Louise loses it

I have no clue, nor does she

Students are an unceasing source of mystery and confusion. Some students are exceptionally astonishing. My colleagues and I put our heads together and try to figure them out. We usually have to give up because explaining the inexplicable is difficult. Then we end up just swapping stories about the weirdest students we have known. One of my little mysteries is “Louise,” a student who enrolled in one of my arithmetic classes.

Arithmetic is the absolute bottom-level entry-level math course. Students who take arithmetic in college are often math-avoiders who suffer from math anxiety. Perhaps that explains why Louise draws a blank time and time and time again. Here's a message she sent me near the end of the semester.

From: Louise
To: Zeno Ferox [zenoferox@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: Arithmetic question

Can you tell me how to do convert the fraction to a decimal and to convert decimals to a fraction?

---

We had just covered this exact material in class. We had filled out a worksheet together, students working the problems first and then the teacher (me!) putting detailed solutions up on the board. She had apparently retained precisely none of it. She wasn't asking for a clarification on some detail. She was asking for elucidation of the entire topic.

From: Zeno Ferox
To: Louise
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

I'm not sure what I can tell you that isn't already in the final section of our textbook, but I'll try to summarize it.

(1) To convert a fraction into a decimal, use long division. The fraction 5/8 turns into 0.625 when you divide 8 into 5.

(2) To convert a decimal into a fraction, read the decimal aloud and do what it says. For example, the decimal 0.45 is "forty-five hundredths," so just put 45 over 100 and you get the fraction 45/100. You're not done in this case because you can reduce the fraction to 9/20, which is your final answer.

I hope this helps. You'll find more examples of these processes in your textbook.

---

She soon wrote back.

From: Louise
To: Zeno Ferox [zenoferox@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

It's gunna be on the test right

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If it wasn't going to be on the test, it would be the first time all semester that I had presented material in the class but skipped it on the chapter test. It was a forlorn hope on her part.

From: Zeno Ferox
To: Louise
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

Yes, Louise, it will be on the test.

---

Louise came back with a reasonable request for assistance, but her luck was bad. She asked for help on the day before the exam and she apparently couldn't come to my office hour. And I was seriously booked. (And she hadn't come to my office all semester, so I wasn't sure she even knew where it was.)

From: Louise
To: Zeno Ferox [zenoferox@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: Arithmetic question

are u gunna be in your office around 10:20 on monday

---

From: Zeno Ferox
To: Louise
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

I am going to be in my office during my regular office hour from 9:00 till 10:00 on Monday. After 10:00 I will be working on faculty scheduling and probably will not be in my office. If you're in the math building after 10:00 you can check whether I'm available to help you, but there's no guarantee after 10:00.

If you can't come to my office during my office hour, try going to the Student Help Center where the math tutors can help you.

---

She didn't, by the way, come by. I did some of my scheduling work in my office, checked back periodically when I was out working with the department chair, and my colleagues in the adjacent offices told me I had no students come by after my office hour.

Louise did, however, have another question to e-mail me.

From: Louise
To: Zeno Ferox [zenoferox@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: Arithmetic question

if i do good on this test will my grade go up

---

From: Zeno Ferox
To: Louise
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

Of course, Louise. That's how it works. If you do well on an exam it raises your grade.

Unfortunately, you have been earning poor grades on the exams and quizzes so far, which means you have to do particularly well on the remaining exams if you want to pass the class. You need to start earning scores in the 80s. If you earn scores in the 80s on next week's exam and the practice final and the final exam, you will pass the class. If you continue to score in the 70s or below, you will not pass. It will be a challenge to pass the class, but it's not impossible.

---

The phrase “continue to score in the 70s” was a polite fiction on my part. Louise had yet to see a score in the 70s. In fact, she had yet to see a score in the 60s. Her only chance of eking out an average of 70% and squeezing by with a C was to start an unbroken string of A's and B's. In theory, it was still possible for her to pass the class, but only in theory. In theory, the sun might not come up tomorrow.

From: Louise
To: Zeno Ferox [zenoferox@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

oh wow i thought it would be around 70 percent.what if i do good on next weeks exam and bad on final exam will it go up.

---

Hope springs eternal, as apparently does denial.

From: Zeno Ferox
To: Louise
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

No, Louise, you have to do well on all of the remaining exams if you want to pass the class. That includes Exam 3, the practice final, and the final exam. You need to earn a B on each one to offset the low grades you got earlier in the semester. If you do not get a good grade on the final, your score will not rise enough for you to pass the class. There aren't a lot of alternatives for you right now. You need to do consistently well right to the end of the semester.

---

I got one last message from her.

From: Louise
To: Zeno Ferox [zenoferox@sbcglobal.net]
Subject: RE: Arithmetic question

well i am trying my best to pass the class. i also go to turtoring

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I had my doubts that she was really trying her best, but I did believe that she was going to the math tutor. I mean, someone was doing her homework for her. Louise handed in homework sets that were neat and accurate (and transcribed in her own handwriting), but she was completely incapable of replicating anything like her homework solutions on her exams. She also never had anything to contribute during small-group work, when Louise always relied on her partners to carry her. Nor could she give any coherent answers when I queried her one-on-one in class while wandering about and checking with the students while they were trying to solve the problems on their worksheets.

This story doesn't have a lot of suspense to it, does it? Louise showed up for the next exam and flunked spectacularly, earning the worst score in the class. It was as if she had walked in cold without ever having seen any of the material before. It was a wipe-out. Yet she persisted in thinking she had a chance right till the last minute.

I am as mystified by her as she is by arithmetic.