Math

A lot of kids hate math when they are in school. Well, too bad. Kids, suck it up and learn the basics. Grown ups who did not learn basic math in school need to follow suit and learn the basics, at least.

There are good jobs out there that go unfilled because employers cannot get competent help. Part of the problem is that in any of the trades, you really do need a comprehension of basic math. If you are building or repairing anything you must be able to figure areas and compute quantities of materials. You need to work with fractions and percentages. Many cannot do this and thus cannot do the job.

Yes, there are calculators, but it is ridiculous to drag one out anytime you have to do a simple calculation. It is time consuming and employers, quite correctly, view time as money. In fact, those calculators are part of the reason kids do not really learn to work with numbers. Back in the dark ages, when I was young, such instruments did not exist and we learned to do math with pencil and paper and our brain (yes, that makes me sound old, but who cares; I learned).

There are on line courses, night schools and books in libraries. If you lack basic math skills, seek instruction. Unless you want to spend your life  serving fast food or cleaning other peoples messes, you must become competent in math.