COLLEGE Algebra to be specific.
Munchkin has always excelled in math. She loves it. She was even accelerated in the math program. A year early on everything. Algebra in 8th grade, Geometry as a Freshman, Algebra II as a Sophomore, and now College Algebra as a Junior. She was even going to get college credit for it. Notice I said "was."
She's having to drop the class. I hate this like I hate an ingrown toenail. This all started last year in Algebra II. I knew that she struggled initially with that class, but she ended up the year with a B minus, so I really thought she'd be ok. I don't admit to being wrong often, but I was wrong about this. It seems that the only reason that she did as well as she did last year, is because the tests were EXACTLY the same as the study guides for the tests. She was MEMORIZING it!
Now I don't think there was ever any intent to do anything wrong on her part. She really thought she was learning it. I'm not normally the type to blame my child's shortcomings on the teacher, BUT......
First, he took very few grades. So if you did get a bad one, it was very difficult to recover.
Second, the ones he did take were worth very few points. So if you missed one question, you got a low grade. (See item one.)
Third, (according to my child), he wasn't very helpful when asked questions. He was a former college professor and I feel he treated them like it was college. True, this is only one side of the story, and I do like to give people the benefit of the doubt. (But seriously, if he had been teaching college, what is he doing teaching high school in this Podunk town?)
However.....when she was struggling last year, I sent a very lengthy email to this teacher, expressing my concerns about the low number of grades he was taking, and asking what I could to do help ensure my child's success, and what suggestions did he have....(blah blah blah).
The answer I received from him? "More grades are on the way."
REALLY??? Livid doesn't even describe it. I called the school and talked to the counselor. Didn't get very far there either. I was told that they'd had several complaints about this teacher and they were looking into it (blah blah blah.....am I repeating myself?)
And Munchkin's grade DID start improving, so I sort of dropped it. My bad. I know she's at the age where she has to start taking responsibility for her own stuff, but I should've been more diligent.
So, needless to say she doesn't have the "prerequisite knowledge" to pass college algebra. YET. We have a tutor that is going to be working with her between now and her Senior year. She's going to give it another shot then. The tutor is actually the one who advised us it would be better if she dropped the class. After working with her a couple of times to try to get her grade up, she realized that the hole is just too deep for her to dig out of it. And the pressure would just be too much with all her other coursework.
Did I mention that she has LAST year's teacher again this year for another class? Pre-Cal/Trigonometry.
SO looking forward to the parent/teacher conference in a couple of weeks......
Happy Hump Day!
Melissa
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