I have a learning disability related to some incredibly common cognitive issues that impact symbol recognition. I can abstractly reason about the concepts vastl

I have a learning disability related to some incredibly common cognitive issues that impact symbol recognition. I can abstractly reason about the concepts vastly more easily than most and can do fairly complex problems in my head quite easily– speaking to a math PhD candidate a year or two ago, he said "you know, you think about math exactly like a mathmetician does. I can't believe you're not interested in pursuing math in school." My cognitive profile, however, makes doing calculations on paper painstakingly difficult– high school geometry (passed in summer school with a D) was about my limit before failure was guaranteed. This shut the door to every college opportunity I was aware of. I ended up graduating in a night school program while working full time. Only after two decades when SATs and high school grades were no longer relevant did I start a BFA program, and soon after I realized how abjectly the system had failed me. I always assumed I was a fuckup with no discipline (which is what I was told) and played the part accordingly. Cognitively, I tore my program to shreds. A solid 4.0 GPA while having the time of my life takes more than the responsibility gained during adulthood. I could have easily competed in a serious ivy league degree program given the opportunity. Sure, learning traditional math calculation can benefit many people– but not everybody is cut out for it, and that's fine. Student should certainly be encouraged to pursue it, but using it or any other individual skill as gatekeepers for an enormous number of educational paths that may perfectly suit slightly different cognitive profiles is fucking stupid.