Math Is Fun Forum

Wow, this could actually be a song. Combined with music, this would be top-notch quality. Great work.

I find that the most sadistic teachers give the most benefits -- at least in my case. I had an American history "professor" who was incredibly rigorous, and made your grade something you have to earn. "Professor" is in quotes because he is a high school teacher, but he was a college preparatory crazy kind of guy. Every time someone would complain about the volume of work, he'd bring out a chart comparing high school and college, and often some statistics and the horrible lives of slackers(he had statistics on EVERYTHING, and he'd bring them out at any random situation that could use them). Every class was 90 minutes of lecture. All reading was done at home, no study guides were offered. Tests were usually over 200 pages of material from the book, and the format was primarily essay, with many topics directly from inclass lecture. Papers and additional readings were frequent and tedious. I lost many nights of sleep to this course. This man knew if you wrote a paper just to get it done, and it was likely that he would make a fool out of you in front of the class if you were particularly lazy. Despite how horrible this all sounds, I am very happy to have had him as a teacher. It was the first time I had to actually work for an A, and it felt good to get it. I feel that my writing and note-taking skills benefited substantially due to the class. Someday when I'm in college I'm going to email this man and thank him for what he has done.