# Math teacher...just when we were starting to get along. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 19, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919 "2001-01-19T21:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/1 "2001-01-19T21:31:08Z")
Grrrr…I started in January with you not knowing what to expect, since we’d had a few minor problems last year. But I listen. I answer every question you asked. I do all of my homework. I’ve made A’s on every single test. Then why the HELL did I get a lecture today for getting a right answer? No, I didn’t do it the way you wanted us to do it, but my way worked. No, my way wouldn’t work every time, but that was no reason to spend a few minutes yelling at me in front of the entire class never to do that again. You KNOW that I have trouble grasping math. Why the hell do you alienate me even further every time I make an honest attempt to learn? Look, maybe you’re incapable of human emotion. But your students AREN’T. I know your first job is to teach. But with teaching comes learning. How am I ever going to learn if you just tell me I can’t? You didn’t even show us how to do the problem; we had to figure out how to do it. Grrr. And of course, at least two or three people SLEEP through your class every day, and you didn’t say anything to them until today, and you didn’t yell at them for several minutes. You just told them to wake up. I AM THE ONE THAT IS FUCKING TRYING TO UNDERSTAND!!! I am not asleep, I am not daydreaming…grrrrr. I absolutely hate math class. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/2 "2001-01-19T23:51:07Z")
> [@](#): > > No, I didn’t do it the way you wanted us to do it, but my way worked. No, my way wouldn’t work every time, What is “your way” and “his way”? If your way will not always wprk and he sees you as being arrogant in your refusal to accept “his way”. This could also come back to bite you in the ass in later math classes. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/3 "2001-01-20T01:01:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by threemae \* > What is “your way” and “his way”? If your way will not always wprk and he sees you as being arrogant in your refusal to accept “his way”. This could also come back to bite you in the ass in later math classes. I think **Nocturne** ’s point was that the math teacher, instead of teaching the correct way to do it, just bitched at Nocturne for doing it the “wrong way.” It certainly sounds like Nocturne is making an honest effort in class, much more than I ever did. I applaud you, **Nocturne** , and as for your math teacher, I fart in his general direction. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/4 "2001-01-20T01:57:14Z")
My math teacher is a she. This was the scenario. She gave us a problem to work without explaining how to do it first. I did it. She asked me for the answer. I told her. She then asked me how I did it. I told her. She then YELLED at me for doing it the way I did. I knew it wouldn’t work every time, but it was the only way I could do it. I even knew WHY it wouldn’t work every time, but what was I supposed to do? The worst part was that most of the class was laughing at me. The next worst part is that I did something I haven’t done in a long time. I cried. In class. I think I would like math if my teacher wouldn’t make me feel like an idiot. I’ve never had a problem with any teacher until now. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/5 "2001-01-20T02:06:06Z")
Any teacher who behaves in a manner that abominably should have their ass fired and their credentials/license yanked. I’m sorry about that, Nocturne. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/6 "2001-01-20T02:32:25Z")
Nocturne, I’m sorry. That’s really mean of the teacher…i hate those people who try to belittle their students. Mine is somewhat of a bitch too. Doesn’t yell at us but…math, me…not on the greatest of terms. I haven’t had too many great rapports with my mathmatical teachers. They all leave me cold. My sympathies lie with you. ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/7 "2001-01-20T09:57:59Z")
I had a math professor last semester who was a nightmare to try to learn anything from him. He had a thick Hungarian accent and horrible hearing. We had to scream any questions we had for him, and every question we asked, he scolded us and told us that we were suppose to already know that. :mad: He hardly ever gave any example questions on the board to help us out, just proof after proof after proof. On top of that, he looked (and sweated) exactly like Fat Bastard from _Austin Powers : The Spy who Shagged Me_ **Nocturne** If you don’t mind me asking, what was the math problem? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/8 "2001-01-20T17:30:15Z")
God, I hate that. I’m always the guy with my hand up - which means, goddammit, that I am _paying attention_ - and I’ve been bitched at for it. The other day, my Italian teacher was talking about methods of transportation. She had already put up _in metro, in macchina, in trena, in traggetto, in gondola, in vaporetto, in autobus, in bicicletta_. So when she asked me for another one, I said, “Horseback.” She got this pissed-off look on her face and said, “I can tell we’re going to have a _very_ interesting semester, Mr. McLauchlin.” Teachers tend to think that I’m either the best student they’ve ever had, or a scourge from God to punish them for their sins, or both. One time a polisci prof told me that I have to let other people speak. I said, “I asked three questions in that class, which was an hour and a half long. If other people are not speaking in class, it has nothing to do with me.” Slap my face and call me Zsa Zsa, but I thought we were in school to learn, which you cannot do just by sitting there and getting taught. ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/9 "2001-01-20T20:26:26Z")
I had a math teacher tell me I couldn’t do math because I wrote poetry. (I _love_ the right brain-left brain theory…actually, no, I don’t, I think its crap.) I still want to hunt her down and make her eat the A’s I’ve gotten since. On your teacher, if you’re in high school or lower, call in your parents, have a meeting where you, them, her and the principal discuss appropriate teaching methods. Make her cry. If you’re in college have a meeting with her. Keep your cool and give her all the points you’ve presented here. You are not the best at math, but you are trying. How can she defend her actions as a teacher? If she wants you to learn, she needs to teach, not blow up over things you don’t understand. Your “failure” is her fault if you are a willing student. (This is why I will never be a teacher. Students who don’t try piss me off and I’d kill them. I can do anything with students who care, but the majority don’t. She should be licking your feet that you give a shit.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/10 "2001-01-20T20:48:28Z")
