Am I Being Mistreated??!!

That's the first thing I thought, too. No TV, but internet is OK. Maybe Rob should ban him until his grades go up!

 

Your mom is being to easy on you. Having a D+ in Algebra is unacceptable, especially in todays school enviroment. So much more competitive and difficult to get into a decent college. 3.1 GPA is not going to cut it. If I was your mom I would have you stop watching Speed channel and take away your internet access until your grade is at least a B+. Listen to your mom, she knows whats best for you.

 

What about on the weekend can you watch then?

 

Stop whining and crack a book.

 

Internet "V chip" time?

(For the mom: http://internet-filter-review.toptenreviews.com/ -- Internet parental control reviews.)

 

I originally included that section in my post but edited it out for being irrelevant.

If you need to be able to relate the subject to real life in order to understand it, then you have even bigger problems to worry about. How are you going to relate differential equations or spherical geometry or non-parametric models to real life? If you are unable to conceptualize and think abstractly, then enjoy your future career in sanitation engineering. There are very few professions that I can think of that do not call on these abilities.

And needing to wait until the right person teaches you? What the hell is that supposed to mean. Do you accept no responsibility for your own education? Does the teacher actually have to hold your hand throughout the semester? Are you incapable of reading a book or doing a homework problem on your own? Either you want to learn or you don't, it is that simple. The notion that you need a teacher to inspire you otherwise you can't learn is nonsense. it is an excuse for laziness.

Grow up, stop whining, and get to work. That is the only route to success in life.

 

2 for 2, Senna. Your absolutely right, putting the blame on "just not getting it" is not good enough, you gotta step up your game and study and learn it. If you cant do it ask someone for help. Just remember the best teacher in the world is yourself.

 

I think we both want this guy to do well and agree there is no substitute for hard work, there never is.

However, I’m not saying he needs to relate a subject to real life to actually understand it, I’m saying that relating it to real life/other subjects etc. can often speed up his learning of a subject and improve his overall understanding of the concepts involved in the subject and how they interrelate. It’s basic math this chap is dealing with not complex subjects like differential equations (not that I know anything about those) so if he can find a way to relate it to the ‘real world’, if you will, its an advantage for him. For example, I understood probability enough to do well at school, but only when I started playing poker a lot did I truly understand what was going on and ‘get’ probability and game theory. Sure, there are subjects which require abstract thinking, and that’s a skill he’s going to have to develop too.

Secondly, at no point did I say he needed to wait for the right person to teach him, I said sometimes certain teachers have methods which help you understand a concept easier than others. Long term he should be the right person to teach himself. Ultimately he must develop the skills to teach himself if he is to be successful. However assuming he is around 13 to 16 (I don’t know the American schooling system) he might only just be developing these skills and, if possible, I feel he should seek out help on the subject from tutors who can explain the subject well and help him help himself. This may sound crazy to others, but some kids just don’t know how to use their minds to their full potential, and many schools here in the uk, as an example, don’t even teach the kids basic skills for self development.

I’m also going to clarify my interpretation of ‘getting’ a subject. In my experience it’s possible to be academically smart, see what the books are saying and interpret the numbers/arguments of a subject, repeat what a tutor says or what the popular arguments on the subject are and do very well academically. But it’s only later in life, after education, when you have to use those taught concepts day in day out that some people truly understand the subject. Some people, based on their life experiences, ‘get’ certain subjects before other do.

 

Calculus finally ended my college education after four attempts....the GPA never recovered...lesson learned: succeed early, or bail out in time with an "incomplete"!!!! LOL!


So I had to earn all my cars digging ditches........that takes a lot longer!

It was embarressing as my mom taught High School math as well as coming from a family of engineers....at least I cut the ditches in a straight line........

 

This isn't a comprehensive statistical base, but FWIW:

There were 400+ students in our freshman (engineering) class in (private) college (plus another 80-some xfers as sophs after community college). We graduated 53.

But: five of us decided to get out of the noisy dorm and "de-stress" before taking the Calc-II final, so we headed over to the local pub (at 8 am). Of the five of us who took the Calc-II final roaring drunk, the four that passed it all graduated.

So: math is pretty fundamental.

 

Yea, but you should never replace real numbers with members of the alphabet....that's just wrong....

PLUS the guy would use all three walls blackboards and I could never write it down fast enough.......

Later on though as mentioned above i understood it's application in structural analysis and had an 'aha' moment!

No excuses! But I blame it on strippers, Lake Travis, Antone's Club and this skinny kid named Stevie Ray Vaghaun......LOL!

 

Typically I don't agree with too much you say over in the Racing section, but here I don't believe you have said anything that is not 100% true. As someone who is still a student, I can honestly say the student is responsible for what they learn, not the teacher.

Right teacher, umm yeah that's not going to happen. I am in grad school and have never had a math teacher I would have regarded as the "right" teacher. You have to man up and teach yourself the subject. That's how you succeed in life. I feel bad saying this because I dont want to insult you, but a D+ in high school should be failing. As stated previously by someone else, a C in high school is a bad grade.

No offense, honestly I really don't mean to be insulting, but high school these days is a joke. I went to a college prep school and don't feel I was prepared for college at all. It takes self motivation and hard work to succeed; you cannot rely on someone else to guide you through school.

Mark

 

With regard to teachers I guess I was fortunate. Throughout school all the teachers did was repeat the textbooks. We were only 14 so didn’t really know how to study other than re-read the same thing over and over until it stuck, which it did for exam day, just, then we promptly forgot everything.

