Alfonso Nowel M.

Tabingo XI- Cohl

1. In the personal essay, "Corgito Ergo Sum Or What I Know For Sure I Learned From
Mathematics," there are three subtitles - " Cogito", "Ergo", and "Sum", can you find the
connection/s of the body of the essay to the subtitles?

“The mind and body were two separate and distinct entities, but even the body was not so certain
a thing as the mind, because, like everything else in the world, the body could only be sensed
because there was a mind to sense it.”

The connection between the three subtitles, Cogito, Ergo, and Sum is a latin translation from a
famous phrase “ I think, therefore I am” or “ I think, therefore I exist” by René Descartes. The
structure of the essay concludes the connection of the happenings of the life of Miguel as he face
failure and deprivation of his life on Mathematics. As long as Miguel is monitoring, having
conscious, and awareness within his life he exist and really can be declared living by the
philosophy of René Descartes guaranteeing his existence, even if he is failing on math. He came
across a lot of stuffs along his way which did not let him give-up but still he made it his
motivation and overcome math and have a little bit of help from his tutor Dr. Chua.

1. Why do you think that Dr. Chua decided to tutor Miguel?

Dr. Chua decided to tutor Miguel because he is very weak at algebras especially in fractions and
geometry, he was having a poor performance over and over again. He keeps on failing on math
and having really bad scores on it so she thought to help him because he is very hopeless on
math. She realizes that Miguel really needed a tutor to further understand math. By doing so they
will both benefit with their efforts.
 2. What are your thoughts and reflections about the essay? in 2-3 paragraphs, write your
own reflections and reactions. 

Life as we know it is uneasy, difficult, and very challenging. We can came across and
encounter a lot of hardships and major difficulties within our way but always think that there are
always solutions with every problem. We just have to think positively and stop negating with
each of our negative thoughts and just pursue and proceed with the problem and overcome it. We
should be brave enough to face anything and be ready, always think and find solutions. I too,
experience a lot of bad stuff in my life especially on mathematics. It is my enemy and weakness
in education, as far as what I have read and understood about the essay it shows each of Miguel’s
problems especially on mathematics but as we experience it we can already locate and read our
mind of what really is lacking as experiencing it day by day. I know that we all are weak on math
but there are people who are positive and just overcome math. But there is also people who are
hopeless in math and I am one of them, thinking math as an enemy. Whenever a math teacher is
around teaching, I get bored and sleepy because for me it is very hard to understand well, I need
a teacher who repeats his/her lesson again and again until I really understand and learn from the
topic. From the essay, it shows a vendor who is uneducated but still has knowledge on math. It is
because he/she pursued his/her life and overcomes it. He uses the life-hack which is analyzing,
instead of solving and compute numbers on our mind but there is also one way to solve numbers,
it is the way of analyzing, kind of think it as a magic because who would think math can be
easily analyzed not computed.

Just by using our minds to think further out of the box, to not staying with the basic steps
but thinking beyond it. Life is not a game, life is a gamble so each of us should realize that we
should make our life the best of what we can do, giving it an importance because why waste it
when we can enjoy it. Don’t let anything have your way downwards, like mathematics, think it
as a challenge and a step to achieve brighter expectations and future. By understanding and
overcoming reality is really needed, analyzing each of our problems in our life and find
solutions, not just solutions but conclusions to conclude of what really is the deprivation of life
and just fight it. Don’t let others deceive you and perceive your thoughts and emotions, just
continue to strive harder and achieve your goals which was your weakness on the first place. Just
think that there is God who offers his one and only begotten son to us, Jesus Christ, to solve his
problem with humanity which requires sacrificing. He solved humanities biggest problem, then
why can’t we then? Math problems like algebras are just a step further in achieving great success
in our lives so don’t let it get you and just overcome it and live life to the fullest, having
awareness of your very own existence in this world created by God.