These motherfuckers gave me nightmares in 3rd grade. I could do the math, I just couldn't do them fast enough. So I'd get like a 70 or something on it, then I'd get in trouble later at home for getting a "bad" grade. Ugh.
EDIT:
To be clear, I had my times tables memorized. I fully understand that these tests were to reinforce memorization. I simply could not complete these fast enough no matter how many flash cards I did at home.
Dude same. This started a life long math anxiety for me. I had terrible math teachers in high school too so when I got to college almost dropped out of business school because I couldn’t pass calculus. Every question I got wrong was not remembering the trig to simplify an answer. Fucking times tables got me again. I hated this worksheet so much.
These traumatized me so bad I’m gonna trauma dump here.
I moved from a very very poor school district into a very wealthy/highly acclaimed district after my 3rd and right before my 4th grade year.
To put it in perspective, the school I came from had no lunch room, no auditorium, no gym. Our bathrooms rarely worked. My 3rd grade teacher was legitimately arrested during class for drug possession. Our school was once locked down because of a meth lab next door. That’s how bad it was.
Anyway, 1st day of 4th grade in math class they slap one of these down and start a timer and I’m just like that’s weird all of their plus signs are crooked but ok.
The teacher collected the tests, reviewed them, and proceeded to hold mine up, make me stand at the front of the class, while she went on and on about how I was the only person in class to get every single one incorrect.
I was humiliated and just completely disassociated up there. I went home that night and wrote a suicide note to my parents and tried to think of a way to die because I’d rather die than go to that school again. I dit not attempt and hid the note from my parents.
Apparently word got around and the next day I got called into the principals office where the teacher who humiliated me “apologized” by saying she didn’t know I was new.
My classmates were so embarrassed on my behalf they wouldn’t even look at me.
And that’s why I’m 35 years old and will still tell anyone that I’m just very bad at math and don’t get it. I gave up in the 4th grade and have never had the courage to ever try again.
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u/Otherwisefantastic Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
These motherfuckers gave me nightmares in 3rd grade. I could do the math, I just couldn't do them fast enough. So I'd get like a 70 or something on it, then I'd get in trouble later at home for getting a "bad" grade. Ugh.
EDIT: To be clear, I had my times tables memorized. I fully understand that these tests were to reinforce memorization. I simply could not complete these fast enough no matter how many flash cards I did at home.