"When Will I Ever Use This?"

"When will I ever use this?"

The perrenial question asked. 

"How do you solve this?"

"I can't do numbers."

The banter from the class.

"Nah, I've got math after lunch."

Students linger in the hall.

"Ugh, not word problems!"

The conqueror of them all.

"Don't you see?"

"We all use this everyday!"

My seemingly one-sided view. 

"The Pythagorean Theorem?"

"Derivatives and integrals?"

It's not what they choose to do. 

"Maybe not explicitly!"

"It's what we gain in the process of solution!"

"What? Do you mean like a slice of Pi?"

They're stuck behind an illusion.

"Help! How do we support ourselves in the future?"

Now there's a real problem to solve. 

"Why didn't we ever learn how to figure this out in school?"

"What happened to all those math classes you had with me?"

Surely your problem-solving skills haven't dissolved!

I can only hope that people will see,

the importance of it yet. 

Math. We gain life long skills to help us with,

all those problems that we've met. 

But for now, it's unfortunate to see,

that popular opinion on math is set. 

And so, I guess all I have to say is,

"Fine. Don't solve your problems."

"See how far you get."