I went into the position feeling that I could make a difference in the education of
the students. To make a long story short, I had nineth graders' parents
complaining that I was "going too fast -- my child will not pass the Regents
Exam" and I was "going too slow -- my child will not pass the Regents Exam."
These complaints were about the same class! I had a 35% failure rate because I
did not teach the exam! I was obviously a BAD teacher.
Four or five years later, I saw some of the same students in my developmental
classes! Every one of them said that they should have listened to me about
learning then material rather than memorizing to pass the Regents.
Today's world (as perceived by many) is made up of problems which can be
resolved in 30 minutes, if humorous, or 1-2 hours if serious. Nothing seems to
take time -- the time needed to develop ownership of the material (not only
mathematics).
Who's to blame?????? Everybody and nobody!
A too long response to a frustrating situation,
Bev
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beverly R. Broomell Voice: (516)451-4732
Professor FAX: (516)451-4887
Mathematics Department
Suffolk County Community College
533 College Road
Selden NY 11784
http://www.sunysuffolk.edu/~broomeb/
"Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test
first, the lesson afterwards." - Vernon Sanders Law
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