Fernando: Me and Maths

At primary and secondary school I didn’t use to like Maths. In fact, I had trouble to understand the intricacies of reasoning, logic and performing calculations with mathematical formulas, and consequently, for some reason or another, I just wasn’t be able to grasp the complexity of the subject and I scraped through my exams.

But right now, with hindsight, I wonder whether it was my fault or the then predominant teaching methodology of mathematics. Reflecting on this issue, I can remember vividly how scared I was during the time I spent learning the subject, as well as many of the other boys in the classroom. After every explanation, the teacher would ask a pupil at random to go to the blackboard and put into practice everything he had previously explained. As the majority of us didn’t properly catch on the whole idea of the teacher’s explanation properly, we simply couldn’t do anything right. We used to be scolded or the target of unkind comments like this “You have no idea about this matter we are talking about.  Go straight back to your desk!” With such a discouraging situation we immediately got rattled, our heart pounding, all of us (was) with the head bent down, almost hidden behind the back of our previous classmate, our eyes fixed in our wooden desk and avoiding catching the teacher’s eye. I couldn’t imagine a more unpleasant task at school because learning new things has always been a real motivation which encourages me to go ahead but certainly not in that way. Only the lucky few, those who were good at maths and passed the exams effortlessly with top marks, kept their heads high and were always willing to be asked.

I felt both frustrated and helpless, as it such a manner of learning was totally unacceptable to me, but I was in a position of weakness so I could do nothing but obey. Was there a point in teaching a subject for only a handful of students? What happened with the rest? Was the subject perhaps so complicated to reach such failure? To answer these questions I have to remark that the most difficult task is to get mathematics into something perfectly understandable for everyone and being skilled enough to do it successfully - and that’s the bottom line. Getting the students interested in the subject is a key factor, always looking for the bright side of things as well as speaking in practical terms. And, above all, it is pivotal to bear in mind that at school teachers are somehow moulding their students’ mindset and attitude. So that’s the reason why they have to make the subjects easier from the first stages, and in this way inspire students to do better while sorting out the difficulties, as well as to make them far more confident. Otherwise, distressing teaching procedures end up in failure inevitably.

At that time, maths and physics played greater importance. I have no doubt of the role of these subjects in kids’ education, as they are absolutely necessary in conjunction with the rest. However, if you didn’t know maths properly, you were considered as a second-rate student, no matter how good you were at Spanish Language, let alone Physical Education or History or whichever other subject. The most important thing was maths and physics. 

Only when I was finishing secondary school did I manage to understand maths properly and pass my exams successfully. It was with the help of a private teacher who made a living giving lessons at home to six students in each turn. The room where the classes took place didn’t have enough natural light, so a big ceiling lamp was on all the time right above our heads. The teacher was a heavy smoker of cigars, and there was always a smoky atmosphere inside. When you first entered the room you had the impression of being in an illegal poker game. But it was there where I learnt the basics of mathematics. That man was incredibly good at explaining the main concepts of mathematical reasoning. By logical deduction he used different paths to get to the same point. He always made sure that all of us followed the whole process of resolving mathematical problems from top to bottom until we got a clear understanding of everything. I really think that he did enjoy teaching maths and took an enormous pleasure in doing so, and quite naturally he got me interested in maths, yet too late I’m afraid. I have fond memories of him and I wish I had had the chance to meet that extraordinary teacher at primary school and maybe the trouble with maths would never have happened to me.

Thanks Fernando, we have missed you since you had that unfortunate accident, and we hope to see you back in the classroom very soon. I also missed your posts for our blog so it feels great to publish this new entry.

It's rather funny that I felt more or less the same as you during my teenage years at secondary school. You know, maths were always kind of a mystery to me, and I just liked arithmetics, which I've always been pretty good at. I must admit some of the teachers I had didn't help make the subject more appealing to me either, and when I was at COU I also needed the help of a good private teacher to make the grade - but only just! Fortunately, I decided to study English Philology, even if I had opted for the science branch in my secondary education - I was so confused in those days as to what I had to study!