A Taste of my own Medicine

I’ve been talking with parents of my students for many years now and I hear it over and over again.

“Every time I try to help my child with his homework he says I’m not doing it the way Mr. A. does it and maybe multiplication has changed since I was in school. I just can’t get him to understand that I know what I’m doing.”

I do my best to assure them that what they are going through is normal and to just keep working with their child. However, there is a tiny little voice way back in my brain that begins to whisper...

“They’re either just too sensitive or they really are doing it wrong and just can’t admit that their child is way smarter than they are. Maybe if they had raised their child right they wouldn’t be having these problems. Perhaps you should just tell them to let their child be the tutor…maybe they’ll learn something. Go on, tell them…”

It’s only a tiny voice that I don’t really listen to, and besides it’s usually wrong…usually.

I got a taste of my own medicine yesterday…it was mighty bitter and it went down hard.

My daughter’s fifth grade class is studying latitude and longitude, one of my favorite things to teach. However, teaching third and fourth grade, I really don’t get to do much with map skills. So I was pleased as punch when M came home and said she needed some help with, “This latitude and longitude stuff!”

Of course she went to Mom first.

Now my wife is one of the smartest people I have ever met, but latitude and longitude have way too much in common with math for her to have any real interest.

I’m sitting in the other room trying to answer an email and listening to them trying to figure it out.

“Look Mom, this place is at 45 degrees, east latitude and 130 degrees north longitude.”

(If it’s been a while since you’ve studied latitude and longitude,
here’s the skinny. Lines of latitude are horizontal. Lines of longitude
are vertical. However, and this is the confusing thing for most students, latitude lines, that run east and west, are measuring distance north and south.
Longitude lines, running north and south, are measuring distance east and west.)

Being the latitude and longitude superhero that I am, I burst through the door with my cape gently flapping in the breeze.

“M, you’ve got those backwards. It’s 45 degrees NORTH latitude and 130 degrees EAST longitude.”

But I wasn’t prepared for the sucker punch.

“Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about! Have you really ever taught this before?”

Instantly I was transformed from superhero to mild-mannered shoeshine boy and a tiny little voice began to whisper...

“You’re either just too sensitive or you really are doing it wrong and just can’t admit that your child is way smarter than you are. Maybe if you had raised your child right you wouldn’t be having these problems. Perhaps you should just let your child be the tutor…maybe you’ll learn something. Go on…”