70 million favors

[boxofdelights]

I stayed up till 12:30 a.m. helping Nixie study for her History test. This means she reads me her textbook, and I ask, "Now what do you know about Irish monasteries in the sixth century?" and all too often she says, "I wasn't paying attention." I'm sorry, cordelia_v, she has always found history v. v. boring.

Then she said we had to wash her hair. She has a beautiful ($$$) black/purple/green/blue dye job, so we have to wash her hair with special ($$) shampoo and distilled water, in the sink. "No," I said. "I won't. I can't. It's too late. I don't want to. It's not that dirty. I'll help you tomorrow. Nixie," I said, going to the kitchen to help her wash her hair, "you owe me 70 million favors."

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

At least 70 million, I'd say.

As for Irish monasteries in the 6th century CE, they were very much the center of community life. That's the most important thing to know about them. If she can remember that one thing, it'll help.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

If the universe worked this way, I'd say that the universe owes you 70 million favours. In any case, I want you to be lavished with favours and love.

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping you get a few of them before the year is out. :-) I still owe my mom about seven hundred billion in back favors.

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

I wash mine out in the yard with cold water from the hose.

[rozasharn.livejournal.com]

My mind boggles at the thought of reading aloud without paying attention to what one is reading. How is that even possible?

But I do remember, from high school, studying for a history exam, reaching the end of the chapter, and realizing that I didn't remember anything from the chapter despite having paid attention. When I gritted my teeth and went over it a second time in excruciating detail, I realized it wasn't my fault: the textbook mentioned various historical events, but didn't give any clue as to why they happened or how they related.

The example I remember is that it described the stock market crash of 1929. Then in the next paragraph, it said the first thing the president did in response was to re-establish the banks on a firm footing. Well, how was that a response to the stock crash?

My parents, when I asked, explained that the bankers had spent all their reserves attempting to block the stock crash, so now the banks had crashed along with the stock market. But the book hadn't explained that; it just presented a jumble of apparently random facts.

I suspect this sort of incoherence is a result of publishers trying to avoid controversy, but it certainly isn't effective teaching. Best wishes to Nixie.