Hi there. This is a short education post based on a student story from my private educational services work.
Motivation Behind This Post
One of my grade 12 calculus students has reported that her teacher for Calculus is not very good. For whatever reason, a few of the math teachers in her high school math department are on sabbatical leave for this semester. These teachers on leave happen to be the ones who are able to teach Gr12 Calculus. The student's current teacher is the only one able to teach calculus.
This one teacher does not seem professional based on what I am told. Although it was not inappropriate touching, too much touching is a bit weird. Math tests were made to be too long and difficult for the grade level. The one thing that is a bit shocking is that the math teacher uses AI to make her math tests. It is one thing if students use AI for homework or to cheat but a teacher using it? That is crazy.
With this student's situation, it is not great if there is one teacher for a grade 12 calculus course and no other options. My student told me that she had to drop the course and look at other options. There was a night course for her that has zero cost but that filled up fast. She had to pay around 400 CAD out of pocket for a private online Grade 12 calculus course. Her family has good money but imagine lower income families.
Bad Teachers Do Cause Negative Impact
For a lot of high school students in the Toronto area and in Canada, grade 12 calculus/math is super important for university admissions next year. University/college programs do require Grade 12 Calculus for programs in science, engineering, Health Sciences (pre-med), computer science, mathematics, data science, business and maybe psychology.
An awful teacher at grade 12 can really hurt your learning, grades and chances for being admitted to a top school or top program. It is annoying to see or hear about the impact of bad teachers on students. A student's future could be impacted by a teacher's incompetence or unprofessionalism. If a student does not get admitted to one of their programs of choice, then the student may have to settle for a second or third choice program or take another year of high school to upgrade their marks and/or work part-time.
