Hablas español?

When I was in Grade 13, back when there was a Grade 13, calculus was one of the classes on my timetable.

Even WAY back then, I questioned when we would EVER use the stuff that we were learning in that god awful class!

I am now, not only a teacher but a MATH teacher and, 34 years later, I have yet to apply any calculus to either my personal or professional life!

Maybe it is because I did not complete all of the semester.

Not that I am usually a quitter but let me tell you why I did not, no – COULD not, make it to the final exam.

I would say that I am more of a languages person than a math or science person and I am pretty sure that anyone who ever spent time beside me in Math or Science classes would wholeheartedly agree.

When I think back to this situation now, I wonder why I even signed up for a Grade 13 calculus class. But I did. I was a hard working student and always tried to do my best so I struggled through the class until the mid term. I asked a Math Geek friend of mine to help me study for the midterm.

We spent 8 hours on the weekend leading up to the exam reviewing our notes, going over formulas and making practice questions and problems for each other.

The night before the exam, I went to bed knowing that I had done everything I could to prepare and was fairly confident that I was going to be successful on the exam.

It was a 90 minute exam and I used my time wisely to go through all of the steps in each problem and to go back and check my work, just like we were taught.

I actually felt pretty good about it as I left the exam room.

A few days later, our Math teacher had graded all of the exams and was ready to hand them back.

As a teacher (now), I think back to this situation and absolutely cringe. First of all, obviously you really can scar an adolescent because I am pretty sure I have forgotten more than I remember about my years in high school but this is a VIVID memory – even decades later. Secondly, if I said what I am about to tell you to a student today, I would lose my job!

The teacher stood up at the front of the room (I can still picture him), with the stack of exam papers in his hands and said:

I have your exams. They are all marked. I am going to hand them back in order from the lowest mark to the highest. Eight people failed and the lowest mark was 8%.

Well, I thought to myself, as long as I am the ninth or later, I am good.

He slowly pulled the top paper off of the pile, looked at me and said, “Pam – here is your exam.”

WHAAAAAAAT?!!!!

I was the dumbest one the class? But I had studied for 8 hours! Obviously I am no mathematician but that means that I earned 1 freaking percent for every HOUR I studied!

Without missing a beat, I told him that I didn’t need it, he could keep it and walked out.

All the way to the Guidance Office.

Where I was able to join, and later PASS, une clase de español already in progress!

Lesson learned? You can, in fact, get by without calculus!