Thoughts on Majoring in Mathematics

There's nothing wrong with going back to school. If you're a frequent visitor of our website, especially the main page at KCUniversal.net, you've landed on this very post talking as to why updates and posts have been sparse: It's time to major in Mathematics. Let's talk about why, and my very reasons for doing so, besides the possibility of landing a great job having done so.

Before all this, alongside talking about what made us love Math, if there was anything good I got from the lockdowns of 2020, it was re-evaluating what I wanted to do. Though I was set on video production since high school, which explains my lackluster grades back then thinking that the subjects I took academically weren't anything I needed, I realized that there was something with Mathematics that I'm missing out on. Perhaps it's the understanding and the beauty behind it, and growing up with those who disliked the subject as I did, I wished to no longer be part of the crowd that hated it. Along with teaching myself computer programming, which was the main reason this all took place, I knew there was a way to understand Math better. After all, if some people understand it, why can't I? Having made an announcement on our main website as early as 2019, I wanted to dive in and focus on all things computer science, given that mathematics is the driving force behind it. As the lockdowns of 2020 happened, I took a very basic online course on quantum computing, and with that, alongside an underrated hit song from my favorite artist Tear For Fears titled Schrödinger's Cat, there was something about Quantum Mechanics...that I loved, mathematically. Speaking of songs, "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "White and Nerdy" made a brief but hilarious mention of vector calculus, and that, too, became something I was curious about, along with the properties of tensors. Combine that with the question I asked myself when I was younger, about wishing to use Math, or mathematical techniques as means to prove that someone is lying, which I later discovered became a derivation of Mathematical Logic, all these signs and curiosities became something that was a calling, and likely something that's meant to be.

Having lost my job in the 2024 year, thanks to the company adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to do our duties, it was time to wake up, and having to spend majority of my time reading and practicing math problems with books I've purchased personally, I put this hidden passion where my mouth is: I shall major in Mathematics. That, I'm doing right now as I'm typing this, and while it's quite a ride so far, I haven't had the slightest complaint whatsoever. Okay...maybe one, and that is wishing the authors of these modern books would pursue a better job explaining the concepts. I truly believe you can explain integration to a first-grade student, as I always thought of problem solving in Mathematics to be similar as following a cooking recipe. A cook/chef wouldn't add 2-3 cups of incorporated sugar and flour if the recipe calls for ¾ of a cup combined; They also wouldn't pureé a soup after simmering for 15 minutes if the recipe says to stir every five minutes. While we can discuss and debate the quality of teaching and education here in the United States, I personally don't think there is such thing as a difficult subject. In fact, what makes a subject difficult is explanation of the process and its information. Having worked in customer service for over 5 years, I've learned not only about people as customers, but also the importance of communication. If students aren't understanding what you're teaching them, you're not doing your job as a teacher, but let's digress.

Why go back to school? You're just wasting your time, buddy!

I believe things come full circle, and while many people are doing great managing their own online businesses and creating content for the internet audience to enjoy, all done without having to go to school nor find a job, some aren't as lucky as they are (using YouTube as an example, having used it for more than ten years, I never earned more than 100 subscribers). After all this "hoopla" wanting to produce videos online in hopes to get sponsored, just like entertainment itself, it will wear off and people will have to re-evaluate their life path from here on out. I did just that and worked as hard as I could garnering an audience on YouTube yet never did, but strangely enough, I never ignored lecture videos from universities teaching Math, and Physics on the popular video-sharing platform, it's as if "someone/something out there" is trying to give me a sign and have me change my direction, career-wise. As the years went by, and having bought some inexpensive books to read and practice mathematics, it gradually became my new escape. I kept this up, albeit infrequently, but gotten used to reading equations, learning about the symbols and its history as a whole. After the lockdowns ended, it was time to live again, but knowing that my video production (content creating) was starting to wane, I looked into Culinary Arts. However, having worked as a prep cook for less than a year, I found it to be too high stress and couldn't bare it (then again, hours were getting limited as the workers that time were setting plans to go on strike). My girlfriend, even years before, knew I was better fit working and focusing on computers and mathematics than I was in video production, and finally, I realized she was right: After taking a final chance at video production as recent as late 2023, and quietly quitting anything involving videomaking and securing my career change on May 2024, I took my girlfriend's advice and focused on anything and everything mathematics. Here's how it has been going:

