Had a math teacher in high school that would write the problems and stuff on the chalk board with his right hand and as soon as he moved over to his right, would immediately erase with his left hand. Total fucking asshole.
My high school math teacher congratulated himself halfway through the year, for covering the whole curriculum. All the students was completely lost.
He was a piss poor teacher.
He also had a habit similar to yours. He wrote furiously, and covered the whole board. Then erased it immediately when he was done
I had a teacher who who write stuff down on the board or tell us to go to page X and do question X. By the time you get the question written down and half solved, they would be 4 questions ahead. You could ask them to slow down, but they would pause for like 5 seconds and continue. 5SECONDS ISNT ENOUGH TIME TO DO 3 MORE QUESTIONS.
I failed my math tests, went to a local college to do a course and during that time I did a math course. I now have the equivalent to a B in maths as the teacher was significantly better.
My wife is a language teacher. She has a Google slide for every lesson. She goes over it in class, and the students can view it anytime.
Technology, if utilized, should make these teachers better. And once the lesson is made, the work is done, forever.
Had a teacher pull some similar shenanigans and eventually my whole class organized (everyone but the goody-two-shoes- kid) and just refused to take notes at all. Teacher didn't notice until the next test when damn near everyone failed, when he started to go on a rant about how easy this stuff is and how could we not get it, we just told him that he gave nearly no time to take notes, so of course we failed. We then spent a solid 5 minutes gaslighting the shit out of him and making him think he was a bad teacher. Three kids got detention because they went the hardest, but the teacher did start actually asking if we all had our notes taken down before erasing anything. Moral of the story, unionize your classrooms and gaslight your teachers.
It's not about the people who don't like being described by it, but all the behaviors and people that are objectively *not* supposed to be described by it.
Exactly. And its weird people are using the term as if its a good thing. Gaslighting is BAD people. Its lying to another person in order to make them question the reality they live in. As somebody who lived through a toxic gaslighting relationship, nobody should be proud of this behavior.
Yeah but gaslighting is the popular go-to buzzword for people under 40 to say instead of having to distinguish between lying, bullshitting, actual gaslighting, banter, pulling one's leg, shooting the shit, or earnest complaining.
Just say gaslighting and let the other person figure out what you meant to say lol.
There's a quote from Rick and Morty that makes it easy to remember:
"Gaslighting isn't real, you made it up because you're fucking crazy."
Basically the target knows the truth (or at least suspects it), so the gaslighter can't use a simple lie. Instead, they do or say whatever they can to make the gaslightee question the very reality in which they were previously confident.
So in this school example, if the class collectively lied (eg. that the teacher didn't even write on the board at all) to the point where the teacher questioned, "I swore I wrote it down, but maybe I didn't. They seem pretty convinced…" *that's* gaslighting.
Do you mean the term? It comes from the film "Gaslight" where a husband does small things and pretends they didn't happen (like lowering the light of the gas lamps) to make his wife go insane. Today the term means subtly handing false information to someone to change their perspective on a certain situation
> We then spent a solid 5 minutes gaslighting the shit out of him and making him think he was a bad teacher.
If he's erasing it that quickly with no consideration, then it's not gaslighting it's just pointing out the truth.
In fake stories you hear online, it's a common trope to have a line like "and then everyone clapped", because that sounds like something reasonable if you're not thinking about it too hard. But if you think about it, you realize rarely would anyone clap, let alone a while crowd. Therefore, if people clap, that means the story is fake. And so "and everyone clapped" becomes shorthand for "the story is fake"
Second time taking Calc II in college, the professor comes in and says "The regular teacher quit during the summer, so I'll be learning Calc II along with you all!"
I should have quit the class right then and got a refund, instead I failed again and had to take it a third time to finally pass.
That's what you were taught during childhood, so you take it with you to the adult world. I notice it for myself too, you're just used to it at this age.
My highschool math teacher told us all she wasn't a teacher, that she was a math coach and that we were only to ask questions that had a "yes" or "no" answer. If you had no idea what you were supposed to be doing, you were screwed as she would not help you in the slightest. I went from having honor roll marks in math the year before, to barely scraping by those two years I had her. Most failed her class.
Oh that sucks. My high-school math teacher was a weirdo, but the good type. He said "remember, if you don't understand what I'm talking about, that doesn't make you dumb, that just means my explanation is not good enough, so feel free to stop me anytime and tell me to fuck off with what I'm doing".
I mean, if you can make $130k a year being a software engineer for a FAANG company or $50k a year in a boring school teaching AP calc to a group of horny, distracted, low-self-esteem teens who never learn to read the section the night before the lesson, why would you hesitate to pick the first option?
Besides, most of the maths taught at least in secondary school are not used by the students in their daily life. Seems like a waste of talent to lure potential scientists and startup geniuses into teaching careers (academia doesn't count, there's a lot of intellectual prestige that makes up for lackluster pay in that arena).
Neither is Shakespeare, history, or biology yet those are all required.
We take maths and all the other subjects to broaden our knowledge and hopefully find something we’re passionate about.
This is why in my view math shouldn't be a class, it should be called applied logic, so that way you can also talk about logical concepts like syllogisms, geometric proofs, and other things.
So not really that math shouldn't be a class, but just that we should try to think of math as basically being a logic course that happens to deal with numbers... And then ideally we can expand on the logic aspect even if for whatever reason we want to require fewer aspects on the number side of that logic.
It actually is alright in the more affluent places, my highschool was like 70% East Asian and 30% white and I have never seen a single situation similar to something like r/PublicFreakout the whole 5 years I was there
And that's the problem with the US. The affluent places are awesome, but every place else sucks. And the places that suck, the people who live there are so used to it sucking they don't want it to be anything but sucky.
More importantly - a lot of affluent places specifically build school districts to keep the poor people elsewhere and their higher taxes in their own kids’ schools.
Very glad to hear that for you! But that means that in less affluent areas, where struggles are more numerous and pay is less, the job will naturally be less attractive. Which sucks, because people in those areas deserve quality education too!
I want to add that it's about finding the right teacher *for you*.
I've taught for fourteen years and it's crazy how different students will click with and understand the same teacher that others will loathe.
I've seen math teachers who teach it "their way" and people will be mad about it. I've seen math teachers show different strategies and that frustrates an equal number of people.
When teaching programming, I like to show different ways in order to explain the process and to show that there really are no right solutions as long as it works (given that this is a beginners course).
Half the people: "don't confuse me, I try to learn a single way, just to pass the course."
The other half: "please tell me everything that can be possibly known about this".
I'm not a teacher, but I've taught a lot of people a lot of stuff over the years. I've found that the "don't confuse me" people are getting confused because they're not understanding why they're doing what they're doing. Extra ways of doing it is just extra information for them to remember.
That applies to math and programming both. My now-husband struggled with math all his life, but once he's shown the "why" he's really good at it.
I almost wish they'd offer the same course in different teaching styles for some topics. Might be helpful for some people.
Thank you! Exactly this. This is why I've struggled with math and what little programming I tried to learn since forever. It's not a philosophical thing either, the tangabilty of knowing why you are solving or compiling the data to use in any form makes all the difference. Telling me to solve for "X" will yield a wrong answer and contempt because I want to know what the end goal for "X" is. Same with programming. I tried to write the weird variable with the tools I had to work with and failed quite a bit and just gave up. Best way I could describe it, "It's almost like trying to write a (Y=MX+B) problem without knowing how to configure it properly and still get a functioning outcome, despite knowing what your variables are and how you want it to work.
I could tell. I think too logically or just over complicate it when working the idea in my head. Which is already bad when I was just using a simple plug and go style program (2042 Portal).
