"Math is hard!"

I remember years ago hearing about a Barbie Doll that spoke when you pushed a button or pulled a chord. One of the phrases in her repertoire was, "Math is hard!" Frankly, it made me laugh. My father, an engineer, was determined that his two daughters be engineers. He would review our math homework with us every night. Sometimes we would wind up in tears as he would say, "No, your answer to #4 is wrong. Do it again. And show every step." Finally, he would mark which step we went wrong and we would find our way to the correct answer. Math was hard, but it was all worth it. I started out as an engineering major in college. Strangely, I now teach English (ESL) though I've always done better on the math portion of standardized tests. My sister is a Civil Engineer.