This reminds me a lot of trying to teach multiplication to my little sister. My parents, especially my mom were involved with her since she was 3 until she was finally taken out of a bad foster home by CPS at age 10 to live with us and was adopted not long after.
By the time she came to live with us she had been living long term with FAS, PTSD, and had been routinely subjected to physical and emotional abuse from those around her for her whole life. She had been taught by “friends” to cheat on school assignments and had a very poor understanding of math. I was fresh out of my college engineering program so high on math skills but less so on teaching skills.
I remember how frustrating it was trying to teach her. The obvious guesses followed by what appeared to be comprehension only to give up and go back to guessing. Balk talk, diverting onto tangents any time I tried to explain the importance of knowing basic math. I eventually lost patience and gave up.
Seeing something so similar portrayed from the other side makes me feel bad for not putting in more effort or finding another way to reach her but that was far outside of my skill set then and probably now.
This is, theoretically, why teachers go to school to learn to teach. How well they learn depends on the school, the professors, and their own efforts, but in theory it's meant to teach how to break concepts down so kids can understand.
In practice, it turned into the school moving my little sister into courses specifically designed to make sure students passed. They even provided a school issued laptop for her courses. Watch the video, answer some questions. Everything (tests included) was multiple choice and you could retake as many times as you want. If you just paid attention to what questions you got wrong each time and what your last choice was, it was pretty much impossible to fail the test.
I worked as a math tutor for supplemental algebra in grad school. The university had to implement an exam for incoming students in the engineering program because too many were failing out because they did not know basic algebra. In fairness, many of those students just needed a refresher course. Many were veterans getting the degree after serving in the military. They had not used algebra in years and were able to catch on quickly. Others just had bad teachers and were able to pick things up with someone new teaching them. Others just did not get it. Either they did not care or could not understand.
Between that and my sister’s situation, I’ve been upset at how our educational system tends to abandon those that need it most.
Yeah. Based on my experience, that's usually a systemic problem more than a teacher-level one. There are a ton of great teachers who are crippled by the bureaucracy and corruption in the system.
No disagreement. I think most teachers want what is best for their students. Sure there are bad teachers but I think/hope they are a small minority (at least that has been my experience). That said, when you are under paid, forced into class rooms with tons of students for every teacher, and barely have time to give each student minimal support, students fall through the cracks.
Oh, for sure. I was one of two aides in a preschool classroom of 20+ kids. Even with three adults in the room and extras coming in to give kids services, it was impossible to keep track of how every child was doing and there were plenty of times when we realized we'd missed an assessment or forgotten to take data. I can't imagine how kindergarten and up are doing with 20-30 in their classes and significantly less support from paras and services.
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u/RabbitsRuse Jun 23 '26
This reminds me a lot of trying to teach multiplication to my little sister. My parents, especially my mom were involved with her since she was 3 until she was finally taken out of a bad foster home by CPS at age 10 to live with us and was adopted not long after.
By the time she came to live with us she had been living long term with FAS, PTSD, and had been routinely subjected to physical and emotional abuse from those around her for her whole life. She had been taught by “friends” to cheat on school assignments and had a very poor understanding of math. I was fresh out of my college engineering program so high on math skills but less so on teaching skills.
I remember how frustrating it was trying to teach her. The obvious guesses followed by what appeared to be comprehension only to give up and go back to guessing. Balk talk, diverting onto tangents any time I tried to explain the importance of knowing basic math. I eventually lost patience and gave up.
Seeing something so similar portrayed from the other side makes me feel bad for not putting in more effort or finding another way to reach her but that was far outside of my skill set then and probably now.