I suck at Math, and remember having a teacher turn the whole class against me because I couldn’t finish my work quickly enough. She was going to give us all a free period. She said, “Well, Kathi, your class is getting angry with you, why can’t you do it?” Fuck you, Miss Panian. Fuck off. Dammit, I was getting totally shit on that year enough-spending most of my time in the office crying instead of in class. Thanks a fucking lot. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2001, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/11 "2001-01-20T22:49:19Z")
Louie, the math problem had something to do with reference angles, so I drew a coordinate plane and made a big drawing and figured it out from that. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/12 "2001-01-21T05:49:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > **The other day, my Italian teacher was talking about methods of transportation. She had already put up _in metro, in macchina, in trena, in traggetto, in gondola, in vaporetto, in autobus, in bicicletta_. So when she asked me for another one, I said, “Horseback.” She got this pissed-off look on her face and said, "I can tell we’re going to have a _very_ interesting semester, Mr. McLauchlin."** I don’t get it. Was she angry that you didn’t say it in Italian, or is your teacher unaware of the fact that human beings use horses as a means of transportation? I would be a little concerned either way. The only stupid question is the one that goes unasked. Any teacher who doesn’t know that isn’t qualified to hold ANY job, much less teaching. ---
**Author:** ![Gambit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gambit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gambit)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/13 "2001-01-21T08:06:26Z")
In some ways, I understand your professor’s point of view. There is a right way to do things, a way to do them so that they get done, and a way to do them wrong. He was probably interested in getting you to do it the “right” way. My opinion, however, is that if you aren’t a math major, the guy is a damned idiot for forcing the issue. The work was done, the answer was right–you should have told him to get over it. Damned morons… I had a professor like that my first semester in school, and another one in the semester that passed. I challenged both to explain to me why non-math majors needed to learn anything that they were teaching. Perhaps the best thing about the discussion was seeing how they all had to rally around each other to defend their points. One of them actually called the Dean of the department in to respond–and she did a really shitty job of it, too. Again, as I said before, they’re all a bunch of damned morons. Not for what they teach, but for believing that it matters to those that have NO use for it. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/14 "2001-01-21T10:23:31Z")
Math, Math teachers are really the only ones I usually don’t get along with. Because they ask me to show my work and I really hate that. They know I am not cheating too, because I am the first one done in the class. Currently though I have a math teacher who designed vocab tests from hell. A english major would struggle on them.🙂 I know as I know all the definitions of the words and I get a 26. (its similar to having to recite all of the words from memory then having to define them, only harder) I get along great with any teacher that doesen’t give homework though.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/15 "2001-01-21T14:53:35Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Nocturne_ > She gave us a problem to work without explaining how to do it first. I did it. How the _hell_ did your teacher expect you to know what the right way was? It’s one thing if the teacher teaches you to do the work a certain way and you knowingly use a different method, but this is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/16 "2001-01-21T18:50:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > > \*\* So when she asked me for another one, I said, “Horseback.” She got this pissed-off look on her face and said, “I can tell we’re going to have a very interesting semester, Mr. McLauchlin.”_\* > > I don’t get it. Was she angry that you didn’t say it in Italian, or is your teacher unaware of the fact that human beings use horses as a means of transportation? I would be a little concerned either way.\*\* She thought I was being funny. I wasn’t. (I mean, she covered subways, buses, cars, bicycles, ships, yachts, ferries, and gondola. What was left that I could say? Zambonis? The Oscar Meyer Wiener Van?) ---
**Author:** ![Medea\_s\_Child](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Medea\_s\_Child](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Medea_s_Child)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2001, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/17 "2001-01-21T20:09:33Z")
Unicycles. Foot. Fairy dust and happy thoughts. C’mon, I would have been pissed too. Horses? Pffft! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/18 "2001-01-22T01:03:19Z")
Hehehe…should’ve said Taun Tauns! (Star Wars fans…hint hint) I had the nicest math teachers, too, though, who understood that I had problems (I’m ADHD and learning disabled when it comes to math). The ones who worked with me and were patient were WONDERFUL. Funny, everyone hated word problems-they were probably the easiest for me. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/19 "2001-01-22T07:59:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by IJGrieve \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Nocturne_ > > She gave us a problem to work without explaining how to do it first. I did it. > > How the _hell_ did your teacher expect you to know what the right way was? It’s one thing if the teacher teaches you to do the work a certain way and you knowingly use a different method, but this is stupid. > \*\* Maybe it was something that could have been solved using a method they had already been taught, like the quadratic formula. Part of being good at math is being able to tell on your own when to use what formula. I used to get in trouble for solving things ‘the hard way’ all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919/20 "2001-01-22T22:11:23Z")
No, this was an entirely different concept from what we’d been doing before. All we had done before was quadrantals and the unit circle. All of a sudden, we have to do a reference angle. The killing point of this was that she did NOT tell us what way she wanted us to do it, and I GOT the right answer and knew WHY it wouldn’t work every time, but SHE, instead of teaching me HER way, proceeded to yell at me. And then, today, she gave us a 10 question quiz. All well and good, right? Wrong. My friend Julie had to go to a scholarship audition Friday (meaning if she doesn’t get the scholarship, she doesn’t go to college). Our math teacher refused to teach what we had done Friday to her and made her take the quiz. The only problems Julie could do were the first four; that was all she had covered in her notes. Julie has probably failed this quiz. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/math-teacher-just-when-we-were-starting-to-get-along/50919.md?page=2)