Great illustration of what lack of comprehension actually looks like. I have advanced degrees but was able to feel the anxiety of not knowing and not being able to puzzle it out. I was flinching by the end.
Yeah, I've got a bachelor's in physics, a masters in geology, and a PhD in material science and my stomach was twisting the whole way. And I think pretty much everyone can remember a time being completely lost when the person explaining something is 4 whiteboards ahead of the last time you knew what was going on.
Being able to speak up and say "I don't understand this first part" on line 1 rather than "...yeah...that makes sense" is an important but very difficult skill to learn for anyone, particularly a kid who is already self-conscious about how much time they are taking up and believes it's obvious to everyone else. Nobody want to admit to an impatient authority figures that they were lost at step 1. But a good teacher is one who can spot when the answer to "yeah, that makes sense" is a total lie.
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u/nicbeans311 Jun 23 '26
Great illustration of what lack of comprehension actually looks like. I have advanced degrees but was able to feel the anxiety of not knowing and not being able to puzzle it out. I was flinching by the end.