<p>Great comments and advice here, and it is nice to not feel so alone. I will never agree with this stupid policy, but as others have mentioned it is unlikely to change…</p>
<p>And Blossom, no it’s not quite as simple as you state. I wish it was. DS is a sharp cookie, but he is young for his grade, has some noticeable issues in retaining math concepts, and needs a bit more time and exposure than your average student. As parents it is frustrating to see the potential just wither on the vine with each bad test/quiz. </p>
<p>Onward! Thx for the good advice, and website links. Lots to mull over.</p>
<p>So I emailed the teacher requesting that S be allowed to write down his missed problems, and got no reply. Will have to take it up the chain of command. Also asked tutor to spend 10-15 min each session on remediation of basic algebra type skills. Thanks to those who suggested that here, and via PM. </p>
<p>I’m not a fighter, but this may be a hill worth dying on. But in the meantime I am doing what I can to help my kid get through the year.</p>
<p>Weird. I just finished a discrete mathematics class that, according to the syllabus, supposedly has a similar policy on its midterms (which are all take-home): it says you get your score and the teacher recommends areas for brushing up and for further reading, but you may not see which problems you missed. Except that the teacher returned pages to us that showed which problems we missed and exactly why we missed them. This thread reminded me of that “rule”.</p>
Update: DS made it through 2nd semester pre calc and first semester Calc with…wait for it… An A! Now finishing up second semester Calc.
What changed? Well, he is now doing math at a private school, one on one, on our dime. Worth every penny to see him understand and do well! The sky is the limit, and we are so relieved to not be dealing with the public high school math dept policies any longer.
My daughters were in an econ class, one in the fall semester and one in the spring. The teacher was an idiot, and we had it out in the fall with DD#1. I specifically asked that DD#2 not have him, but he was the only teacher. The big project was a ‘Budget’ project where they students were assigned things to buy, and amount to save, etc and there were forms to fill out and they you had to support your purchases with ads or photos or receipts. It all had to be in a binder with clear plastic sheets.
At the beginning of the spring semester, the fall kids got to pick up their binders. I told DD#1 to get hers so her sister could use it. NOT the ‘guts’, just the binder. TFH (teacher from hell) wouldn’t let her take it because her sister was now in his class. The binders were sitting in the back of the classroom as ‘examples.’ I didn’t want the ‘guts’ (and we had most of that on the computer anyway), I wanted the actual binder and clear sheets!
He was lazy. All he had to do was change the numbers to change the project. They had an annual salary. They were given a few things to buy.