I was reading an article in the Time.com website about the myth that boys are better than girls in math. It reminded me of an anecdote my aunt told me about when she went to high school back in the early ’70s. She signed up for a class in functions, one of the most advanced math classes her school had to offer. She had already aced Algebra I, II, and Trig. The next course to take was functions. So she signed up for it. Her teacher was a man who announced on the first day of class that he believed that girls should not be in his class, that they were taking up seats that boys should be in. He warned them that he had never passed a girl in his glass, and never WILL pass a girl. He told them all to drop his class immediately or they would flunk. He said he would never answer any of their questions and never grade their tests – they would be given automatic “Fs” on everything.

Well, my aunt went to the school counselor and the school counselor said there was nothing they could do, he was the only functions math teacher they had. She was advised to stay in the class. She had a step-brother taking the same class and they did their homework together. They turned in their homework (with the same answers) and her brother got “As” and she got “Fs.” The teacher DID give her “Fs” on all of her tests, even though she had the same answers as the ones who got As. Going back to the counselor, again she was told there was nothing she could do but drop the class!

Can you imagine? To this day my aunt is bitter about this; that jerk ruined her GPA which ruined her chances to be the class valedictorian and a fully paid scholarship to the college that she wanted to go to. She will never get over how that jerk ruined her chances to pursue the career of her dreams. I don’t blame her, I’d be bitter too! People say not to let these things “ruin” your life, how CAN you NOT let them ruin your life? How CAN you let go of this kind of resentment that someone ruined your chances to have the ONE career you wanted to have? I don’t know the answer to that, do you?