My Wife Is Mad That I Called Our Kid's Teacher Out for Grading His Homework Question Wrong
There’s a whole new world that opens up when our kids are old enough to go to school. We suddenly remember that we’ve forgotten everything we used to know in every subject. We have to relearn math, the strange grammar rules no one ever remembers, and all while helping to steer our kids in the right direction and not tank their love of learning.
Sometimes it’s hard to get back into the swing of learning the basics all over again. And that certainly was the case for one dad who unintentionally started some math drama.
The dad needed some perspective, so he took to Reddit to explain how homework drama complicated his life.
Posting to Reddit’s AITA community, the original poster jumped right into the situation he found himself in. “My wife is angry at me for emailing back and forth with my son’s teacher,” all over a math question, he shared.
His wife is worried the email exchange will backfire not only on OP but their kid.
“She says it might hurt the way the teacher sees our son,” OP explained. “But I’m more worried that he shouldn’t think it’s okay to accept being told you’re wrong when you’re right.”
'Maybe this isn’t the right time to learn that lesson?' he wondered, before sharing the math question that sparked it all.
“The question was this: ‘Last year a phone company had a loss of $25 million. This year the loss is $14 million more than last year. What is this year's loss,’” OP shared.
The answer his son gave was 39 million, OP shared.
“I believe to be correct,” OP explained, but his son’s teacher had a different answer.
“She said it should have been -39 million,” OP wrote, which he didn’t agree with.
So, OP emailed the teacher back.
“I perhaps curtly emailed ‘why would 25 + 14 = -39?’” OP admitted. And the teacher replied again to explain why he was wrong and how to get the answer.
“She replied ‘If you read the problem it says they had a loss of 25 million (loss) -25 and a loss of 14 million (-14) -25 + (-14)= -39 million If you have any further questions on the problem you can email me during my work hours. Thank you and good evening.’”
From that email reply, OP believes he’s upset the teacher.
“I think it’s clear she’s annoyed at me,” he admitted, but he still thinks she’s wrong. “If you look at how the question is phrased, her explanation is worded very differently from the original question,” OP shared with Reddit.
“The way it was originally worded, my son got it right.”
But now OP is worried that he should “let this go” or if he needs to apologize.
And that’s what he asked Reddit. 'Am I being an a--hole? Or should I politely and apologetically try again?'
Reddit not only debated the math question but did have some advice for OP as well.
“She is incorrect,” one person replied. "Her reasoning would only work if she put a - in front of the $25 million. She may be good at math but not English. Don’t take it any further unless she continues to grade his work wrong.”
“I totally get why you'd email but I'd definitely let it go after the email and not make it a big deal with the teacher,” another person suggested. “Have a laugh about it with your son but don't keep emailing the teacher about it. You're not going to change their mind.”
'This just seems like a dumb hill for you to die on,' added someone else.
“It was one problem on a homework assignment that probably won't even be felt in your son's final grade," the commenter continued. "This could give her an axe to grind with your son, and she might take it out on him on a much bigger exam/paper/assignment.”
“I'm a teacher and it won't affect the way she sees your son,” added someone else. “She just won't be looking forward to meeting you at parents' evening.”
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
| FAMILY & PARENTING