re: #327 Varek Raith

re: #328 Rightwingconspirator

The worst and most painful class I ever taught was physics for elementary ed majors.

To be fair, there were a couple of really good kids there that would make excellent teachers and who were really stellar people.

The rest were dumb as bricks.

Before you jump on me for being harsh, please let me explain just how stupid, stupid can be, and then lament, gnash your teeth and wail, that most of those kids are going to go on to teach.

There was no mathematical requirement for the class. The goal was to tell them stories enough that they didn’t completely lie to their kiddies when they were teachers themselves.

However, there was homework. In one, they had to find the area of a 3 by 5 rectangle.

They whined piteously that there was not supposed to be any math in the class. They said they would not have to know this, because they weren’t going to be scientists, they were going to be teachers. I explained to them that they would have to teach this in 3rd grade to the average kids and first grade to the bright ones.

So I explained multiplication patiently. I drew five rows of three dots in columns. I explained that 5X3 was literally taking the number 3 five times and adding it all up.

I had them count the dots.

I expanded the idea into squares and motivated the notion of area.

They were looking at me like lobsters were coming out of my ears.

I asked what was wrong.

One of the brave ones asked “Shouldn’t it be 3X5 instead of 5X3?”

Indeed the problem listed the 3 first.

I asked if they thought it would make a difference. Almost all raised their little hands. The fact that it was on the board in geometric form for why it would not escaped them.

So I asked well what is 3X5. They took out their calculators and got 15. I asked so what is 5X3? Again with the calculators, never mind that the answer was there, and why it was the answer was on the board. Of course it was also 15.

One asked, “will that always happen?”

After you get done lamenting that these are future teachers, we can lament that these people vote too.