Is there some fucking unwritten LAW that all math teachers must be anal?

[WritingIsMyReligion]

Anal retentive, that is. :grr:

This year's math teacher makes us cover our books just so, have a certain number of pencils, sit at certain desks, do our homework just so, correct our homework with red colored pencil....

Yeaaaaaaargh!

I've had ONE (count her, ONE!) math teacher in all 11 years of schooling now who wasn't a crazy control freak. That's a horrible track record.

I hate math sometimes. I really, really hate math.

:mad::mad:

[pscot]

1. They see themselves as the gatekeepers

Their job is to make you hate math. It affirms their superiority.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

3. The black-and-white viewpoints of some of my teachers were vomit-inducing.

Sure, some English teachers and whatever can be control freaks, but the proportion of anal nuts seems to be much higher in the math/science departments.

[Jamastiene]

29. "anal nuts seems to be much higher in the math/science departments."

Yep. You got that right. I had a physics teacher who took off enough points to take a passing grade to a failing grade just because students did not solve math formulas the way HE wanted us to solve them. Never mind if we included all our work and got the right answer. He wanted it done his way only. I saw lots of students with all the correct answers (should have made 100) fail tests in his class. Many had to take the class 2 or 3 times just to pass it, because it took them that long to learn his long boring tedious way of doing math. I depised him then and I despise him now for it. I did not learn anything in his class, btw.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

2. My math teacher is cool. She's insane, but she's cool

Granted I usually pay more attention to the girl next to me than the teacher. . .

[WritingIsMyReligion]

4. ....

:spank:

:P

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

16. What? She's cute.

She lives across the street from a friend too, so I might have to ask her to help hook me up

[LadyoftheRabbits]

5. ...

:rofl:

Awesome post :thumbsup:

[dolo amber]

6. Yes.

Math is anal. :shrug:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

8. Unfortunately, that seems to be true.

:crazy:

[rug]

7. No, but there are several laws against it.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

9. I'm waiting to see them enforced.

I mean, wanting control of a classroom is good. But there are ways and then there are ways to control students. Being a fascist dictator isn't going to earn you any points from me.

:crazy:

[pitohui]

10. yeah precision matters

i like it myself

[WritingIsMyReligion]

11. But to the extent where you control what medium your students correct

papers with? Seriously!

[ghostsofgiants]

12. I had a math teacher who was a rapper and a beatmaker.

Seriously. He wasn't bad at it, either. He was young, but one of the best teachers I've had.

It's weird to have teachers you could probably be friends with outside of school though, haha.

[deadparrot]

13. Speaking as the daughter of a math teacher,

yes. :P

Just kidding. My dad's cool, I think, as far as teachers go. He might be a little blah in "teacher mode," but he's extremely laid-back.

But I still hate math. :D

[leftofthedial]

14. that is a common misperception

not all math teachers are anal.

some have crossed the line all the way to rectal.

[SOteric]

18. Or even

Cranio-rectal.

[Fuzz]

15. No, it's actually a written law.

It's just written in a formula most of us can't read!

[WritingIsMyReligion]

31. Blah-blah-blah divided by the constant of who-the-fuck-cares...

:evilgrin:

[Droopy]

17. Yes. Math requires precision after all.

So you don't need some oral retentive person like me up there in front of the class babbling on about his/her life when they are supposed to be teaching trig. Hell, this ain't no English class.

[SOteric]

19. I've actually given this some thought from a different perspective.

I suspect that control freaks and the deeply anally retentive are more easily attracted to maths and sciences.

Numbers and the laws of science behave in very logical, predictable, easily manipulated and controlled ways.

It takes a very different kind of person to be comfortable with the ebbs and flows, the complex illogical nature of the Arts and creative fields, as well as social, psychological and political sciences.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

20. I've only had one math teacher that I liked.

Several years after graduation, I got to see her drunk and jumping on a bed while telling a story. Meanwhile, I liked all my English teachers. I think it has to do with the way the brains work on math people.

[Rabrrrrrr]

21. They are the ones who speak God's language - they can do what they will

Mathematicians, next to physicists and electrical engineers, are humanity's highest evolved creation, and they are the ones (not theologians!!!!) who speak God's language.

