Reply #26: Yes, my calculus teacher, who is the reason I took only one term [View All]

[Lydia Leftcoast]

I was trying to gain a technical background for translation, so I did the math sequence through college algebra and trig and then decided I was ready for calculus.

Well, I got Mr. Bug Eyes for an instructor, a man who had a full-time job at another college and taught night school at the University of Minnesota four nights a week. I swear he was on speed. He must have been, or how else could he have survived that schedule?

At least he acted as if he was on speed. He gave a bunch of explanations that made no sense to me, and my questions just elicited more gobbledygook. I tried reading the textbook and working the problems, but since we never had to turn them in ("This department won't give me a grader, because I'm an adjunct"), I never knew whether I had done them right, he never gave us the answers unless asked, and then he couldn't always work the problems either.

The only people who survived that class were those who had had calc before and were taking it for review.

I came out with the only C- of my entire life.