Comments on: What if I Fail 9th Grade Math? (Part 5)

By: Shaheen

Shaheen — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:56:12 +0000

Wow, seriously wow. Not trying to inflate your ego or anything but seriously I’m being honest: you are one of the very few teachers whom i have had the chance to read/learn from that makes me feel able,smart,and willing to learn. I am doing what you wrote to Trevor and going through my weak points, narrowing them down, and figuring what i do know and work my way up. I feel like if I actually put some effort into my education instead of relying on my school to give me a short lived energy boost from the “A” on my algebra paper. that I’ll be confident in my life.Don’t get me wrong i try my hardest, and do understand what I’m learning but when the books are down and I’m using my skills from the books in everyday life, I fall flat because I felt like they didn’t/don’t apply to real life situations. I’m sure with the hard work,effort,and improvement I’ll make in my weak spots I will have a new found confidence ,To BE confident in my life when i don’t have the school books.
thank you Mr.Brian

By: teri

teri — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:15:10 +0000

same over this summer i should be going to 8th grdae but i failed one subject it was math so i went to summer school and stil i dint do gud. wil i be held back?? and will it count if im enrolled into a toutoring placee

Professor Homunculus sez:

Ladypigley,

May I suggest that part of the problem may be lack of attention to detail? (Pardon me if it’s dyslexia or something, but your spelling needs some work – even if it is due to a disorder, it’s best to check with a spell-checker.)

I’m not saying that to be mean. I think it would be mean not to point it out.

As to if you’ll be held back, that depends on your school, and the mood of whoever is responsible of making the decision. I’m sure tutoring should count, though, if you put some real effort into it, and if your tutor understands how to teach to your style.

The best thing I can say is if you do your part, and they don’t promote you to 9th grade, don’t worry about it too much. If you really learn to put in effort and change your learning habits (and maybe take some advice in the article above) you’ll be doing more to secure a good future for yourself than simply “making 9th grade” would ever do for you.

Either way, I wish you all the best,

Professor Homunculus

By: James

James — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:52:37 +0000

What if you hired a personal tutor who can help you pass the 9th grade with flying colors?

Professor Homunculus sez:

Sure, that could work. Sometimes. Maybe. If the tutor is good, and if the family wants to spend the money. OK, sometimes it truly is a good solution.

But that would just be a band-aid. I’m sure there are good, dedicated tutors, but the thrust is still the grades, and not the inspiration. Most tutoring is a huge waste of time, although there are exceptions. At best, it just gets a kid to jump through the same meaningless hoops, only better.

Of course, that would be up to the kid. If that’s what a person’s goal is, then he should have a tutor. I’d hope that their goals would be higher. That’s what the mojo is for.

To be fair, though, I’ll admit that my take is pretty radical. I’d encourage any kid who decided that a tutor was the way to go, to go and find the best tutor he or she could, and give it his/her best shot.

In all cases, though, I’d suggest brainstorming in a library first.

By: tommy

tommy — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:38:46 +0000

i have the same problem. i am in grade 12. i used to grasp those integers, algebra and simple geometric problems with lot of ease and faster than others. then i started falling down not only in grades but also in work ethic. now i got 70 in grade 12 and thats the highest ive gotten in high school, with lowest being 53 in grade 11. I am not able to break the 80 barrier and 70 is a great struggle. I know it isn't about marks, but in university i need to maintain a nice gpa and need the idiotic marks. I have a stigma "i suck at math" stigma and can never get A, because after i got 60 in grade 9, 10 11 and 12 ive been frustrated and slow to understand concepts. now ppl tell me that my brain is too old to improve. im not a kid, so obv i don't believe BS like that. But what do I do? Do i Start from grade 9 scratch and work my way up as if I just graduated from grade 8? Or what?? Professor Homunculus sez: Well, you're on the right track. What kind of idiot would tell anyone they're too old to learn anything? Only someone who's own brain has prematurely calcified. Modern research has shown that it's time to get rid of that myth. I'm going to suggest that there is a possibility (just a possibility, OK, I don't know your situation well enough to be sure at all) that age is related in a totally different way. I wrote an entire post about this today; check it out at: What if I Fail Ninth Grade Math (Part 6)