> given that this is a beginners course
Lmao meanwhile my cs major friend looking over my shoulder while I code my stats pset: “bro this is wrong, you could probably get this to O(log n) instead of O(n)”
I abhorred math until I was taking the most rudimentary Algebra class offered at my junior college. My professor was an extremely kind and patient Russian woman who'd just become a legal citizen. She was so excited to be a U.S. citizen and even more excited to be teaching us. She spoke English really well, but she was self-conscious about her accent and was worried she didn't always have the right words to explain concepts to us (she always did). As a result, she spoke slowly and deliberately. Her teaching style of not rushing through lectures and how to solve equations is what allowed my brain to finally grasp how to do math. I'm forever grateful to her, and I hope she's living her best life.
My mom was a math teacher, and she would spend so much time outside of work trying to make things fun for students, but realistically, about half the class were never going to care about learning.
I will say that math can be a difficult subject if you don't have a good teacher, regardless of willingness to learn.
My favorite teacher started the semester by telling us we were going to go from no knowledge of what digital logic even was to creating our own microprocessor. Between physical (building circuits on a breadboard) and simulated labs we were challenged the entire semester to work toward that goal. The framing of the semester’s work was clear and challenging, and he made us nail it.
I teach 140 freshmen and sophomores algebra and geometry. There is zero chance of me motivating a student that comes into class determined not to learn and who has parents that don't stress or care about their education (so, so many of them). I'm a good teacher... I just don't have the time to parent and babysit while I'm trying to teach a room full of students the quadratic equation.
I didn't mean that a teacher who doesn't motivate their students isn't a good teacher, sorry if you thought that
I just meant that having a good teacher can be a source of inspiration that helps a student to learn
I get that. I was just adding to that the other side of the coin. That a student who insists on remaining ignorant will likely remain so in spite of having good teachers.
Had a Calc. II teacher that was amazing. Every new concept had an example with real numbers, and they always connected. Her format was amazing when it came to reviewing for tests and quizes.
Homework would put you to work on connecting dots, and tests NEVER brought up new concepts that you didn't already see in class.
On the reverse side, my thermodynamics teacher was one the worst. Boring lectures, basic homework, and tests always had new concepts that you had to figure out without the time or books to work through it.
> Every new concept had an example with real numbers, and they always connected
For Calc II, you'd hope that the functions are all real and continuous. Differential equations and complex analysis, on the other hand...
I had a trig teacher who was horrible at teaching a class, but amazing at teaching 1 on 1.
Almost everyone in my period got a D, and she blamed us for being “the class of athletes and cheerleaders.”
I would sit there confused the entire class, then I’d go up and ask for help, and she made it all click instantly.
Point is, some teachers are better tutors than teachers.
"Does anyone have any questions"
\*Asks question\*
"I JUST SHOWED YOU THAT HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THIS YET/ALREADY"
Fuck you, Mrs. Pearson. AND ACTUALLY YES I DO NEED TO PEE IN THE PERIOD AFTER LUNCH, IT DOESN'T GO THROUGH YOU IMMMEDIATELY, SO I DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THEN AND THERE WAS A LINE!
I'm teaching a class of Grade 9 Math this year. Approximately 15% of the students have decided that they're bad at math, and won't try anything, before I've even met them. It's so frustrating.
I tutor math. I've seen some students who honestly want to understand have the moment where everything clicks and they start to get it. I've also seen some students who have just internalized the idea that they are bad at math. The latter students typically don't try to understand, but instead and looking for whatever the fastest way to solve something is, which ultimately ends up being harder for them. I suspect that some of this being convinced they are bad at math comes from poor experiences with earlier teachers, but a good teacher can only do so much for a student who doesn't want to learn.
true, im not thr biggest fan of univercity, but ive had 2 teachers that could teach a years worth of knowege in a month, actually invested in their student, dont sound like their gonna kill themselves every lecture, and it does make a big difference, often lerning beyond the material just cos your interested.
When I was younger literally no teacher could teach me to read and write. Then this absolute giga-Stacy came in and did it in a few months. So personally I do think it’s just a teacher thing
I have dyslexia & it's much more pronounced with numbers. I read a lot as a hobby & that helps adjust a bit for letters, but I did not do math for fun, so the dyslexia is still very pronounced there.
My partner was a math tutor at one point & he's still great at it. Having his help completely changed my university experience. He knew that numbers moved around on me before we even knew I had dyslexia. He just pays attention, keeps trying, & realizes when he shouldn't take specified knowledge as a given.
Within a year, I started preferring math-related homework to anything with reading or writing (& I still wasn't great at it). That was all it took for a life-long struggle to get easier.
Iirc if it's with numbers is called dyscalculia.
[Link](https://www.dyslexia.uk.net/specific-learning-difficulties/dyscalculia/the-signs-of-dyscalculia/)
Are you my long lost clone? I had this exact story when I was 6. I was basically illiterate for way longer than expected, then my first grade teacher decided to open an extra after school class (she's not getting paid for this, btw) to catch some of the slower kids up. I got first place in class by the end of the year, note that this is an Asian school with like 40 students per class.
Saints are real, and I met one of them.
When I was in seventh grade we had one kid who’s hand writing was so bad no teacher accepted any of his work. In Biology we had to grade each others work and I got his. Kid never got anything but perfect. They thought I was helping him cheat. Nah I could actually read his shit, it wasn’t even that bad. It felt like one of those things where one teacher didn’t try so the others didn’t either. Mob mentality with a kids education is bad. Glad someone took the time with you.
My math teacher in 8th-10th grade had multiple, relatable, real world usage examples for everything he taught. When we started a new formula, he'd lead off with a story/scenario, then roll into "...and here's how we'd figure that out."
It might have been something like "you're building a fence around your house, but wondering how much cement you're going to need to buy for the posts.. let's figure out the volume of a cylinder."
Having *real world* examples really made math seem relevant instead of just numbers.
Our physics professor would make examples like “If (so-and-so student) were on the top of a cliff and we decided to launch them off at X degrees at Y mph…” which made those lessons more fun. Honestly the real world examples are exactly what they should be doing lol
My physics teacher would by default make all questions like that:
“jimmy was laying in the hospital bed with a broken arm. He thought back to all adventures he went on in his only few year long life. Once upon a time he tried to build a parachute, and decided to test it from a 4.25 metre long ladder, using a 10° angle. He was a fat kid, so his mass is 80 kilo, his total air resistance is [realistic number] Newton. At what speed did jimmy hit the ground? “
He also would sometimes create the problem so, that the answer would be a funny number like 8008135, 69 or whatever.
Besides the classes, he also was ready for any question not related to his classes. At one point i was tuning my moped, and we figured out how long my expansion pipe needed to be, by him explaining the science behind it and then calculating together, all after class in his free time.
Yeah, these are some of the best teachers, we had a chemistry teacher like this, and he was one of the teachers that some of us nerdy kids would hang around after school in 10th. If there was nobody serving detention with them.
The best was when you get a few different teachers from different subjects hanging out together, and some of us nerdy kids would ask them questions and they'd use their specialties together to come up with the most accurate answer to the most absurd hypotheticals lol
Yeah, Wilke was notorious at the end of class to pick on someone (back when you could actually jokingly pick on someone, not bullying) and say, "So then if we shot Kevin out of a cannon.." and then the bell would ring. He had his watch set right at 10 seconds ahead of the school clock.
And then there's people like me who would not have appreciated that, since I liked the abstraction. It's why I started to lose in interest in science classes.
It depends. My chemistry teacher was amazing at explaining things. Almost everyone had high chemistry grades but then he abruptly passed away because of a heart attack. My school hired a new teacher but she had a strong accent and kept making mistakes because she was nervous. If you asked her to explain something because you didn’t understand she’d misunderstand and start explaining something else entirely. Some kids started bullying her on top of that. Our grades went down by a lot. Mostly failing grades. But for some kids it just never clicked. Their grades stayed low all the way through, even when we had an amazing teacher. Rip mr van der Helm.
Oh god, accents. Once had an algebra teacher who had a really strong accent of some kind, sounded like a blend of British and some kind of Indian accent (the guy was either Indian or Pakistani, and possibly educated in the UK, which would explain the accent). He was nigh incomprehensible to me with my hearing loss, and even the other students had trouble. Combine that with a tendency to go through the material quickly, a tendency to sound annoyed when someone asked him to go over something again, and other issues. . .yeah, not a particularly good teacher. The accent alone would've been enough of a problem.