Off the bat doing and practicing Math, I felt peace and a reduced amount of stress, despite my job situation and how bleak our country's economy looks. I've been reading, solving practice problems on the books I own, doing my own research and even wrote small programs in the C programming language that does simple calculations involving real-life numbers and statistics I can find online and enter in. Doing my own mathematical research felt great, and even fun, so much so that I wanted to write more computational math programs that calculate and graphically plot some of my findings. To make sure I was all caught up with my mathematical knowledge, I even started learning from the very basics like Arithmetic then worked my way into Algebra II (the highest subject I've taken in school so far was Statistics prior to all this). After doing this for a couple of months, I thought it was high time that I go back to school, and thanks to a simple search on Microsoft Bing, I found a college with a great online program for Mathematics. Going through the application process, receiving my transcripts, and waiting, I finally got accepted, and here I am...pursuing Math academically.

Having done my own practices and research, school felt normal to me. It's like all that I've been doing in my spare time was no different than what I'm currently doing in school; It's neat to feel like this. I told my girlfriend that after I'm done with school, I'll still be reading, practicing, and doing mathematical research, along with brushing up on some concepts that I either missed, didn't understand well, want to learn more or want to do because I enjoy it—matrices are a perfect example of something I've enjoyed working and calculating currently.

Yes, I've read and haven't forgotten the on-going argument that college isn't necessary and that having a degree doesn't mean much in the real world. As this current writing, college attendance remains low, leaving many experts and analysts wondering about the need for education, the quality of teaching and where many citizens are focusing their career paths in, along with the increasing price of tuition. If there exists an employer that hires based on skill and not education, chances are they've got all their positions filled with qualified workers. I never worked as a hiring manager, but in contrast, I feel it's a gamble when hiring someone who says they can do something but can't and don't have the education to prove it (lying on your resumé seems to be commonplace). This gets into debatable territory, but in terms of Math, I have no choice but to earn something, alongside these projects I've done for myself and my portfolio, as a means to prove myself that I'm a legitimate problem solver (I feel that having and growing a portfolio may not be enough, but to each their own, depending on the worker themselves and who they've networked with). Though I feel guilty saying "it depends" on the kind of career path you want to study for, there's something to behold when you study and earn a Mathematics degree. I find nothing wrong with having a professor and other classmates by your side for ideas, opinions and points of view about the subject itself helping you along the way, but holding a higher degree makes all kinds of sense for me.

For that, I don't believe I'm wasting my time, "buddy." It's only a waste of time for you because you're not the one doing all this. Amelia Earhart said it best: "The most effective way to do it, is to do it." It's easy for one to say they're good at Math, but having to do Math is different, and that is where I think going to school to earn a higher degree is worth it, since you have a professor to guide you while developing a discipline and urge to learn, study and understand the material.

(Fun fact: The line "You're just wasting your time, buddy," was a message I received from a user on eBay back in 2013 when I listed some stuff for sale. Even though he/she/they weren't interested in buying my product(s), they went ahead and criticized me for my prices, the conditions of my items and so forth, acting like they had an authoritative say in what I list and at what price. How bored and lonely does one have to be to do that? People need to stop being socially parasitic, especially on eBay since I'm just there to buy and sell.)

Kris, brother, I love Math too! Should I major in it?

I found this on Reddit:


(Click image above to view original size. Opens new window/tab.)

That's right: Declining Math grades, even in countries whose students and academic programs are known to have taught and trained some amazing, future mathematicians, should raise some eyebrows for the whole world (most people who truly hate Math would find this image amusing). Given that the pandemic and lockdowns are to blame, especially since remote/online learning was something not many were fully accustomed to, makes you wonder about the quality of teaching, let alone the waning interest in Math. It's a bit concerning since, nowadays, academia and some scientific areas may have a need for workers with higher-level knowledge of mathematics. If these declining grades are true, what does that say about sectors eventually wanting to fill a demand for mathematicians? Will there be enough of us? On the other hand, has the people's attention span gotten shorter?

