Al-Kwharzimi blues

Yes, we talk about algebra. When he is upset at 830am on Monday , we talk about algebra. When I hear him speaking insolently to his third teacher of the year, we talk about algebra. We talk about algebra when said prematurely ends the zoom meeting on multiple occasions. We talk about algebra when he asks why he is taking alkgebra for what feels like the third year running. We talk about algebra when he asks what algebra has to do with life and why aren/t they focusing more on ‘ mental math’ which will serve him more later in life in a more finite way. We talk about algebra when I can offer no assistance with algebra. We talk about algebra nearly every day he is in an assisted learning period that doesn’t speak about or assist in any algebraic manner. When the latest algebra teacher writes to address his performance in algebra, we talk about algebra. When he says that he will get an A in every other class to make up for his difficulties in algebra, we talk about algebra. I tell him to simply bite off a little bit each day to get through to the finish line. We talk about algebra until we are blue in the face before the school wants to talk about algebra. We/ve been speaking about algebra for 14 weeks since teacher number 1 left to go teach algebra elsewhere, or maybe she was sick of algebra and she left to teach ‘mental math’ or humanities. I speak of how great geometry is after algebra, and that there are a minimum of 5 more years of math that won’t make sense when we talk about algebra, but I keep that little chestnut to myself, nor do I mention the usual calculus requirement for university that undoes the loftiest humanities gpa. He asks what the point of algebra is and I wish I had an answer, as I asked those same questions to any and everyone 40 years ago, but that is ancient history. And on the subject of history, can we talk about the importance of history and how it often repeats itself and how society ignores it, when we are not talking about algebra?