Day Three

Many children work like this for years and years.

Mind you, sometimes they are puzzled by what they are doing.

Because some things really do not make a lot of sense:

5 - ( 8 - 11) = 8.

But no-one complains if what they do still LOOKS RIGHT.

Many children begin to think that this is really what mathematics is about.

It just has to LOOK RIGHT - even if no-one understands what it means.

Some clever-clogs like this.

[A VERY
SMARMY
PERSON]

Because they can make everything LOOK RIGHT all the time.

All they do is just remember the picture as a pattern.

They do not worry that they do not know why it looks like that.

But some, who may actually be cleverer, find this very worrying.

[YOU
LOOKING
WORRIED]

You want to understand.

You want to know the connections

[YOU LOOKING
MORE WORRIED]

But no-one will listen.

And if you say you don't understand, they will laugh at you.

[EVERYONE
LAUGHING
AT YOU]

Some people get very angry about this.

With everyone:

[YOU
LOOKING
ANGRY]

But actually everyone is getting into more and more danger.

They are only remembering what things should look like.

And TROUBLE is coming.

[LARGE
BLACK BOMB
LABELLED
"EXAMS"]

You need a very good memory to remember all those patterns.

Most children have amazing memories:

[YOUR HEAD
DIVIDED INTO SPACES
FOR ENGLISH, MATHS,
SCIENCE, ETC]

They can remember lots of patterns.

But finally in mathematics the number of patterns just gets too many.

And no-one can remember them all.

[YOUR HEAD
EXPLODING]

Boom!