Math Whiz

“I’ve had it!” screamed Rebecca. “I am so tired of math; I hope I never see it again in my life.”

“That sounds pretty dramatic, doesn’t it?” asked Dad.

“Dad, I’m serious! I just don’t get it.”

“It will come but you have to keep working on it. Now, let’s look over the last problem,” said Dad.

“Ugh! I just can’t stand this subject,” said Rebecca as her dad perused her work.

Rebecca couldn’t stand the thought of reviewing her math. She thought her stomach would turn. Her brain always seemed to look at math problems wrong. When she was right, she thought she was wrong. It was a no-win situation.

In fourth grade, Rebecca had been asked to take a math test to see where she was academically. Rebecca would have rather died. She barely made it through the test before she started crying.

“Alright, Dad. I took this number and doubled it. Then I subtracted it by three and got fifty-seven. With that number, I divided it into two,” Rebecca said defiantly.

“Well, if you did that . . .” started Dad.

“That’s it!” Rebecca threw her math book on the floor and her papers into the air.

“Let me finish. . . .” interrupted Dad. “If you did that, then you got it right!”

Rebecca was speechless. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Dad shook his head and walked out of the room laughing.