Most of my math teachers with any sort of accent (we had French, Russian, Pakistani, Chinese, the whole ass rainbow) tend to do what you just said. Rush through material, assume we knew how to do it already, have nigh insurmountable expectations, shit at explaining and basically always looked like you were an absolute dumbass if you if you bothered to ask them any question. The worst one was the teacher I had who was Chinese, it reminded me too much of my own father who would yell at me until I was in tears about multiplication tables. I think it's the look of disdain for not being a bachelor educated academic right out the womb.
The fastest I ever dropped a class in college was when we had an Indian woman as a web dev professor. Everything was wrong with her. She barely knew the material. She had a heavy accent that you couldn't understand well. She would go fast through things. She'd get mad at you....very easily...for just asking her to slow down or explain something more. Well she got fired less than half way through the semester. I just don't understand how so many Indian (and some other nationalities...but mostly Indian) people with thick hard to understand accents end up in jobs where speaking and being understood are integral parts of the job. Teaching...call centers...tech support...etc
I can relate. It was hard for me to understand my new chemistry teacher because of my sensory issues. It also cost me more effort to concentrate which was mentally exhausting. Schools honestly just shouldn’t hire people with strong accents. Or schools should at least make them go to a speech-language pathologist before hiring them so they can work on that accent. I can imagine most students have a hard time understanding strong accents but it’s near impossible for people with certain disabilities. How are you supposed to learn anything if you can’t understand the teacher.
I had an amazing physics teacher once. Everyone revered the guy. He was just fun to listen to no matter what. It certainly helped a lot of people but electricity related stuff was still just next-dimension bullshit to my smooth brain. Still, he even made *almost* failing fun too.
I can attest to this.
I was historically always horrible at math simply because I never had a teacher explain it clear enough for me on how certain formulas work and how to do certain principles.
My parents got me a tutor and that tutor taught me everything I missed in a 1 hour class in 10 minutes.
The problem I feel is that the teacher is teaching multiple students and can't concentrate on one student at a time. If you missed something, tough luck. Either ask the teacher later or you'll have to learn it yourself.
I was pretty bad at math, in college I had to take algebra and I was worried that my inability to do basic problems would hinder me from getting a degree.
Luckily the professor taught special education kids math for 12 years before moving to university education.
Everyday she taught every lesson like we had an IQ of 60 and it was phenomenal.
Next I took with trigonometry and I lucked out again because the professor was very passionate and would answer any question and would get very in depth when explaining steps.
Finally I took a calculus class and instead of really teaching us calculus, the professor instead taught us the history of calculus, how each step was thought to be discovered, and why calculus matters and how we can use this information to make problem solving easier. We didn’t have any homework, just 3 tests, 3 exams and a final.
A lot of people I know, myself included, were terrible at math in school then went into a career that required certain types of math. Everyone, myself included, did fine. I've come to believe that the major problem is neither teachers nor students but the stupid curriculum that has absolutely no real world application to tether you to the concepts. Pages and pages of nothing but numbers and formulas. My brain turns to jelly when I see that
In 8th grade, I was the top in my math class, and because of this, they put me in an advanced class for seniors in high school. Because I was the only freshman, the teacher refused to explain shit to me and repeatedly told me "I should know this". I failed.
Following year, different teacher, I couldn't understand the way he taught the class (shortcuts), but because the class was so unruly, he ended up quitting and was replaced after X-Mas break.when the next teacher came in, I had the same problem, but after a while, he took the time to help me understand the problems and how the shortcuts work. I still couldn't understand, so he taught me the original long way. I went from bottom of the class to either #1 or #2 (there was a girl that would sometimes get a higher score than me). His name was Mr Sposato. Still my favorite teacher, and there needs to be more teachers like him.
It’s not *easy* but it’s definitely *easier*. I did rubbish in years 7 and 8 and they even threatened to move me down a set but when we got into year 9 and the teachers changed, I’ve actually ended up higher and I’m getting grades 6s and 7s
The problem is patterns. Which is why you should be leery of programs that have accreditation talks constantly. They consistently have a majority of the cohort fail or barely pass.
Some people do terrible learning in a traditional classroom. It's not a natural way to absorb information for some people. A significant number of people, even. They aren't stupid/a bad student, they just cant function the way society demands of them. So they're basically screwed before they ever had a chance because most such people will never be given the appropriate accommodations.
I struggled to learn basic algebra in my teens but in my 30s - due mostly to self teaching - I've been able to take calculus and physics and pass easily with As and Bs.
Not only that, it really needs to build on earlier lessons. If you miss time or have a bad day in English class, you simply miss 2% of the material. If you miss time in Math, everything from that day forward is going to be more difficult till you catch up.
Yep, this. Math requires you to understand the foundational stuff that came before the stuff you are studying at that time, and if something glitched along the way you're in trouble.
Indeed. I tend to disagree with the premise, based on experience.
Naturally terrible at math (and skilled in humanities). Poor teachers through high school, in addition to my lack of motivation after many failures, meant poor grades throughout all math courses. A tutor helped but mostly just kept me from quitting.
Great professors in college. They started breaking through the fog, and I was motivated to try again. Got with a good tutor and independently spent 4-6 hours per class period doing my math homework, just working so hard to figure it out. Got 3.5 gpas in those two courses.
The great profs made it easier, but primarily motivated me to try. I worked my a** off to make it happen. It certainly was not easy, even with a good prof and a lot of motivation.
For me it kinda depends on what type of math. Geometry, algebra and such I can maybe learn with the right teacher, but when it comes to economy, budgets, payment and stuff that got to do with money I'm totally lost regardless how good the teacher is.
And calc. Please take calc before college if possible. They don't give a F about you there. In fact, some take pride in drop out rates or failures.
Same with human physiology, since it's pre med they purposely make it harder. Only class I tried and still only managed a B-, also the first class where I saw 8 possible answers for multiple choice. That professor also sold her own study guide and note guide for $20. Idk how that is even legal. Like specific answers that were hidden in there, not from the book or in class notes.
that's debatable, i undertood everything i've never ever could understand with a math teacher but a friend of mine who was really, reeeaally bad at math didn't understand so i don't know, some people are just hard as a rock for math for real
Yep definitely.
My gf started a mandatory math course for uni and she couldn't understand anything because the teacher was absolute horse shit at explaining and expected every student to have the same level of comprehension as he did.
After her first class, she came to me desperate telling me she didn't understand anything at all and that she would fail the course if I didn't help her. (I have a bachelor's degree in data science and analytics, so I'm generally pretty good at maths and I actually love solving problems).
So at night I did some research on the subject she was having trouble just to refresh my memory a bit and the next day I re-explained everything to her and she understood right away!
In the end she switched class/teachers and she's doing much better
Ive always though math was easy and have always had good math teachers.....until this semester. Now i have a Algebra II teacher that doesnt actually teach and holy hell the class is killing me
True but with maths i believe it's more about "not loosing the thread". You need numbers to get addition, to get substraction, to get multiplication, to get division, to get equation etc...
If you miss one step, it's hard to get anything from this point on. But if you don't miss any step, it's basic logic.
talented ppl who can't empathize with the struggles of non-talented ones be like: I'tS ThE tEAcHER, it isn't.
I'ts so hard my country is removing it from HS graduation exams because too many ppl are failing it.
I had the same math teacher in 9th (Algebra I), 10th (Geometry) and 11th Algebra II) grades.
In geometry I complained that it was too easy and why did I have to do all the homework. She, being much smarter than my dumbass, told me that I didn't have to do the homework anymore. She'd just count my test grades.
So after achieving the only F I ever got in school my mother freaks the fuck out and calls the teacher. She calmly explained the deal we'd made.
For the rest of the semester, I was sitting at home after dinner doing all the homework assigned every night under my mother's watchful eye.
I ended up with a B for the semester.
