Helping kids out

Because my painting manager's a goofball, he ran out of painting jobs by the middle of summer. Bummer. Now he's running around White Rock cold-calling for more assignments. Thankfully, I landed myself a nice 'job' tutoring a dude physics 12.

Of course, it'd be nice if this was just a typical student: someone who's trying hard to get into some specific program at some prestigious university - but that's not the case. This guy, who I'll refer to as D, is almost the same age as me and is still taking high school courses.

Well shucks.

He has failed numerous courses, the majority of them probably being in English. His other marks are nothing to show off about except his 90s math mark.

It was definitely a bit unnerving. After all, I've never associated myself with kids who failed courses for the entirety of my life. I was surprised in high school when I discovered that such kids even existed. How do I talk to people like this? Are they thugs? Would they think I'm being too much of a smartass?

But I took a chill pill, and head over armed with a sheet of paper and a physics workbook to teach D physics last week. I suggested that we do two sessions before the summer class actually started, so that he has an advantage when we actually walks into class, starting off with a crash course on every single chapter and the basic concepts for each one, with some tips on each one from personal experience.

He got a 98 on his first test. Granted, it is just the beginning of the course, but he feels confident on the subjects he's learning so far. His mom also took the effort to tell me how much D likes my style of teaching, and asked if I could head over three times a week, for $30 an hour. Well, hell yeah I would like to.

I learned that D isn't retarded, as demonstrated by his math marks. He was merely unmotivated. He didn't understand what he was learning in the first place, which made it hard for him to give a shit later on in all of his courses. It makes me wonder how the hell these teachers are teaching their courses if they can't make students at least somewhat interested in their subject.

It's definitely a cool feeling to help a guy up in academics. D took physics 12 before, but received a poor mark and didn't find it enjoyable at all; now, he understands what he's doing and is quite excited for my tutor sessions. His mom's quite happy too, so now I won't feel shitty charging $30 an hour (even though it was their idea). To be optimistic, maybe I can help him get into a post-secondary program of choice as well.

I gotta help my sister with physics 12 and math 12, and my brother with math 10 over the summer. In addition, though unlikely, K might ask for some tips with physics 102, as well as buddy of mine who has a math 103 (or something like that) final coming up soon. That is a lot of talking to do, but as long as I can help people understand things better and eventually feel confident in themselves as they walk in to take a test, I'll be satisfied.