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February 9, 2009
Third Rehearsal
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Tonight, Jennifer had her third drama rehearsal for The Emperor's New Clothes, followed by her piano lesson down the hill. She did quite well at piano, as she'd practiced many times since her last lesson. Then home to do her math homework. I'm starting to feel somewhat like a parent.
The oddest thing for me is the math homework because I'm just so A.R. that it's unbelievable. I think that solving math problems for 10 years does that to a person. If you're going to be good at math, you're going to treat it like a religion. Like a series of canonic rituals. it's not like learning to paint or play the saxaphone. It's more like chanting before the wailing wall. You fall into a memorized set of didactic, ritualistic behaviors. This is the way of math.
You have to start with 10 blank sheets of typing paper. A sharpened pencil, or even better, a mechanical pencil. You have to show your work. Each problem has to have the number written down and circled so I can find your work. Zeros and '7's have to have slashes through them. Everything has to be written down. Nothing should be erased. Crossed out, possibly, but never erased.
Only then can I look at the work to evaluate if it is correct. Tonight, I was very close to throwing her homework in the trash and making her do it all over again because she somehow misplaced the paper that showed her work.
There is no partial credit. The answer is either right, or it is wrong. If the question says "how many apples are in the crate?", the answer is not "3". The answer is "3 apples". $5.00 - $3.00 does not equal 2. It equals "$2.00". I pray for Jennifer. Her math is actually coming along quite well, but I pray for her anyway.
It occurs to me tonight as I struggle to read her scribbled half-erased answers that I have become my father.
Posted by Rob Kiser on February 9, 2009 at 10:17 PM
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