The Parallax View

Recently an aquaintance told me that her colleague had a daughter who could use some math tutoring for ninth grade. I don’t do tutoring, per se, because too often they end up being disappointed that you are not just teaching to the test and reinforcing the bad teaching that has already been done.

She said she’d send her friend and her friend’s daughter to my site. Then she called wanted to know if she could give them my number for them to get in touch with me.

They never did.

The next week I spoke my acquaintance again, and she said, “Wait, my colleague is in the next room. I’d like to tell her you’re here.” I told her, “OK, but I don’t really tutor. There are a lot of good resources at my website for a ninth grader, though.”

She came back a few minutes later and said that they couldn’t use Math Mojo because her friend’s daughter’s math teacher said, “She has to do it her teacher’s way.“

What a$%#ing &tard! That teacher should be cited for criminal education neglect. Enforcing the benighted notion that math has to be seen from only one angle is the reason most kids don’t get math in the first place.

I explained the Parallax to my acquaintance, and she completely agreed. I also talked about the reason that we have two eyes and not one is for depth perception and a parallax view. If you only use one eye you are handicapped.

In a nutshell, a parallax is the use of more than one point of view to get an overview of something. That, of course, is not a complete, or entirely accurate explanation, if you want a more complete scoop, check out parallax on Wikipedia.

Only having one method to accomplish anything handicaps you. Having a second method does not degrade the first. It enhances it. It makes each part greater, and it makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts. (No, that is not a logical contradiction. Ever hear of nuclear fusion?)

Unfortunately, the members of the school system who should know this most (math teachers, who should be versed in basic logic) often don’t, and are the greatest enemies to the mathematical reasoning skills of their students.

Why do people who should know better insist that everything must be a zero-sum game, and that their way must be defended at all costs, even though everyone suffers in the long run when they only use that one way?

And of all the logical farts in that teacher’s argument – if her way was so damned good, why does the kid need tutoring? If that way didn’t work for her before, why does she assume more of it, and nothing else, is going to be what helps her most?

Look, I know I should be producing more “nuts and bolts” lessons for people to use. To tell you the truth, the more experience I have with people, the more I start thinking, “What’s the use?” I know that is wrong, and I’m trying to fight it. OK, it’s not wrong – it’s absolutely right. But it’s not helpful. I’m trying to reconcile the two. Anyone got any suggestions before I give the whole “trust your brain” thing up, and become a televangelist or a politician?

By the way, “The Parallax View” was a great Warren Beatty movies from the 70′s. Check it out.