Being a math wizz I would have to admit is not my forte, to say the least. math concepts and I tend to disagree 99.9% of the time. When I look at math my brain literally shuts off and the only thing ringing in my head is AHHHHHHH! In school I was one of the children who secretly put my hands in my desk so I could count using my fingers and when it came time to go to the chalkboard I would willingly and proudly state I had no clue what I was doing and take looking like a fool rather than prove to class and to myself that my math skills were well below par. Knowing this as I headed to college with the idea that something in the arts would do me justice and that way also minimal math would be required. Less than two years later I graduated with my journalism degree and had a fine listing of science classes completed so I would never have to step foot into a mathematics classroom.

Well.. all this is fine and well until I am faced with the challenge of reporting on school budgets. Sounds simple right, WRONG try navigating through budget reporting, state aid, numerous regulations, tax levy ect ect when all you really have in your head is yourself screaming AHHHHHHHH! (See that my brain really does shut itself down for a mandatory reboot when it is faced with the simplest of math problems.)

I wonder if it is that people who write oftentimes can not do math? Give me a topic, any topic and I am sure I can write a 20 page paper in a short amount of time, now give me the simplest math problem and I will get back to you in approximately 3 months with the incorrect answer.

So being the education reporter has turned out to be a little challenging for me this month due to the fact that I have to keep hitting the start button to my brain every time I hear the word expenditure or revenue.. Not to mention the state mandations two schools in the county are facing that has thrown another curve ball at me. By the way I am no good at baseball either so curve balls, also not my cup of tea.

I did get one sign of good new along the way though and that was when someone told me it may take me a couple more years to fully understand the budget process. (well of course this made me feel better about doing the budget articles now!) But for now I can rest easy and use that as my handicap when my previous handicap saying “I’m a journalist I don’t do math”gets old.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 19th, 2007 at 9:26 am and is filed under Evening Sun Headlines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.