ALGEBRA

I recently learned that Father McGrath, my Algebra II teacher died.

Father McGrath was a former Marine with a blond arrow-headed crewcut topping off an above-average physique that was hidden by his white Dominican robe. He was tough, rigorous and strict—like a Marine and like a Dominican priest.

I was a senior when I took his course, right in the middle of the basketball season. Father McGrath used a European style of teaching math, sending individual students to the blackboard to complete complex problems. It was a pressurized method and I usually sucked when it was my turn. I had trouble with algebra because I had no idea what it was used for. Later, a friend revealed it in one simple example: determining the amount of carpet to buy for a room. The light in my brain clicked.

So, when I was at the board, I usually answered the simple questions from rote memory but tanked when he threw me his hypothetical questions. Since I had no idea what algebra was used for I had no frame of reference to solve the problem. When I failed, he would ridicule me or whomever was at the blackboard. Father McGrath encouraged the class to join in the ridicule through laughter and comments. I was unable to answer those hypothetical questions because I lacked the understanding of algebra to solve algebraic problems.

Imagine if Father McGrath were a student in my Italian class where he had no frame of reference. To succeed he would have to learn hundreds of words by rote memory, the worst way to teach anyone. Fortunately, my students over my 40-year career used French, Spanish or Italian as tools to solve real communication problems. Father McGrath never gave me that opportunity.

Twenty years later, I took an occupational test for fun and the results were laughable. I scored high on math and science which indicated that I should consider engineering as a career! But, then I understood why. Completing several stats and research classes in my graduate program at Ohio State made me think like a scientist and an engineer. In stats I had to solve real problems! I had to analyze and synthesize information like European students have to do.

Now at age 66, I want to retake algebra online from an innovative instructor who makes you solve real problems. I know I will get an A grade this time, even if I were forced to solve problems at the blackboard. I want to learn how to develop algorithms to analysis and react to student weaknesses. I want to imagine the algebraic formula a submarine commander would use to avoid an enemy torpedo.

Father McGrath’s humiliating method did yield one benefit: later that month, I made five free throws in the last minute of a critical game against Weber. Sinking free throws in the last minute of the game was less stressful than Father McGrath’s class.