[sweetheart]

22. He's teaching you how to work with a stupid boss

The education system is not there to teach you math, it is to teach you how to
conform to the standards of behavour you will need in future as an employee-slave.

There you will need to watch your boss assiduously and greasily give him/her blowjobs
of happy smiles and warm air in every interaction, to grease every single desire that
every body gives you and A+ for being a perfect whore.

And that is what education is for, to learn to be a whore for whatever frame is
put in front of you from iraq-war 101 to bioweaponsdesign 101, to leap to the forefront
to sharpen the teachers pencil and use red on all papers not dated properly!

If you dress nice and make your teacher want to have sex with you, then you might
get paid more or get a raise... work is just like that too, whatever it takes to
get noticed... and we are taught to whore ourselves for that A+, as the result
is all that matters... just grease his pole, and when you retire from greasing
your last pole, you'll realize you've been trained for it since birth, and they
can call it math or whatever.

(sorry if its a bit sailor crude, but, alas... ;-) )

[Jamastiene]

30. Beautiful.

I hate to say it, but high school is that way, college was that way, and life is that way as well. You are so right, unfortunately.

[Burma Jones]

23. yep

and you have to show your work..............

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. During the time that I was dating a mathematician, one of his colleagues

told me, "We're all either freaks or nerds."

In that department, it was certainly true, judging from the way people dressed.

[IChing]

25. I taught Math and I would say that most Math teachers

have an over emphasis of the left brain, but that is what makes them math teachers. I taught up to Calculus II in high school for 6 months alone.
I also team taught 9th grade Math as a special ed teacher for two years plus my own remedial Math.

Most individuals have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes. In general, schools tend to favor left-brain modes of thinking, while downplaying the right-brain ones.

My best Math teacher in college was a math teacher who taught teachers how to use left brain and right brain activities in math classes.

[Odin2005]

26. I hated my math teachers.

It's like they were more concerned about HOW you got your answer then if you got it right or not.

[wain]

27. Generally, yes

But, as a one degreed in math there is a special place in my heart for Dr. Arms of Gettysburg. God rest his soul. He was a brilliant man with a photographic memory, but caring and eminently fair. He was the eccentric professor, but loved and respected by all. When you were down he gave you a second chance. In Differential Equations I failed the final and had an F for the course. Dr. Arms allowed a makeup final. I aced it and got a B- for the course!
:)

[Jamastiene]

28. Hello fellow math anxiety sufferer.

:hi:

I usually get along with my math teachers, but I suck at math. I have had teachers as anal retentive as your current math teacher though. I hate that sort of crap too. You nailed it when you said those types are control freaks. Their classes usually turn out to be the classes that last the longest no matter how much actual time you are supposed to be in them. My suggestion: Wait until after class and let the teacher know you'd like to undertand their reasoning for all the extra steps (and material$) and you'd like to understand math better. Don't argue. Just hate them more after they tell you and grin and bear it. Don't watch the clock in the class. Trust me. That only prolongs the agony. You will be free of this person and their extra garbage as soon as you pass the class.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

32. I guess I'm actually pretty good at math, but it isn't because of a love

of it.

Most math drives me quite batty, especially if the teacher is really rigid.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

33. Actually most of the maths teachers I had were quite good

Unfortunately I was hopeless at maths so all their hard work was lost on me

[bloom]

34. I would concur

with the left-brain comment.

I think that it figures that Math would attract a certain type of person- more interested in logic and order, for instance, than other people.


(You could also look up symptoms/signs of people with Asperger's - you might find some connections there - OCD/perfectionism type of things, for instance).

[LongTomH]

35. Unfortunately, often true

My hometown math teachers in both elementary and highschool were the type who will haunt your nightmares decades later!:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

I'm surprised Stephen King didn't do a story about his old math teachers!

Saying that, it shouldn't be true! Mathematics should be fascinating and fun, and I'm glad some DUers in the lounge have had better math teachers. If we had teachers who could instill a love for math instead of anxiety, we would be in a better position to compete with China and India.