Only when I went to college (not the same as US I think) at 16 did we have a tutor who actually explained to us the current theories as to how the brain worked, things like memory through association, alpha and beta waves etc. and encouraged us to try different techniques for ourselves. Yes we worked very hard, but also smart too, which is easily as important. I ended up cutting out graphs etc. and putting them in Autosport magazine etc. So while I was resting from other study and looking through the mag I’d slowly be absorbing more info. A testament to how good a method it was is that 6 years on from the last exam I did I can still recall graphs and mind maps pretty much exactly, oh and the race reports .

It’s been a while since I used them now, but I’ve been recommended this book a lecturer friend as a good source of info:

Your Memory: How It Works and How to Improve It, by Kenneth L. Higbee

 

Remember when we phoned last time? You told me: "Get that math grade up!" And I'm telling you the same: "Sit down and learn." I know it sounds hard, but it's the only way it works. When I had a F in latin several years ago, my dad forced me to do at least 1 hour translating per day. Even over christmas. Those holidays were the worst I've ever had, because I had very little time to hang out with friends. But in my next test I had an "A". So you see, it's just a matter of what you're doing for it. Of course, math's not like latin, because in maths the focus is more on understanding. But if you get yourself someone who really supports you and discusses with you about these problems, it will definitly help. I'm not very good in maths either (last two tests were Ds as well), but I'm going to a teacher on a regular basis until I get the point.
Maybe your mum's rules are strict, but in fact they really make you think of the problem, right?

So all in all it's just a matter of ambition!
And I know you'll manage that! ;-)

P.S. I want you to have at least a "C" as an improvement in your next test.

P.P.S. You could answer my PM ;-)

 

Great that you got the point of all these advices. It really is a good idea to get a new teacher because often it depends on teacher wether you're getting all that stuff or not. I wish you good luck...And now I'll watch F1

 

As a current college student, let me tell you, keep your grades up! Since I was a young, young kid, I KNEW what I was going to do with my life. I was going to join the Navy and go for the SEAL teams because it was always what I wanted to do. But then I met my girlfriend my Junior year and that all changed and suddenly, grades mattered! It may not seem like Algebra isn't that important now, but trust me, get the basics down in math. I absolutely HATE math, but it's necessary! Math made my life as a Freshman absolute hell because I'm horrible at it. It may stink now, but get your grades up and you'll thank yourself later. You've got plenty of time for the Speed Channel later. Good luck.

 

Give the kid a break! My whole life was scholling and I wound up as a teacher with 3PhDs. I still have some regrets about not having "lived" and spending the vast majority of life in a closed academic community. Some people are simply not cut out for school, yet they become great in various artistic fields. Before people go knocking someone and giving advice learn a LOT more about them than 1 post on an internet BB!!!!

 

Good to hear you're gonna take the advice, cause it's all good. If you can't get past high school freshman algebra you're going to be in trouble the next three years.

 

Remeber you are the kid, not the parent.
When you are the parent you can make the rules for your children.

that's the way it is.

Watching F1 won't make you a dime. I used algebra in my job every day. You need it to succeed IMO.

My advice, spend your time studying algebra. get a tutor. and get on with your life.

Good luck to you.

 

Life is a competition from day 1 kid.

Are you going to let yourself get beat by algebra?
Its not the math that counts, its the ability to master difficult subjects and tasks that will set the pattern for your future.

Mediocre people live mediocre lives and dont drive ferraris.

The choice is yours. Dont blame your parents.

Cheers
Eric

 

Like pretty much everyone else has already stated its ur future...

Math is a horrible horrible subject and its only gonna get worse... just wait until 2nd or third year college calc... And remember that classes build off one and other, so a D in algebra isn't gonna help when u need it to learn future complicated concepts. Like i said math is a horrible subject and while i get pissed on a regular basis as it will have little to nothing to do with my major you just have to struggle through it.

like some one mentioned, good for you that ur not boozin and snortin the nose candy, however u can't put that on ur application when u apply to college. A good gpa and SAT/act are crucial in college acceptance and becomes more important every year. A crackhead with a higher gpa and act/sat WILL infact get into a college over u unless they are doing personal interviews where character judgement plays a role.

U have to pay to play, if u want to succeed u gotta put in effort. Mabye a D is all u can muster but the second that u say i could do better and fail to make changes in order to correct yourself is when you give up and position yourself to fail. Take advantage of your resources, your takin algebra, classes will get alot harder...

ur future depends on how u apply yourself and adapt to different situations Not everything is going to be easy, your going to hate things...

Keep doing what ur doing, stay clean from drugs and violence, apply yourself to the best of ur ability and realize that in the end everything tends to oddly enough work out if u did everything u could to make it possible

 

Mark:

Thanks very much! I am glad to see you got my point.

Disagreeing over racing simply makes for stimulating debate, but education os a far more serious topic. I don't disagree that a great teacher can inspire a student to want to learn more, I have had my share of teachers and professors like that, but blaming a poor teacher for your own performance is to fool yourself. Failing to do your utmost in your studies is only cheating yourself, blaming others for your inadequacies as a student achieves nothing but self-delusion. There is no substitute for hard work.

 

I suggest you start having sex. Then you won't care if you're not allowed to watch SPEED...

 

What will happen to his algebra grade though?