Effect of teacher in maths
๐คฃ
My guess is, maths permeates into all kinds of sciences that can sprout in a human brain.
Quite a few are unfortunate to ‘feel’ about themselves, as weak in maths, allergic to maths, not compatible with maths, etc.
It is ‘here’...that I noticed the ‘effect’ of ‘the’ teacher, which plays a significant role in bridging the ‘gap’ between such ill-fated kids/students & the fascinating game called ‘maths’ ๐
Maths has been a ‘scoring’ subject for me๐. Psychologically, I ought to be incompetent to advice those who are not ‘good friends’ of the fellow called maths ๐
It so happened, a child girl ‘G’ was abandoned by a private tuition teacher in maths, and the full fee refunded to G’s mom๐ญ. Two weeks to go for the annual exam of 3rd standard for G. Sure to fail in maths๐ฅ. The mom asked my sister to ‘somehow’ get the child to just_pass in maths, or else a whole Year goes waste! I volunteered to ‘try’.
I narrowed down to the ‘clinching’ chapter in maths, (again a ‘maths skill’ ๐, we may_say. Though this_skill of ‘narrowing down’ to the core of a problem helped me in solving legal issues ๐).
In G’s case, identifying an improper fraction was a sure koschan/question ๐. It adds 10 marks. This child manages about 25+ marks . Falls short of only 10 more marks(maximum).
I asked this girl to stand & listen to me (reason : I was personally+ privately not ‘comfortable’ that students ‘sit comfortably’ and listen, while teachers ‘stand’ all the 40 minutes to teach ๐ณ. I can't ‘do’ anything about a Global phenomenon. But here it is one-to-one, and I am the ‘dictator’๐).
One more child(miss V) was watching the ‘fun’ ( she was in 2nd standard only).
I asked V to climb on my back when I knelt on the floor on my fours( knees and palms). I asked G to observe “a small girl sitting on me a huge fellow. Seems proper??” G nodded.
“Now see the Improper thing” said I.
V knelt down, and I ‘feigned’ like sitting on her back ( didn't want V to shout & distract๐ฅ). I explained to G “V is too small, and I am so big. She cannot bear my weight, isn't it?”( G understood easily)
Now, I connected the fresh visuals to numerals “big number sitting on a tiny number, is an improper fraction… “( i didn't have to”tell” about the ‘proper’ fraction. It is the residue once ‘improper’ test is done. Medical tests are automatically ‘negative’ if the improper_viruses are missing ๐).
A few more repeat-enactments… the visuals and terminology jargon ( numerator, denominator) became friends in G’s “brain” ( identifying bijness)
That girl G passed in maths๐. Admitted into 4th. ( Sholay movie dialogue: basanti bhi khush, Chachi bhi khush๐คฃ… mom & G both happy ๐. Zero tuition fees)
My love for maths bloomed due to my paternal uncle (next to my dad, among 5 younger brothers). He said “you might be having a problem with Rider number 5, chapter 4 of Hall & Stevens?”
( What's a Rider?.... Quote: In Euclidean geometry, a rider is a problem or theorem that "rides" on a primary theorem. It requires you to apply known axioms, definitions, and major theorems to prove a new geometric statement, calculate unknown values, or establish relationships between sides and angles)
We were walking on a busy road. My uncle quit school decades ago, and was only a matriculate! He still remembers the rider numbers? And can identify the ‘tough' for me? I am ‘lost’ into gaping at him ๐. He added “Fool, try joining the points D to Q, and extend it to meet the line beyond it at point X. You will sight the “applicability” of the theorem.”( He didn't ‘bother' to verify the results of his hint/tip. Uncle trusted the quality of his blood in me via my grandpa ๐).
Back home, I narrated the incident to 2nd uncle who pooh poohed it ๐ฅ, saying “that’s nothing. This elder brother was exempted from doing maths homework, when he yelled the answer the moment that teacher wrote a “sum” on the blackboard. He solves maths_sum mentally ๐”. I dug up a little more stories about that maths_uncle. He created a ‘record’ by making the assistant busy to weigh ration items like rice 725 grams, sugar 285 grams, etc for buyers via ration card ๐ . The ‘normal' was, the billing clerk struggles to calculate manually, ration per head in a family card of 6 adults and 3 children ๐๐ฅ. Full of fractions multiplication, in 1940 or so. Long queues, and the weighing guy waits infinitely for each ‘bill’. This uncle ‘heaps’ the cards with bills tucked in ๐. That's his skills at mental calculation of maths ๐.
I had a teacher in maths who was an “M.A.” in maths, and taught to final year of M Sc in maths, but quit the college job, preferred to teach kids like me in 7th standard in a school, unmindful of ¼ salary of a school teacher, compared to a professor in college as HoD๐ฅ. ( His stories are awesome, and the s-p-e-e-d at which he calculated the affinity of students in maths stupified me ๐. I still treat it as sheer luck that I was his favourite kid in my class ๐. I realised only 4 decades later, that this genuis had a greater mastery in spirituality than maths๐. His blessings were with mathematical precision unto me ๐ณ. Ain't I unduly_fortunate๐??? While the bulk of us think that blessings are just a hollow gesture, placing palms on the head, nothing more than that, this Guru deploys a scientific phenomenon using the same’touch’, something that took me decades to learn & use ๐๐๐).
Illogically yours( maths is logical),
psn (22 Oct 2026)
A joke๐ ( please read + forget ๐ฅ):
At my work place, clerks who are promoted from peons, are a little ‘looked-down-upon’ (merit criteria is diluted in the selection process). The efficiency is unaffected, only the psychological treatment is a sadism in few๐. I found a ‘way’ to remedy this๐.
Promotee clerks love me unconditionally ๐(due to my manufacturing defect—I remain small like them๐).
I gave these few clerks a “trick” . They jot_down the interest in each term deposit account for the half year, without any ‘worksheet' ๐. The checking officer needs to only ‘look' at the working (figure work) and a tick in red-ink, at the jotted interest sheet. My trick OBVIATED the worksheet ๐. ‘componding effect ‘ of interest, at monthly and quarterly rests, needs manual labour in those days, when calculators were primitive and its use was unfamiliar (1975-76).
Checking guys were ‘forced’ to recreate the worksheet, arrive at the final numeral(cumulative-interest) listed in the sheet, and tick in red ink ๐. The frustrating part was, zero errors๐ญ. Otherwise, they can give a ‘written order’ to produce the damn worksheet ๐.
( Imagine the inner joy of those clerks, who had to merely CopyPaste a formula without even understanding the merits in it!!! I too chant super_power_sanskrit mantras like those promoted peons, blissfully ignorant of the scientific quantum physics employed in those vibes_of_chants ๐๐๐๐ฅ. Am I not a peon in spiritual bijness? ๐๐)
Now, my moment-of-frustration :
I was toying with a f(x) calculator at a shop. The sales guy said to me : “ not for you. Only engineering students know to use it”
Me : “๐”( but boiling inside “๐ก. I carry the genes of my ancestors who never even NEEDED algebra as an INTERFACE in their_way of Vedic_maths. And you are telling me that this f(x) is a live wire of 11000 volts which I shouldn't touch??? Damn!”)
