Do you have smart but dumb parents?

Kommand
Wed, 17 Jul 2013 00:32:07 +0000

Not working with something for 10+ years is no excuse to forget math…

My dad grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China in the 60s and was one of the first people to actually attend a university in China after the Cultural Revolution. Before, he only studied until middle school, and he would study one to two years ahead so he could get done quickly.

In college, he studied Biology, but still took a math course. He graduated from university in 1979 and taught for a few years.

He then immigrated to the United States in the early 90s with my mother and sister.

In the U.S., he pursued a Masters and a PhD both unrelated to mathematics.

However, he is better at math than all the math teachers at my school, including math major Calc teachers…

He literally made me tell one of my teachers that she was wrong and he was right, and in fact, he was.
Honestly, there’s a difference between knowing it, teaching it, and both.

I’ve had math teachers in the past who would stop and think for 3 seconds on something as simple as 67 - 43 or something.