The English-Math Opposition Myth

It has been a myth that when you’re good in numbers, you’re poor in words—and vice versa. It’s considered as a “myth” since no research can prove this. I have even read an article that this is a totally wrong notion about the capacity of the brain to compute and communicate, since they belong to the same hemisphere of the brain (this info is yet to be proven).

I was in college studying different theories of learning when I encountered such arguments about the English-Math Opposition Theory (the term is just another invention of my scanty vocabulary; you know what it means don’t you?) But much as I want to believe the authorities in the field of education, I continue to gain experiences that prove the myth.

First, I got a 76 in College Algebra (thank God I only had 2 Math subjects back in college). Then, I almost flunked the Math area in the Board Exams (thanks to my ever reliable scientific calculator paired with a multiple choice question, I was able to guess answers).

But what made me conclude that the myth is real, is when I got to be employed. Now, it’s the other side of the coin. It’s the Math people performing poorly in communication.

I’m talking about the Accounting Department.

This bunch of CPAs (Certified Pathetic Accountants) has been performing poorly in their duties and secretly amending their errors at our backs. You wouldn’t notice them doing their magic unless you scrutinize your payslip (which, by the way, is delivered quarterly; beat that)

First, they would fail to deduct what needs to be deducted. You would even come to a point of thinking, “Did I have an increase?” Then, voila! The next payday, you get a salary not enough to buy you a BigMac (it’s an exaggeration of course). But the point of the matter is the fact that they would deduct without even telling you, (“Hey, we’re so sorry. We were too stupid last pay day, we weren’t able to deduct something; we’ll deduct it now”)

What’s more annoying is that they are too inhumane to deduct the whole thing—leaving you with centavos in your ATM card. They wouldn’t consider deducting it piece by piece. Their objective is to clean the mess as fast as they could.

We understand that “to err is human.” But to err (most of the time) is inhuman. We understand that there are deductions from our gross pay. But is it too difficult to at least INFORM the people about their plans and actions?