately when his phone rang. I told him that I was outside. Without wasting a minute, he came out to meet me. He approved of my leave and I hurriedly got in, but only to discover that all of the accountants were occupied.

There were long queues. So, I had to wait a little longer until it was my turn. I forgot to pick the deposit slips before joining the queue. Before I went to pick the deposit slips, I talked to the lass standing in front of me. She was properly dressed in a school uniform. She’s a student and must have come to pay her school fees, I guessed. I lightly tapped her on the shoulder–indicating that I needed to talk to her. She quickly turned to me. Then, I asked if she was the last person standing. She said yes. I rushed to pick two deposit slips because I was meant to post ( make the payment) for my brother and I.

When it was the student’s turn, she brought out some cash and gave to the accountant. She put the money into the counting machine. They got counted in just a few minutes. And she was asked to give the deposit slips. She gave the slip to the accountant. Ironically, the accountant returned the slip in a haste and asked the student to correct the figures she miswrote and to also write the recipient’s account name in the provided space in which she miscopied the bank’s name. I was pained that the student couldn’t right her mistakes unassisted. She misplaced the commas which should be written after every three digits for better clarification. She also mispelled the bank’s name which wasn’t even supposed to be written on the slip.

I didn’t blame her for failing to enter the recipient’s account name. But it’s shameful of her for failing to insert her commas in the right way and for misspelling the bank’s name despite written on the top of the slip she was holding. These careless mistakes point out to her weakness in mathematics: in knowing how to insert commas after every three digits as taught right from the nursery. She’s probably in the Senior Secondary School.

However, if a senior student who studies in the F.C.T could experience difficulty in knowing how to fill in a deposit slip and in placing commas in the appropriate way, what does that speak of the standard of our education ? Of course, the existing rot in our education sector. No intention is made to play down her academic performance. But that’s just the frightening reality about our education sector, which calls for a swift reform. Avoid Mathematics at your own risk.

Usama Abdullahi writes from Abuja and can be reached via: usamagayyi@gmail.com