28/08/2020
Have you, as a parent ever sat in the presence of a teacher and utter these words, “I was never good at maths, I guess that is why my dear Johnny cannot get this stuff in his head either.”
Have you then noticed the teacher go some shade of red in the face? Have you noticed too, that slight tightening of the jaw? Then a prolonged pause following, before the teacher answers…
You know what? That is exactly correct! But not for the reasons you believe it to be. Dear Johnny WILL NEVER get THAT STUFF in his head. NEVER AS LONG AS YOU TELL HIM HE WON’T!
No! Teachers are by nature kind, discreet, loving creatures who can’t help but teach. Remember that pause? That is the process of the virtues of patience and discretion, and most probably past experiences of the consequences of youthful zeal, formulating an appropriate and kind answer. After all, grabbing a parent in a Hollywood action movie choke-hold rendering them unconscious, then tying them to a chair prepared for thorough re-schooling, is still an offense in most countries in the world.
Sometimes that is what they really want to do! Teach that parent a lesson!
I was never good at maths, I guess that is why my dear Johnny cannot get this stuff in his head either = I couldn’t, therefore you can’t!
Agreed, not everybody is equally endowed to master all the maths concepts, however, maths teachers often struggle with the I-couldn’t-therefore-you-can’t problem more than any other problem. Many parents continuously condition their children at home that they, the child, is unable to master maths because the parent had poor results in maths or had to struggle through maths problems.
There are real reasons behind your child’s inability to master basic maths:
Many students struggle with math at some point. But what exactly makes math so hard to learn? Find out why so many students struggle to succeed in math class.
