[Newspoetry] Math Poem

[Mike Lehman]

Math Poem

Somebody else asked the question
I didn’t have to
The majority of students always have
What the hell am I learning
All this math for?

I don’t want to be a mathematician
And neither does anyone else in this class
The instructor said
Like many instructors before
"It teaches critical thinking skills"

Everybody knows that is mostly bullshit
But it was all just a theory
Without anything but
Inferential proof
The self importance of a certain intellectual elite.

What they really mean is
They want ordered thinking
Without anyone being
Too critical about the
(capitalist) System.

You see that math
Usually requires a faithful adherence
To its own pet theorems
Because there is only one correct answer
Anything else is mere childishness and speculation.

A lot like Capitalism that way
There is only one way
My way or the highway
When it is really
Their own insecurity
About the way the world
Really should work.

They resist your efforts
To expect that not only scientific
But moral issues
Will lift us up from
Out of the eternal mire
Of the failings of Humanity.

So you start to see
What too much faith and ordered thinking
Will lead you to
A certain smugness and autocracy
Thinking you have
All the answers
When you’re missing the point.

They’ll tell you that
It’s math versus madness
Hoping you don’t examine their arguments
Too closely
Where you might see
They have heads of air
And feet of clay.