I have several students trying to accelerate through full year classes over the summer so that they can skip to the next level. One in Algebra II, and two in Geometry. One of my geometry students said today, “Does it get any harder than this?”
Not really.
The only thing that’s hard about Geometry is the AMOUNT you have to know — the theorems you have to be able to just rattle off.
But this kid is FLYing. It’s fun to teach someone who is so quick with it. We have to get through 12 chapters, and I’ve only worked with him 2 weeks now and we’re almost done with chapter 4. And he GETS it. Woohoooo!
2 Responses
Oh, I just LOVED geometry.
So I’d like your professional opinion on this, since you are a teacher and all. I’ve read a couple of interesting articles recently on parents hiring tutors for their children so they can get ahead, not to help them keep up with the rest of the class. Do you see a lot of this as a tutor? Do you think this is a good thing? I loved school and would have preferred to go year-round, so I often took summer classes (but it was my idea, not my parents). But I’ve met parents who just push their kids to take classes in the summer so they’re futher ahead of their classmates when school starts back up in the fall…What do you think of this trend?
I see it a lot. Not so much so that kids are ahead of their classmates, but so that they have an easier time in the class when school starts again. Personally? I think it’s not such a great idea. If your kid is going to have that tough a time, maybe they shouldn’t BE in that class, you know? Maybe they should be in a lower level. But that’s just me.
I like tutoring for people who are using me as a supplement, not as the teacher-so-they-can-goof-off-in-class. I see THAT a lot, too. I almost fired a student this year because of it.
When I have kids like the three I mentioned in today’s post, I challenge them a LOT — asking them WHY they want to do this, WHY they think it’s a good thing to skip a class in math in high school (because I firmly believe that it is NOT a good thing to skip any math classes — my solid foundation in algebra is primarily because I had SO MUCH of it), etc. I don’t want to work with kids at this accelerated speed unless they are truly committed to the work. If they’re not going to do the work, I’m not going to expend the effort either, you know?
If it’s the kid’s idea to do summer work, that’s one thing. But when it’s the parent’s idea? Not such a good thing. I don’t think the parents have the kids’ interests at heart, in many cases, and they’re trying to open their child up to opportunities they may have missed because they didn’t try hard enough when they were in school. Living vicariously to the extreme.
Anyway. I don’t know if I answered you. I see it, I don’t like it, and I argue with people about their motivations when they want to approach it that way. I have several students that are in Football so they want to work hard on their math stuff NOW so that they can coast in the fall during football season. That I can understand, I guess. But doing math over the summer just so you can beat your classmates in the rat race? What does that teach a kid, other than throwing money at a problem might solve it? Doesn’t make sense to me. Then again, my mother never would have paid for tutoring anyway.