Level 3 Maths at College was a stretch for paul. But without taking a step backwards, he may never have met some inspirational people.

Autumn 1991

It’s week 4 of Term 1. I’m finding the start of Year 11 extremely challenging. Everything is different. I had come from a rural school with less than 400 students. Launceston College is a bustling urban Senior Secondary campus with more than 2000 young adults. I feel lost. The complex is massive, my peers more sophisticated, and the subjects are twice as hard as I expected. I’d won practically every subject prize in Year 10 at my old school, and that counted for nothing now. I was a small fish in a very big pond.

I knew I wanted to go on to get a degree, but because I was unsure what I wanted to study at University, I had chosen a a spread of of Level 3 (pre-tertiary) subjects to learn. A month in, Sport Science 3 was all that made sense. I was all at sea with the poetry in English Studies 3, the programming in Computer Science 3 was confusing, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on in Maths 3. I’d battled away for a month before I plucked up the courage to admit I was struggling to my maths teacher.

Monday’s Math class rounded out the afternoon. I waited behind until all my peers vacated the room, and I approached Vinnie (we called all our teachers by their first name at College).

“Um, I’m not really following the course work. Is there anything I can do?”, I ask tentatively.

“What’s your name again?”, Vinnie asks without embarrassment.

“Paul”, I offer. My eyes narrow a little as the reality sets in that my teacher doesn’t know my name.

“Okay Paul, what high school did you go to?”

“George Town High”, I state, bemused as to why that matters.

“Well that’s the issue then. I’d drop back to Maths 2 for the rest of this year, and try again next year”.

Vinnie picks up her teaching notes and leaves the room. There is no warmth in her communication. There is no care demonstrated. I stand shocked at the abrasiveness of the conversation. I walk back to the bus trying to make sense of her statement. All I can deduce is that my high school didn’t prepare me with the level of maths that I require to succeed at this level. I assume Vinnie has seen this before and there is no way she is going to invest the time in a single student to play catch up.

Within the week I’m back in Level 2 Maths. Vinnie was right. That was the correct level for me at my stage of development, but it packed a punch to my ego to accept this. I studied hard for the year and built on my mathematical competencies. Three terms later, when it was time again to select subjects for Year 12 I pursued a level 3 subject, but I picked Maths Applied 3. And I am so glad I did – for two reasons.

Firstly, Maths Applied 3 was taught by possibly the most likeable teacher I have ever met.  Owen was a year off retirement, and had mastered his craft over a 45 year career. He cared about the material he taught, and most importantly, cared about his students. He learned my name in the first week, and he took time to assess where each of the students were at. He was also funny, good natured, and told stories. He let some of his life enter the classroom, like his passion for reading the Phantom comic strip in the daily newspaper. My decision to enter teaching was partly inspired by Owen. He could bring a subject to life, he taught in a manner that brought every student along, and he truly made learning fun. I completed the course and secured a 19/20 for the subject in the Tasmanian Certificate of Education.

Secondly, the classroom for Maths Applied 3 was set up in a traditional horse shoe desk arrangement. As a creature of habit I took to sitting in the same seat nearest the door for the first few weeks of term. Directly opposite me, on the other arm of the horse shoe was the arty girl, with coloured hair, and hand made tie dyed clothes. She made Owen and the class laugh with her as she fumbled the subject matter outloud, but internally she was as smart as a whip. It took a few weeks, but I gradually warmed to her free spirit. Before the term was over, we were going out, and I shifted desks, to be seated next to her for the remainder of the year. We became inseparable, dated and then lived together well into second year of University.

As it turns out, if Vinnie had not been such a hard arse I would never had taken a step down into Maths 2, and probably never made it to Maths Applied to meet Owen and the arty girl. Sometimes things have a way of working out.