The challenge of mathematical education

A funny letter from Sunday's Telegram:

I think getting Danny Williams back in is the best thing since Joey. I would love to see the province do a 360-degree turn. It would be nice to see us Newfoundlanders have to go back to fill the employment positions, and for those remaining to be employed.I have a lot of faith in that man and what he is about to do to our province. Honesty is what he is all about. All of us who had to move to the west to work, hopefully we can go back home to settle.

Good luck, Danny, and we all know out here in Alberta that you are what the province needs.

Sonia Hann
Edmonton, Alta.

Feeds Danny's messiah complex? Check.

Confirms that the collective search for a saviour is alive and well? Check.

Desperate hopes regarding outmigration? Check.

Inherently Virtuous Newfoundland Syndrome (of course it will be returning expatriate Chosen, and not The Unworthy Others, filling any future jobs...)? Check.

Reference back to Joey? Check.

But that's not why the letter is so funny.

No, the letter is funny because, in inadvertantly borrowing a metaphor from a certain provincial cabinet minister, its author is, geometrically speaking, hoping for the province to continue on exactly the same course as it is now.

"360 degrees." Think, Sonia! Think!