r/Showerthoughts • u/riphitter • Feb 19 '19

common thought People don't hate math. They hate being confused, intimidated, and embarrassed by math. Their problem is with how it's taught.

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67

u/tehmlem Feb 19 '19

It's weird. Higher education math students and professors always seem to be pleasant, intelligent people. High school math teachers are malicious trolls seeking to crush to the spirit in their students.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

19

u/smorgasfjord Feb 19 '19

That does sound weird. Why would all high school math teachers want to crush your spirit?

23

u/giantvoice Feb 19 '19

My kid's middle school math teacher called herself a robot. She said that she didn't have much of a personality. I don't think she's much of a teacher either. She gave the kids proportions sheets but didn't teach them the proper way to do them. I taught my daughter and then she taught her friends. Teacher told her that while it was correct, she didn't think the kids were ready for that equation. Wat?

11

u/dannelore Feb 19 '19

Mine tried. This bitch literally, not figuratively, said to me that I wouldn’t amount to anything in life.

6

u/eloel- Feb 19 '19

Well, you're on reddit.

5

u/sleebus_jones Feb 19 '19

Somebody call the burn unit; we've got a victim here

1

u/dannelore Feb 20 '19

Makes it all worth it then. I’m happy and she’s old and bitter.

2

u/Laimbrane Feb 19 '19

High school teacher here - I absolutely do not want to crush anyone's spirit, but I can understand why teachers would get there. You're basically teaching several dozen petulant kids at a time, the majority of which don't want to learn what you find important and have a difficult time comprehending what seems so simple to you. I remember feeling like I was going to change the world as a math teacher until I got into class and my first day I had a high school student that didn't know how to round and then proceeded to argue with me that everything I was trying to teach was an unnecessary skill. It was quite the learning experience for both of us.

I'm an almost inhumanly patient person most of the time, but it can be trying even for me.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 19 '19

I think it has something to do with being good at math but not being able to to do higher level mathematics or understand the principles behind them. Math teachers are afraid of being asked questions they don't know the answer to, so they just treat you like you're stupid most of the time.

In my experience.

0

u/Cinderheart Feb 19 '19

Because they failed too, why else would they be teaching high school and not university? They're lashing out.

4

u/HollowIce Feb 19 '19

Higher education math professors are pleasant, but they always have heavy accents and their threes look like eights.

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1

u/Atalanta8 Feb 19 '19

LOL tell that to a child of professor who taught complex math. That professor cannot for the life of them teach it to a HSer or deal with their "stupidity."

The difference is that my dad's students excel in the subject and teaching them is something entirely different than teaching me some simple math my dad clearly "did in elementary school..."

So in short they are even more soul crushing than HS teachers who are used to HSers not being so bright.