Dumb student- Smart teacher

Have been tutoring some 11th standard kids for German. Had 3 students and things were going smoothly until the fateful call last week. A distressed parent. Please take tuitions for my son. But. the exams are just about a month away!! I know, but teach whatever you can in the time you have. A month is too less. Please, at least teach him grammar. Could not say no

Took me 10 minutes with the student to realise that his level was even below the "Ich bin, Du bist, er/sie/es ist" ( I am, You are, he/she/it is.) Had to start right from there. How on earth is he going to write his exam next month. Agreed, he had no tuitions till date. But, he could not even pick the basics from the school teacher? Gosh. Thats dumb. Why did i ever agree to teach him? Had given away my peace of mind for a few hundred rupees.

Was telling a friend about this and she put forward a new theory. "You cannot expect to have only smart students. Smart ones can learn even from a dumb teacher. But to teach a dumb student, the teacher has to be smart" Oh, how true. Have serious work to do on my teaching skills and the attitude. Am glad i got this new student, a new challenge. Uh, did i say 'pain in the neck'? No, no. That was me 4 days back. I always said "I can tolerate ignorance, but not stupidity" Egoistic thinking that. Time to change. And my new student is going to be the catalyst(Guinea Pig?). God save him!!!