Teachers Who Inspire— The Impact of Tough Love on Student Achievement

Have you ever been in a secondary school, where your mathematics teacher was the most feared/ respected?

I strongly believe I'm not alone in this lol.

Back in the days, when I was still in the senior secondary, I had this mathematics teacher, who literally nicknamed himself after one of the toughest topics in math then (Calculus).

A.I(gencraft) Generated Photo.

Actually, the man was so good not only in mathematics, but in all science related subjects (Chemistry, Physics, Further-mathematics, etc) I loved and envied him because of that but still hated him strongly, for his method of teaching. He had this daily routine he had us all do then, of which we often called 'operation solve'— The idea behind the operation solve, was to make students very close to mathematics as much as possible, and the only way to do that, was to make us solve about 10 questions under any topic of our choice in mathematics...yes weekends( Saturdays, and Sundays) weren't excluded, and for sure he always came like a thief in the night, to ask for the operation solve book, any time he wished, and of course disciplined any one who failed to provide his or hers. Well, I have always been a lazy student from unset, and as such have fallen right into his net severally 😂.

You know what pains even more?

Having an up-to-date operation solve booklet, and forgetting to carry it along with you to school lol because you were still going to be punished, for forgetting it at home.

I really did suffer from Mr Calculus, but few days ago, while sitting and remembering my secondary school memories, I discovered that Mr Calculus, wasn't a bad teacher after all, though the fear he instilled in us told us otherwise then, I noticed that he was actually trying to groom we science students, and prepare us for the next phase of our lives (The University). It turns out, that the punishment he gave to us whenever we forgot our Operation solve booklet in our houses was majorly to make us take responsibility, for our mistakes, and even plan ahead, so as not to forget, or lose vital Information. His action made us love mathematics forcefully, which has actually helped me alot as computer engineering student. The operation solve idea, unknown to me, instilled that love and desire to solve mathematical questions, and equations, and this has actually done a lot of good to me. In fact, this man Made our W.A.E.C exam look like a regular class work, because his constant lessons, and calculations, made us very familiar with those questions, and I'm still not surprised that the lowest score in mathematics of our set then was a B.
In my current position, seeing some topics I was properly taught in my secondary school right in my university program, gives me so much joy, and makes me remember the said wicked math teacher.
And so it turned out that my secondary school mathematics teacher wasn't a bad man after all, in fact he was one of the best. And I really wish our paths would cross really soon again, so I can express my joy and appreciation to him.

Thanks For Reading.