maths master. Conrad Bent doing what he does best

At 48, Conrad Bent is undoubtedly one of
the more sought-after mathematics teachers in St Elizabeth and there is little wonder why.

He has, for the past two decades, helped hundreds of students to attain good passes in the dreaded subject, particularly at the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) O'level.

"I have been tried, tested and proven by the parents who have seen results and have a lot of confidence in me," boasts Bent, who stands at five feet, five inches.

Born on January 24, 1958 at Bellevue in St Elizabeth, the mathematics guru attended the St Mary All-Age School before moving on to Munro College. Shortly after graduating from Munro in 1975, he began his teaching career at the then Junction Secondary School (now BB Coke High School) in the parish, under the National Youth Service programme.

Two years later, Bent attended the Church Teacher's College where he specialised in the teaching of mathematics and physical education at the secondary level. On completion of his course there, he taught at the Elim Agricultural School for a few months before taking his skills to the Lititz All-Age School.

He returned to the Junction Secondary School in 1986 to teach mathematics. Today, the veteran maths teacher with the pleasing personality continues to practise his craft at the BB Coke High School, the Bethlehem Teachers' College and at the privately run Junction Academic School of Excellence.
"The demand for my service is great. I don't really make a lot of money, but I get a lot of satisfaction from doing it," Bent notes.

His hectic schedule includes teaching at Bethlehem on Mondays to Fridays from 7:30 am to 10:30 am, and at BB Coke, where he teaches grades 10 and 11, from 12 noon to 5:00 pm. After classes at BB Coke, he moves to the nearby Junction Academy School of Excellence where he spends two hours preparing students for CXC mathematics. He also finds the time to teach for six hours at the academy on Saturdays.

Bent, who notes that he is mentally prepared to accept challenges, told the Observer West that he is very satisfied with the results he has been getting from his students over the past two decades.

"My passes at the CXC level are good. At the School of Excellence it is over 80 per cent and at Bethlehem it is over 75 per cent," he said, adding, however, that his students at the B B Coke High School have not attained a similar level of success.

When asked his formula for success, Bent said: "I get my students to see the subject (mathematics) as a friend and not as an enemy."

He added that he often also took the time to devise strategies to get the students interested in mathematics.

"Sometimes I use my time to think about the subject, think about ways to get across the information to the students because many of them have a mental block against the subject," he said.
At the same time, he said that he uses "jokes" to get the students interested and enjoying the subject, adding that he carefully selects his topics.
"The way I present my work is continuous, so to speak. I make the work flow. I don't just randomly select my topics. Say, for example, I am teaching Algebra, I would then move on to sets because I know that a lot of Algebra is involved in sets, so the students can go back to what they learnt in previous classes and bring it into this new topic. Then I would move on to matrices, which also has a little of Algebra," he explained.

Bent believes that students of mathematics need to know their multiplication table.

"Students must know their timetable. There is just too much dependence on calculators, and I strongly believe that this is one of their biggest downfalls right now," he said.

In the meantime, he said that he is eating healthily and staying fit in an effort to help students conquer the 'much-feared' subject.

"Whenever they pass, I feel happy. So I will continue to work with them," he said.

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