Math is Too Hard!
My favorite memory is of meeting Ari, a Syrian refugee. He was 16 years old and brilliant. As an engineer, I began asking him if he would like to study engineering. He said, “No, math is too hard” So I began asking him questions about math assuming he was struggling with it. I kept asking him harder and harder questions. Finally, when I got to calculus, he said that he learned calculus in 6th grade.
“Of course, all Syrians take Calculus in the 6th grade!”
I was shocked! Now I know why he says math is too hard!
I confess that I assumed that the refugees were uneducated and maybe couldn’t find work in Syria. No, some of the best of the best of a brilliant and well-trained people are living in tents in Athens.
This is the story I have been telling everyone in America in hopes that more will reach out to help the refugees.