I shared that image as a wake-up call, and not as a means to discourage you nor anyone reading this. If you find joy in researching, practicing and doing math on your own time, I'd say it's worth majoring and going to school for. From my own personal experience, again, it doesn't feel like I'm in school and it's like I'm doing the learning myself like I would if I wasn't a student in the first place. It's a nice feeling, though the only difference is when an assignment is due, it has to be done, pronto. Yes, you have your professor(s) and counselor(s) to help guide you, but if you can find a way of doing your own researching, number crunching and theorem proving in a way such that it's like second nature, then I'd say to put that routine in school and prove yourself. That's not to say school is easy, as some circumstances, lessons, and life situations can present challenges along the way, but what's Life without a challenge? This is one thing we, as aspiring mathematicians, need to understand and accept: We can't choose the problems we wish/want to solve. No matter how rigorous, weird, twisty or difficult a situation may be, it is our job to approach it how ever we see fit, compose the problem we find, or problem(s) given to us, then we work to solve it. With the guidance of school, it'll help train us the moment such situation arrives in the real world. (This all sounds like naïve talk, but I'm keeping things positive.)

A degree isn't worth it, dude. Learn to code.

Having some web management experience as early as 2003, thanks to social media platform MySpace, and being self-taught in programming—on and off—since 2009, the imperative "learn to code" is the weakest insult/comeback, right up there with "okay, Boomer" (though I'm actually a millennial). Given that Python is the popular programming language due to its clean, easy to read syntax, I've always been someone who's an "old soul," and along with knowing C, C++ and a little bit of Java, I've been learning Perl, Haskell, Fortran, MATLAB and COBOL for my own sake. Mathematics has helped me read code much better than when I first started out (of course, Python has one of the best math libaries out of all, but as stated earlier, I rather be within the smaller crowd). Now, yes, we're in the age of AI, and as supplemental as they are when it comes to programming, I still think humans can craft better code not only for the job(s) at hand, but also for security purposes and for creativity. Being that computer science is rooted in mathematics, programming is what brings the calculations to life, and thus writing and reading code is a necessity anyway. Overall, telling us Math lovers and mathematicians by saying "learn to code" is like telling a chef "learn to cook." Keep hatin'.

Your Life, Your Goals

Doing something you're passionate about makes Life less stressful. If you have to change careers like I did, it's better to do it sooner than later. In this case with mathematics, it's best if this is something you do or are doing in your spare time. Nevermind what other people say, such as, "wow, you do Math in your spare time? You must be bored." The reason you do Math is because you enjoy it; It keeps your brain active and sharpens your problem-solving skills. People binge-watch Netflix, hang out at restaurants and bars, they party and go to clubs, and they smoke and drink, but when someone is learning and studying Math as a hobby, suddenly that makes them less of a citizen/human being? Remember this: You don't owe anyone an explanation. If you enjoy mathematics like me, keep that up and feel no shame. Whether it's re-learning the basics of Fractions or exploring Combinatorics, you're doing Math, and that's what matters!

As someone who's been doing video production for twenty years, and seeing that content creation (entertainment) is the biggest thing right now, I mentioned earlier in the fact that some people may not garner enough clout to maintain a steady audience to earn a supplemental income from it (this also includes that there's an exponential amount of competition, vying to attract and garner a large-enough audience to make a living from it). That's not to say that anyone wanting to produce content isn't capable because it didn't work out for me, but for some people like myself, we have to be realistic with what we want to do in Life and changing what does yet didn't work out for us. Having said that, I think it's best to make plans and go back to school while attendance is low, so you can snag the classes you've needed all this time without being in a waiting list. Take advantage of this and do it as soon as you can. Once again, many will say it's not worth going back to school, but most of us aren't lucky enough to know someone to help us get a job without a degree. I'd say do your thing and do it well; Do Math and pursue your own research as the world needs more problem solvers to keep us afloat. It will be nice seeing more and more aspiring mathematicians to collaborate with and tackle real-world problems that help bring us forward, and even if it doesn't, at least it'll keep us secure in our current situation.

If you so choose to go back to school to earn a higher degree, don't think you'll waste your time, effort and money doing so. Once things come full circle, you'll be glad you earned what you studied for, as in the future, thousands, who will supposedly "retire" from content creating, will be fighting all their might trying to be accepted in a school of their choice. I'm sure this will take place as the world adjusts to all this new technology and more advanced ways of doing business and research, as well as the opening of fresh, new jobs demanding those with a minimum of being able to do some Math.

Do you hold a Mathematics degree? Are you planning to major in Math? Let's talk about it on the comments section below!

Kris Caballero

Founder of KCU Network and KCU Plus, Kris has been writing since he managed a personal blog made back in late 2005. Officially back to doing computer programming (software development), Kris enjoys reading books on Mathematics, Quantum Computing, Philosophy, playing old video/DOS games, digital video archiving, and listening to sports, public radio and classical music.

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