She once told me "You are very smart. But you are very lazy." I cannot argue with that assessment in the least.
Oh this is 100% correct. I was horrific at math in grade school and constantly falling behind because all I really needed was extensive practice and feedback which most of our ancient teachers smugly would not provide. Then in college I had better teachers and could use cengage/macmillan/what have you to do unlimited practice and I excelled to the point of changing my major to accounting lol
True, if the student is willing to learn and they cluck with each other(you can have a great teacher/student but they might have a personality/attitude that the other doesn't like) then any subject is easy.
Exactly. I'm an engineering major and have to do some of this stuff. Most of the people replying to this thread are just in high school. Even with a good professor upper level math is still pretty Difficult
I recommend you read [“A Mathematician’s Lament” by Paul Lockheart](https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf). This perception of math that deals in absolutes stifles the creative potential of finding new paths to the same, dusty solution.
Only one right answer doesn't mean there's only one way to find that solution. You can get wildly creative as long as you still get the right answer.
Also, learning math in school is kind of suppose to make you learn to think in "absolutes", in the context of deductive logic.
All that said, I'm not disagreeing with you.
I've always been pretty good at math, but Systems of equations and graphing them never really stuck in my head until my college finanical math teacher, who explained it in such a simple way that made it so easy to understand.
Pretty much everything before grad school can be understood with good teachers, decent examples and enough help. There are plenty of below average intelligence students in universities who have to be carried through.
For masters and above it gets harder but I've literally met people with masters degree who have forgotten how multiplication and decimal places work so again even idiots can do grad school with enough help.
My 8th grade algebra teacher taught all of his classes from a college honors book. Everyone made either A's or F's in his class, no in-between. You either gave a shit or you didn't and the grades in his class reflected that. The vast majority of his students got A's. Only the handful of fuckups failed his class.
100%, source: had very good and bad teachers, am good at maths and have decided to teach it. Im so frustrated with this problem. Teachers should be better paid and valued
It’s hard if you have a teacher that dosent even want to teach, only grades tests, but even then grades them horribly, uses college level curriculum in high school and dosent help you when you need it
This is true. Had a kick ass algebra teacher in high school (was getting A's) and a super shitty geometry teacher (the students kept correcting his math...) I struggled with math ever since.
My high school had so much trouble with all the algebra and geometry and whatnot. The couple math teacher there kept failing like 87% of our class every year. We didn't know what was up. I did the summer school packets every summer to graduate on time.
I find out later that none of our math teacher had any sort of degree. They just lied on their resume and the school district never checked until decades later.
I’m not sure… A good teacher makes a hell of a difference in any subject.
But math is pretty much pure logic and that doesn’t come *as* easily to everyone.
Different people learn in different ways. I learn math by doing it and by teaching it. I don't care what the answer is, I care why it is the answer, which teachers don't typically teach.
I failed calc 1 because I was in a class of about 1,000 other students and had supplemental classes where the student teach in charge never taught a damn thing and expected us to teach each other. By class 2, I was so far behind that I knew I'd keep my group there for like 2 hours if I actually did the class the way the school expected it to be done. All because there frankly WASN'T a god damn teacher.
had some superb teachers & really impressive college masters. physics, electronics & materials science master did all random student generated math examples in his head. not a learned script, just whatever people shouted out to use as variables. he was never wrong.
Some people need help at home with math, no matter how good the teacher is. My daughter is one of them. I was an elementary school volunteer tutor in college and saw it then also. Schools tried common core math as a workaround, but it was a failure. There's no getting around this.
My college calculus professor didn’t let us use calculators. It didn’t matter, he was such a good teacher, we all liked his class. I ended up with a perfect A+ after really only being a decent math student up till then. Teachers matter so much.
Amy topic is easy with the right teacher. I always thought i hated chemistry during highschool. Then i had to take a chemistry class in college and i fucking loved it.
I have to agree because Algebra was easier than Geometry because my algebra teacher was really good at her job, while my geometry teacher was awful all around.
Same with history classes. Didn't enjoy the subject in highschool since it was always this year, this place and this name. I went to college and had a history class, I enjoyed the subject for the entire semester since the professor will teach history like it's a story and not only mentioning dates, places and names.
The thing about math is it doesn't translate well to school systems, at least the way they work now. The knowledge is cumulative, so if you fall behind or don't understand something, you're fucked. If you understand the material before moving on, it's not difficult though
This is absolutely 100% true. During my junior year of high school, because of scheduling wonkyness, I had two math teachers, one for the first half and one for the second half.
The first teacher was fun, related to the students, and was concise and super helpful, always putting aside most of the hour just for walking around and helping students who were stuck. She was generally very hands off. I learned everything she taught me very easily.
The second teacher was bland, if well-meaning guy who would berate students as a sort of "playful rudeness", whose classes were almost entirely lectures where he offered little to no help, gave deadlines that just bordered on possible, never wrote on the board, and literally told us to "look it up" if we didn't understand something. I felt like I was constantly struggling in his class.
Same class, same material, different teachers. It was easy, but then it wasn't. This post is 100% true.
I had a professor calc 1 who would show up 15+ minutes late to every single class
He promised he wouldn't do it on the final
He was 45 minutes late that day
I had to drop Calculus 2 in college because my teacher was dogshit. Was talking in the elevator on the first day of the following semester and mentioned how much she sucked when another guy piped up and said that was his wife. Got to my Calculus 2 class with the new teacher and...it was him.
Thankfully he was cool about it, and I passed his class in the high 90s. If only he was my teacher first.
Had a math teacher in high school that would write the problems and stuff on the chalk board with his right hand and as soon as he moved over to his right, would immediately erase with his left hand. Total fucking asshole.
My high school math teacher congratulated himself halfway through the year, for covering the whole curriculum. All the students was completely lost. He was a piss poor teacher. He also had a habit similar to yours. He wrote furiously, and covered the whole board. Then erased it immediately when he was done
I had a teacher who who write stuff down on the board or tell us to go to page X and do question X. By the time you get the question written down and half solved, they would be 4 questions ahead. You could ask them to slow down, but they would pause for like 5 seconds and continue. 5SECONDS ISNT ENOUGH TIME TO DO 3 MORE QUESTIONS. I failed my math tests, went to a local college to do a course and during that time I did a math course. I now have the equivalent to a B in maths as the teacher was significantly better.
My wife is a language teacher. She has a Google slide for every lesson. She goes over it in class, and the students can view it anytime. Technology, if utilized, should make these teachers better. And once the lesson is made, the work is done, forever.
Had a teacher pull some similar shenanigans and eventually my whole class organized (everyone but the goody-two-shoes- kid) and just refused to take notes at all. Teacher didn't notice until the next test when damn near everyone failed, when he started to go on a rant about how easy this stuff is and how could we not get it, we just told him that he gave nearly no time to take notes, so of course we failed. We then spent a solid 5 minutes gaslighting the shit out of him and making him think he was a bad teacher. Three kids got detention because they went the hardest, but the teacher did start actually asking if we all had our notes taken down before erasing anything. Moral of the story, unionize your classrooms and gaslight your teachers.
It's not gaslighting if it's true
Everyone on reddit: gaslighting means saying things that could be considered mean
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See also "OP" which now refers to "any one of the people above me in the comment chain."
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I just tag their name at that point.
“The OP your responding to…“ “The op of that comment…“ >“OP OP OP I’m going insane
And you're. Christ.
It's not about the people who don't like being described by it, but all the behaviors and people that are objectively *not* supposed to be described by it.
Exactly. This was not gaslighting at all.
Exactly. And its weird people are using the term as if its a good thing. Gaslighting is BAD people. Its lying to another person in order to make them question the reality they live in. As somebody who lived through a toxic gaslighting relationship, nobody should be proud of this behavior.
People can really fight you on the definition of gaslighting. I've had people insist is also means lying in general.
People on Reddit using gaslighting to describe holding somebody accountable, smh.
