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<<Pupil: -
Algebra, that was awful. It was all new. I did
well in geometry because I had a good grounding,
and it was all right, I could understand. And right
from the beginning, I refused
to learn algebra... Why algebra? I've been asking
myself since I was 13. I found geometry classes
really interesting, I never got bored, I was really
into it. While in algebra, I could have brought
my pillow with me.... We could
feel that the teacher didn't put her heart into her
work, and what's more, the poor woman had
a voice that put you to sleep. From time
to time, she would scream and wake us all
up...
Nimier: - A voice...
What did that voice remind you of?
P: - What did it
remind me of?.......
N: - A voice that put
you to sleep....
P: - Yes, that's
true, it must have reminded me of something I had
been through, something I knew..... or which had
probably been particularly
unpleasant, I
guess.
N: - What was
that?
P: - What was
it?.....I don't know. I know, for sure, but I can't
explain it to myself, but I try to understand
myself. Sometimes it's difficult and sometimes I
feel ashamed all by myself, but...
N: - Why
ashamed?
P: - Ashamed of
trying to know yourself. You end up realising you
have a lot of faults..... Well, you have to learn
to put up with yourself, that's all.
N: - There are
characteristics....
P: - Yes, I tried
to understand myself... That
voice.....? It must be related to
something or someone that struck me or that I found
unpleasant...
N: -
Someone?
P: - Because of her
voice, I don't know. It was a
bit like a droning, she spoke,
not very loud besides, it was very soft. Oh! I
think it must have been related to something
else.... But I can't believe that's
it.....
N: - What are you
thinking of? Even if it isn't, it doesn't
matter.
P: - All right,
because my father and my mother disagreed a lot,
and we all slept in the same
bedroom. I remember all those
nights when I couldn't sleep, because I
heard the arguments that went on, and I
heard it all while I was half
asleep..... and everytime I arrived in
maths, when I heard this woman's voice..... Well, I
don't know.... I thought about that and I don't
know, it made about the same noise, the
same droning. So it made me nervous. So
in geometry, I ended up cutting myself off from the
rest, I was alone with my drawing. Whereas in
algebra, I heard that voice....
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In this
interview, an association chain appears:
pillow / that puts you to sleep / wake up
/ scream..... This sequence is made by the
pupil without her being aware of it.
Often, much more is said than what one is
aware of. This association chain shows the
relationship between past events, which
were emotionally unpleasant, and a
rational speech on mathematics. In other
words, there now exists a cognitive and
emotional interaction for this pupil,
between this memory which is heavy with
unpleasant emotions and a cognitive
element, here mathematics or, more
precisely, algebra. The cognitive and the
emotional, here, cannot be separated. They
are like the two sides of a coin. The
pupil's representation
of algebra originated in this process.
What is important here is to see that this
relationship occurs through an interaction
between two speeches, one of which is
conscious and belongs to the cognitive
field, while the other (in the association
chain) is unconscious and bears imaginary
and emotional elements. Those two speeches
intermingle and interact constantly.
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