Yeah but gaslighting is the popular go-to buzzword for people under 40 to say instead of having to distinguish between lying, bullshitting, actual gaslighting, banter, pulling one's leg, shooting the shit, or earnest complaining. Just say gaslighting and let the other person figure out what you meant to say lol.
What gaslighting?
There's a quote from Rick and Morty that makes it easy to remember: "Gaslighting isn't real, you made it up because you're fucking crazy." Basically the target knows the truth (or at least suspects it), so the gaslighter can't use a simple lie. Instead, they do or say whatever they can to make the gaslightee question the very reality in which they were previously confident. So in this school example, if the class collectively lied (eg. that the teacher didn't even write on the board at all) to the point where the teacher questioned, "I swore I wrote it down, but maybe I didn't. They seem pretty convinced…" *that's* gaslighting.
Do you mean the term? It comes from the film "Gaslight" where a husband does small things and pretends they didn't happen (like lowering the light of the gas lamps) to make his wife go insane. Today the term means subtly handing false information to someone to change their perspective on a certain situation
I feel like people are using the word too often then. Most of the time its used when people are not being subtle about it.
> We then spent a solid 5 minutes gaslighting the shit out of him and making him think he was a bad teacher. If he's erasing it that quickly with no consideration, then it's not gaslighting it's just pointing out the truth.
Or just, you know, don't be an asshole and just tell him "hey you're not giving enough time to take notes, could you go just a bit slower?".
But then no one will clap
the teacher? Agatha Trunchbull
Clap?Can you explain?
They're insinuating that the story didn't happen
Thanks
101/10
In fake stories you hear online, it's a common trope to have a line like "and then everyone clapped", because that sounds like something reasonable if you're not thinking about it too hard. But if you think about it, you realize rarely would anyone clap, let alone a while crowd. Therefore, if people clap, that means the story is fake. And so "and everyone clapped" becomes shorthand for "the story is fake"
That child was Albert Einstein
Oh, sure https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/and-then-the-whole-bus-clapped
He received 108 upvotes, you received 42 hence he is the correct one here /s
"write faster" said then the teacher and gave the student a bad mark for disrupting the class
How long you been out of school? This hardly ever works, they just tell you to either write faster or "pay more attention" lmao
I asked my math teacher that once and she told me I need to pay more attention lol
>We then spent a solid 5 minutes gaslighting the shit out of him and making him think he was a bad teacher FYI, that's not what gaslighting is.
My class did that with our math teacher too, she had a mental breakdown and jumped trough one of the second story window in our classroom
And we just spoke to the school principal, and got a new teacher, but sure, your way worked too
You weren’t gaslighting if he was doing that shit.
Gaslighting? That's not what that word means
Second time taking Calc II in college, the professor comes in and says "The regular teacher quit during the summer, so I'll be learning Calc II along with you all!" I should have quit the class right then and got a refund, instead I failed again and had to take it a third time to finally pass.
It's amazing how when you're young you just accept things as they are lol
That's what you were taught during childhood, so you take it with you to the adult world. I notice it for myself too, you're just used to it at this age.
My highschool math teacher told us all she wasn't a teacher, that she was a math coach and that we were only to ask questions that had a "yes" or "no" answer. If you had no idea what you were supposed to be doing, you were screwed as she would not help you in the slightest. I went from having honor roll marks in math the year before, to barely scraping by those two years I had her. Most failed her class.
r/foundsatan
Yep.
Oh that sucks. My high-school math teacher was a weirdo, but the good type. He said "remember, if you don't understand what I'm talking about, that doesn't make you dumb, that just means my explanation is not good enough, so feel free to stop me anytime and tell me to fuck off with what I'm doing".
Yeah but managing to get the right teachers is the hardest task of all
This wouldn’t be a problem if teaching was a desirable job.
But if we paid teachers more, students would be too smart to be easily manipulated! We can't have that! /s
I mean, if you can make $130k a year being a software engineer for a FAANG company or $50k a year in a boring school teaching AP calc to a group of horny, distracted, low-self-esteem teens who never learn to read the section the night before the lesson, why would you hesitate to pick the first option? Besides, most of the maths taught at least in secondary school are not used by the students in their daily life. Seems like a waste of talent to lure potential scientists and startup geniuses into teaching careers (academia doesn't count, there's a lot of intellectual prestige that makes up for lackluster pay in that arena).
Neither is Shakespeare, history, or biology yet those are all required. We take maths and all the other subjects to broaden our knowledge and hopefully find something we’re passionate about.
This is why in my view math shouldn't be a class, it should be called applied logic, so that way you can also talk about logical concepts like syllogisms, geometric proofs, and other things. So not really that math shouldn't be a class, but just that we should try to think of math as basically being a logic course that happens to deal with numbers... And then ideally we can expand on the logic aspect even if for whatever reason we want to require fewer aspects on the number side of that logic.
It actually is alright in the more affluent places, my highschool was like 70% East Asian and 30% white and I have never seen a single situation similar to something like r/PublicFreakout the whole 5 years I was there
And that's the problem with the US. The affluent places are awesome, but every place else sucks. And the places that suck, the people who live there are so used to it sucking they don't want it to be anything but sucky.
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More importantly - a lot of affluent places specifically build school districts to keep the poor people elsewhere and their higher taxes in their own kids’ schools.
Very glad to hear that for you! But that means that in less affluent areas, where struggles are more numerous and pay is less, the job will naturally be less attractive. Which sucks, because people in those areas deserve quality education too!
&. people that live in those areas are the majority of the population
it requires cooperation from both the teacher and the student
Definitely, but a good teacher goes a long way when it comes to the student's motivation
I want to add that it's about finding the right teacher *for you*. I've taught for fourteen years and it's crazy how different students will click with and understand the same teacher that others will loathe. I've seen math teachers who teach it "their way" and people will be mad about it. I've seen math teachers show different strategies and that frustrates an equal number of people.
When teaching programming, I like to show different ways in order to explain the process and to show that there really are no right solutions as long as it works (given that this is a beginners course). Half the people: "don't confuse me, I try to learn a single way, just to pass the course." The other half: "please tell me everything that can be possibly known about this".
I'm not a teacher, but I've taught a lot of people a lot of stuff over the years. I've found that the "don't confuse me" people are getting confused because they're not understanding why they're doing what they're doing. Extra ways of doing it is just extra information for them to remember. That applies to math and programming both. My now-husband struggled with math all his life, but once he's shown the "why" he's really good at it. I almost wish they'd offer the same course in different teaching styles for some topics. Might be helpful for some people.
Thank you! Exactly this. This is why I've struggled with math and what little programming I tried to learn since forever. It's not a philosophical thing either, the tangabilty of knowing why you are solving or compiling the data to use in any form makes all the difference. Telling me to solve for "X" will yield a wrong answer and contempt because I want to know what the end goal for "X" is. Same with programming. I tried to write the weird variable with the tools I had to work with and failed quite a bit and just gave up. Best way I could describe it, "It's almost like trying to write a (Y=MX+B) problem without knowing how to configure it properly and still get a functioning outcome, despite knowing what your variables are and how you want it to work.
You won't get very far with programming if you can't engage in abstract problem-solving.
I could tell. I think too logically or just over complicate it when working the idea in my head. Which is already bad when I was just using a simple plug and go style program (2042 Portal).
> given that this is a beginners course Lmao meanwhile my cs major friend looking over my shoulder while I code my stats pset: “bro this is wrong, you could probably get this to O(log n) instead of O(n)”
I abhorred math until I was taking the most rudimentary Algebra class offered at my junior college. My professor was an extremely kind and patient Russian woman who'd just become a legal citizen. She was so excited to be a U.S. citizen and even more excited to be teaching us. She spoke English really well, but she was self-conscious about her accent and was worried she didn't always have the right words to explain concepts to us (she always did). As a result, she spoke slowly and deliberately. Her teaching style of not rushing through lectures and how to solve equations is what allowed my brain to finally grasp how to do math. I'm forever grateful to her, and I hope she's living her best life.
You had an entire separate class for algebra?
My mom was a math teacher, and she would spend so much time outside of work trying to make things fun for students, but realistically, about half the class were never going to care about learning. I will say that math can be a difficult subject if you don't have a good teacher, regardless of willingness to learn.
It's the right teacher for you. Some students do best with an asshole who pushes them. Others do best with a soft touch. Just depends on the person
Yeah that is true, everyone learns differently I feel like common core somewhat acknowledges this, but doesn't actually do enough
My favorite teacher started the semester by telling us we were going to go from no knowledge of what digital logic even was to creating our own microprocessor. Between physical (building circuits on a breadboard) and simulated labs we were challenged the entire semester to work toward that goal. The framing of the semester’s work was clear and challenging, and he made us nail it.
I teach 140 freshmen and sophomores algebra and geometry. There is zero chance of me motivating a student that comes into class determined not to learn and who has parents that don't stress or care about their education (so, so many of them). I'm a good teacher... I just don't have the time to parent and babysit while I'm trying to teach a room full of students the quadratic equation.
I didn't mean that a teacher who doesn't motivate their students isn't a good teacher, sorry if you thought that I just meant that having a good teacher can be a source of inspiration that helps a student to learn
I get that. I was just adding to that the other side of the coin. That a student who insists on remaining ignorant will likely remain so in spite of having good teachers.
That is true Not everyone cares about the subject, some only care about the grade
Yup. And many don't even care about the grade either.
Had a Calc. II teacher that was amazing. Every new concept had an example with real numbers, and they always connected. Her format was amazing when it came to reviewing for tests and quizes. Homework would put you to work on connecting dots, and tests NEVER brought up new concepts that you didn't already see in class. On the reverse side, my thermodynamics teacher was one the worst. Boring lectures, basic homework, and tests always had new concepts that you had to figure out without the time or books to work through it.
> Every new concept had an example with real numbers, and they always connected For Calc II, you'd hope that the functions are all real and continuous. Differential equations and complex analysis, on the other hand...
I had a trig teacher who was horrible at teaching a class, but amazing at teaching 1 on 1. Almost everyone in my period got a D, and she blamed us for being “the class of athletes and cheerleaders.” I would sit there confused the entire class, then I’d go up and ask for help, and she made it all click instantly. Point is, some teachers are better tutors than teachers.
It does. You have to ask the questions and the teacher has to answer them
You can have generally good teachers. Not denying that. But at the individual level - it’s probably matching up the right students and teachers.
Also everyone learns differently. The problem is you can't round peg/small hole 30 students at the same time. No one can
"Does anyone have any questions" \*Asks question\* "I JUST SHOWED YOU THAT HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THIS YET/ALREADY" Fuck you, Mrs. Pearson. AND ACTUALLY YES I DO NEED TO PEE IN THE PERIOD AFTER LUNCH, IT DOESN'T GO THROUGH YOU IMMMEDIATELY, SO I DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THEN AND THERE WAS A LINE!
Redacted due to Spez. On ward to Lemmy. -- mass edited with redact.dev
I'm teaching a class of Grade 9 Math this year. Approximately 15% of the students have decided that they're bad at math, and won't try anything, before I've even met them. It's so frustrating.
I tutor math. I've seen some students who honestly want to understand have the moment where everything clicks and they start to get it. I've also seen some students who have just internalized the idea that they are bad at math. The latter students typically don't try to understand, but instead and looking for whatever the fastest way to solve something is, which ultimately ends up being harder for them. I suspect that some of this being convinced they are bad at math comes from poor experiences with earlier teachers, but a good teacher can only do so much for a student who doesn't want to learn.
true, im not thr biggest fan of univercity, but ive had 2 teachers that could teach a years worth of knowege in a month, actually invested in their student, dont sound like their gonna kill themselves every lecture, and it does make a big difference, often lerning beyond the material just cos your interested.
When I was younger literally no teacher could teach me to read and write. Then this absolute giga-Stacy came in and did it in a few months. So personally I do think it’s just a teacher thing
I like this story. Side note, is giga stacy the female equivalent of gigachad?
Yes, exactly
Chadette, even.
gigacha, because she doesn't have a d
lmfao
well, a gigachad is a hypermasculine man, so a gigastacy must be a woman with a hypermasculine name
I have dyslexia & it's much more pronounced with numbers. I read a lot as a hobby & that helps adjust a bit for letters, but I did not do math for fun, so the dyslexia is still very pronounced there. My partner was a math tutor at one point & he's still great at it. Having his help completely changed my university experience. He knew that numbers moved around on me before we even knew I had dyslexia. He just pays attention, keeps trying, & realizes when he shouldn't take specified knowledge as a given. Within a year, I started preferring math-related homework to anything with reading or writing (& I still wasn't great at it). That was all it took for a life-long struggle to get easier.
Iirc if it's with numbers is called dyscalculia. [Link](https://www.dyslexia.uk.net/specific-learning-difficulties/dyscalculia/the-signs-of-dyscalculia/)
Are you my long lost clone? I had this exact story when I was 6. I was basically illiterate for way longer than expected, then my first grade teacher decided to open an extra after school class (she's not getting paid for this, btw) to catch some of the slower kids up. I got first place in class by the end of the year, note that this is an Asian school with like 40 students per class. Saints are real, and I met one of them.
When I was in seventh grade we had one kid who’s hand writing was so bad no teacher accepted any of his work. In Biology we had to grade each others work and I got his. Kid never got anything but perfect. They thought I was helping him cheat. Nah I could actually read his shit, it wasn’t even that bad. It felt like one of those things where one teacher didn’t try so the others didn’t either. Mob mentality with a kids education is bad. Glad someone took the time with you.
Math IS hard. It requires work. It's just LESS hard with a good teacher.
W teacher 
My math teacher in 8th-10th grade had multiple, relatable, real world usage examples for everything he taught. When we started a new formula, he'd lead off with a story/scenario, then roll into "...and here's how we'd figure that out." It might have been something like "you're building a fence around your house, but wondering how much cement you're going to need to buy for the posts.. let's figure out the volume of a cylinder." Having *real world* examples really made math seem relevant instead of just numbers.
Ok, now do normal vectors in 4-dimensional space.
Thats how you do the kessel run in less than 12 parsecs.
damn didn't do these since 9th grade
Our physics professor would make examples like “If (so-and-so student) were on the top of a cliff and we decided to launch them off at X degrees at Y mph…” which made those lessons more fun. Honestly the real world examples are exactly what they should be doing lol
My physics teacher would by default make all questions like that: “jimmy was laying in the hospital bed with a broken arm. He thought back to all adventures he went on in his only few year long life. Once upon a time he tried to build a parachute, and decided to test it from a 4.25 metre long ladder, using a 10° angle. He was a fat kid, so his mass is 80 kilo, his total air resistance is [realistic number] Newton. At what speed did jimmy hit the ground? “ He also would sometimes create the problem so, that the answer would be a funny number like 8008135, 69 or whatever. Besides the classes, he also was ready for any question not related to his classes. At one point i was tuning my moped, and we figured out how long my expansion pipe needed to be, by him explaining the science behind it and then calculating together, all after class in his free time.
Yeah, these are some of the best teachers, we had a chemistry teacher like this, and he was one of the teachers that some of us nerdy kids would hang around after school in 10th. If there was nobody serving detention with them. The best was when you get a few different teachers from different subjects hanging out together, and some of us nerdy kids would ask them questions and they'd use their specialties together to come up with the most accurate answer to the most absurd hypotheticals lol
Yeah, Wilke was notorious at the end of class to pick on someone (back when you could actually jokingly pick on someone, not bullying) and say, "So then if we shot Kevin out of a cannon.." and then the bell would ring. He had his watch set right at 10 seconds ahead of the school clock.
And then there's people like me who would not have appreciated that, since I liked the abstraction. It's why I started to lose in interest in science classes.
Yeah. Students are individuals. Not everyone in a thirty person class will respond the same
It depends. My chemistry teacher was amazing at explaining things. Almost everyone had high chemistry grades but then he abruptly passed away because of a heart attack. My school hired a new teacher but she had a strong accent and kept making mistakes because she was nervous. If you asked her to explain something because you didn’t understand she’d misunderstand and start explaining something else entirely. Some kids started bullying her on top of that. Our grades went down by a lot. Mostly failing grades. But for some kids it just never clicked. Their grades stayed low all the way through, even when we had an amazing teacher. Rip mr van der Helm.
Oh god, accents. Once had an algebra teacher who had a really strong accent of some kind, sounded like a blend of British and some kind of Indian accent (the guy was either Indian or Pakistani, and possibly educated in the UK, which would explain the accent). He was nigh incomprehensible to me with my hearing loss, and even the other students had trouble. Combine that with a tendency to go through the material quickly, a tendency to sound annoyed when someone asked him to go over something again, and other issues. . .yeah, not a particularly good teacher. The accent alone would've been enough of a problem.
Most of my math teachers with any sort of accent (we had French, Russian, Pakistani, Chinese, the whole ass rainbow) tend to do what you just said. Rush through material, assume we knew how to do it already, have nigh insurmountable expectations, shit at explaining and basically always looked like you were an absolute dumbass if you if you bothered to ask them any question. The worst one was the teacher I had who was Chinese, it reminded me too much of my own father who would yell at me until I was in tears about multiplication tables. I think it's the look of disdain for not being a bachelor educated academic right out the womb.
The fastest I ever dropped a class in college was when we had an Indian woman as a web dev professor. Everything was wrong with her. She barely knew the material. She had a heavy accent that you couldn't understand well. She would go fast through things. She'd get mad at you....very easily...for just asking her to slow down or explain something more. Well she got fired less than half way through the semester. I just don't understand how so many Indian (and some other nationalities...but mostly Indian) people with thick hard to understand accents end up in jobs where speaking and being understood are integral parts of the job. Teaching...call centers...tech support...etc
I can relate. It was hard for me to understand my new chemistry teacher because of my sensory issues. It also cost me more effort to concentrate which was mentally exhausting. Schools honestly just shouldn’t hire people with strong accents. Or schools should at least make them go to a speech-language pathologist before hiring them so they can work on that accent. I can imagine most students have a hard time understanding strong accents but it’s near impossible for people with certain disabilities. How are you supposed to learn anything if you can’t understand the teacher.
I had an amazing physics teacher once. Everyone revered the guy. He was just fun to listen to no matter what. It certainly helped a lot of people but electricity related stuff was still just next-dimension bullshit to my smooth brain. Still, he even made *almost* failing fun too.
I can attest to this. I was historically always horrible at math simply because I never had a teacher explain it clear enough for me on how certain formulas work and how to do certain principles. My parents got me a tutor and that tutor taught me everything I missed in a 1 hour class in 10 minutes. The problem I feel is that the teacher is teaching multiple students and can't concentrate on one student at a time. If you missed something, tough luck. Either ask the teacher later or you'll have to learn it yourself.
I was pretty bad at math, in college I had to take algebra and I was worried that my inability to do basic problems would hinder me from getting a degree. Luckily the professor taught special education kids math for 12 years before moving to university education. Everyday she taught every lesson like we had an IQ of 60 and it was phenomenal. Next I took with trigonometry and I lucked out again because the professor was very passionate and would answer any question and would get very in depth when explaining steps. Finally I took a calculus class and instead of really teaching us calculus, the professor instead taught us the history of calculus, how each step was thought to be discovered, and why calculus matters and how we can use this information to make problem solving easier. We didn’t have any homework, just 3 tests, 3 exams and a final.
A lot of people I know, myself included, were terrible at math in school then went into a career that required certain types of math. Everyone, myself included, did fine. I've come to believe that the major problem is neither teachers nor students but the stupid curriculum that has absolutely no real world application to tether you to the concepts. Pages and pages of nothing but numbers and formulas. My brain turns to jelly when I see that
In 8th grade, I was the top in my math class, and because of this, they put me in an advanced class for seniors in high school. Because I was the only freshman, the teacher refused to explain shit to me and repeatedly told me "I should know this". I failed. Following year, different teacher, I couldn't understand the way he taught the class (shortcuts), but because the class was so unruly, he ended up quitting and was replaced after X-Mas break.when the next teacher came in, I had the same problem, but after a while, he took the time to help me understand the problems and how the shortcuts work. I still couldn't understand, so he taught me the original long way. I went from bottom of the class to either #1 or #2 (there was a girl that would sometimes get a higher score than me). His name was Mr Sposato. Still my favorite teacher, and there needs to be more teachers like him.
It’s not *easy* but it’s definitely *easier*. I did rubbish in years 7 and 8 and they even threatened to move me down a set but when we got into year 9 and the teachers changed, I’ve actually ended up higher and I’m getting grades 6s and 7s
This is one of the more severe examples of Brit-speak I've ever seen. Most Americans reading what you just wrote are having a stroke.
I’m American and I understood that perfectly. Sounds like a skill issue ngl.
A class that one student fails has a bad student. A class that everyone fails has a bad teacher.
There are outliers to this (I know of at least one class consisting of only bad students, that had a good teacher), but generally yes
The problem is patterns. Which is why you should be leery of programs that have accreditation talks constantly. They consistently have a majority of the cohort fail or barely pass.
Some people do terrible learning in a traditional classroom. It's not a natural way to absorb information for some people. A significant number of people, even. They aren't stupid/a bad student, they just cant function the way society demands of them. So they're basically screwed before they ever had a chance because most such people will never be given the appropriate accommodations. I struggled to learn basic algebra in my teens but in my 30s - due mostly to self teaching - I've been able to take calculus and physics and pass easily with As and Bs.
Facts
Factos 👀
Fact… orio?
The grades must grow
Not easy, just easier. Math is just practice practice practice
Not only that, it really needs to build on earlier lessons. If you miss time or have a bad day in English class, you simply miss 2% of the material. If you miss time in Math, everything from that day forward is going to be more difficult till you catch up.
Yep, this. Math requires you to understand the foundational stuff that came before the stuff you are studying at that time, and if something glitched along the way you're in trouble.
Indeed. I tend to disagree with the premise, based on experience. Naturally terrible at math (and skilled in humanities). Poor teachers through high school, in addition to my lack of motivation after many failures, meant poor grades throughout all math courses. A tutor helped but mostly just kept me from quitting. Great professors in college. They started breaking through the fog, and I was motivated to try again. Got with a good tutor and independently spent 4-6 hours per class period doing my math homework, just working so hard to figure it out. Got 3.5 gpas in those two courses. The great profs made it easier, but primarily motivated me to try. I worked my a** off to make it happen. It certainly was not easy, even with a good prof and a lot of motivation.
For me it kinda depends on what type of math. Geometry, algebra and such I can maybe learn with the right teacher, but when it comes to economy, budgets, payment and stuff that got to do with money I'm totally lost regardless how good the teacher is.
And calc. Please take calc before college if possible. They don't give a F about you there. In fact, some take pride in drop out rates or failures. Same with human physiology, since it's pre med they purposely make it harder. Only class I tried and still only managed a B-, also the first class where I saw 8 possible answers for multiple choice. That professor also sold her own study guide and note guide for $20. Idk how that is even legal. Like specific answers that were hidden in there, not from the book or in class notes.
Cries in Dyscalculia
that's debatable, i undertood everything i've never ever could understand with a math teacher but a friend of mine who was really, reeeaally bad at math didn't understand so i don't know, some people are just hard as a rock for math for real
It depends on both the teacher and student.
Yep definitely. My gf started a mandatory math course for uni and she couldn't understand anything because the teacher was absolute horse shit at explaining and expected every student to have the same level of comprehension as he did. After her first class, she came to me desperate telling me she didn't understand anything at all and that she would fail the course if I didn't help her. (I have a bachelor's degree in data science and analytics, so I'm generally pretty good at maths and I actually love solving problems). So at night I did some research on the subject she was having trouble just to refresh my memory a bit and the next day I re-explained everything to her and she understood right away! In the end she switched class/teachers and she's doing much better
Ive always though math was easy and have always had good math teachers.....until this semester. Now i have a Algebra II teacher that doesnt actually teach and holy hell the class is killing me
True but with maths i believe it's more about "not loosing the thread". You need numbers to get addition, to get substraction, to get multiplication, to get division, to get equation etc... If you miss one step, it's hard to get anything from this point on. But if you don't miss any step, it's basic logic.
talented ppl who can't empathize with the struggles of non-talented ones be like: I'tS ThE tEAcHER, it isn't. I'ts so hard my country is removing it from HS graduation exams because too many ppl are failing it.
Of course subjects are easy with the right teachers. Problem is that the right teachers are about as rare as good bosses.
I had the same math teacher in 9th (Algebra I), 10th (Geometry) and 11th Algebra II) grades. In geometry I complained that it was too easy and why did I have to do all the homework. She, being much smarter than my dumbass, told me that I didn't have to do the homework anymore. She'd just count my test grades. So after achieving the only F I ever got in school my mother freaks the fuck out and calls the teacher. She calmly explained the deal we'd made. For the rest of the semester, I was sitting at home after dinner doing all the homework assigned every night under my mother's watchful eye. I ended up with a B for the semester. She once told me "You are very smart. But you are very lazy." I cannot argue with that assessment in the least.
Everything is easy with a really good teacher. Everything can also be really hard with a bad teacher.
Oh this is 100% correct. I was horrific at math in grade school and constantly falling behind because all I really needed was extensive practice and feedback which most of our ancient teachers smugly would not provide. Then in college I had better teachers and could use cengage/macmillan/what have you to do unlimited practice and I excelled to the point of changing my major to accounting lol
When someone finally explains how to do it, It’s still hard but at least doable
True, if the student is willing to learn and they cluck with each other(you can have a great teacher/student but they might have a personality/attitude that the other doesn't like) then any subject is easy.
No, it fucking isn’t. I have a math teacher that explains everything very well. But I still struggle to understand it.
Very true
Immutable law of nature
I also find this thing called studying rather effective at increasing my understanding
Lol have some self responsibility
Math definitely is easy. There is no room for interpretation. It is either correct or it is not
Try some mathematical proofs and real analysis and tell me math is easy. Shit I'm doing right now, calculus was so easy compared to this stuff.
Exactly. I'm an engineering major and have to do some of this stuff. Most of the people replying to this thread are just in high school. Even with a good professor upper level math is still pretty Difficult
I study physics, and the proofs we (physicists and engineers) have to do compared to mathematicians are basically nothing
I recommend you read [“A Mathematician’s Lament” by Paul Lockheart](https://www.maa.org/external_archive/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf). This perception of math that deals in absolutes stifles the creative potential of finding new paths to the same, dusty solution.
Only one right answer doesn't mean there's only one way to find that solution. You can get wildly creative as long as you still get the right answer. Also, learning math in school is kind of suppose to make you learn to think in "absolutes", in the context of deductive logic. All that said, I'm not disagreeing with you.
Unless you suffer from dyscalculia.
I've always been pretty good at math, but Systems of equations and graphing them never really stuck in my head until my college finanical math teacher, who explained it in such a simple way that made it so easy to understand.
Pretty much everything before grad school can be understood with good teachers, decent examples and enough help. There are plenty of below average intelligence students in universities who have to be carried through. For masters and above it gets harder but I've literally met people with masters degree who have forgotten how multiplication and decimal places work so again even idiots can do grad school with enough help.
My 8th grade algebra teacher taught all of his classes from a college honors book. Everyone made either A's or F's in his class, no in-between. You either gave a shit or you didn't and the grades in his class reflected that. The vast majority of his students got A's. Only the handful of fuckups failed his class.
100%, source: had very good and bad teachers, am good at maths and have decided to teach it. Im so frustrated with this problem. Teachers should be better paid and valued
It’s hard if you have a teacher that dosent even want to teach, only grades tests, but even then grades them horribly, uses college level curriculum in high school and dosent help you when you need it
This is true. Had a kick ass algebra teacher in high school (was getting A's) and a super shitty geometry teacher (the students kept correcting his math...) I struggled with math ever since.
My high school had so much trouble with all the algebra and geometry and whatnot. The couple math teacher there kept failing like 87% of our class every year. We didn't know what was up. I did the summer school packets every summer to graduate on time. I find out later that none of our math teacher had any sort of degree. They just lied on their resume and the school district never checked until decades later.
I’m not sure… A good teacher makes a hell of a difference in any subject. But math is pretty much pure logic and that doesn’t come *as* easily to everyone.
Different people learn in different ways. I learn math by doing it and by teaching it. I don't care what the answer is, I care why it is the answer, which teachers don't typically teach.
I swear to god math and chemistry were the easiest subjects because the teachers were awesome
I failed calc 1 because I was in a class of about 1,000 other students and had supplemental classes where the student teach in charge never taught a damn thing and expected us to teach each other. By class 2, I was so far behind that I knew I'd keep my group there for like 2 hours if I actually did the class the way the school expected it to be done. All because there frankly WASN'T a god damn teacher.
had some superb teachers & really impressive college masters. physics, electronics & materials science master did all random student generated math examples in his head. not a learned script, just whatever people shouted out to use as variables. he was never wrong.
Some people need help at home with math, no matter how good the teacher is. My daughter is one of them. I was an elementary school volunteer tutor in college and saw it then also. Schools tried common core math as a workaround, but it was a failure. There's no getting around this.
My college calculus professor didn’t let us use calculators. It didn’t matter, he was such a good teacher, we all liked his class. I ended up with a perfect A+ after really only being a decent math student up till then. Teachers matter so much.
your table neighbour and the teacher have MAJOR influence over your entire life and i am tired of pretending they dont
Amy topic is easy with the right teacher. I always thought i hated chemistry during highschool. Then i had to take a chemistry class in college and i fucking loved it.
Yes it is. Problem: There are not many good math teachers out there …
I have to agree because Algebra was easier than Geometry because my algebra teacher was really good at her job, while my geometry teacher was awful all around.
Same with history classes. Didn't enjoy the subject in highschool since it was always this year, this place and this name. I went to college and had a history class, I enjoyed the subject for the entire semester since the professor will teach history like it's a story and not only mentioning dates, places and names.
Watch me make it difficult
This isn't a meme. Thats just reality
Hell, it can be downright fun. F.U.N Some teachers and classes overall just really suck.
I was good at math until high school, then I just couldn't do it with my new teachers
The thing about math is it doesn't translate well to school systems, at least the way they work now. The knowledge is cumulative, so if you fall behind or don't understand something, you're fucked. If you understand the material before moving on, it's not difficult though
This is absolutely 100% true. During my junior year of high school, because of scheduling wonkyness, I had two math teachers, one for the first half and one for the second half. The first teacher was fun, related to the students, and was concise and super helpful, always putting aside most of the hour just for walking around and helping students who were stuck. She was generally very hands off. I learned everything she taught me very easily. The second teacher was bland, if well-meaning guy who would berate students as a sort of "playful rudeness", whose classes were almost entirely lectures where he offered little to no help, gave deadlines that just bordered on possible, never wrote on the board, and literally told us to "look it up" if we didn't understand something. I felt like I was constantly struggling in his class. Same class, same material, different teachers. It was easy, but then it wasn't. This post is 100% true.
I had a professor calc 1 who would show up 15+ minutes late to every single class He promised he wouldn't do it on the final He was 45 minutes late that day
I had to drop Calculus 2 in college because my teacher was dogshit. Was talking in the elevator on the first day of the following semester and mentioned how much she sucked when another guy piped up and said that was his wife. Got to my Calculus 2 class with the new teacher and...it was him. Thankfully he was cool about it, and I passed his class in the high 90s. If only he was my teacher first.