So it was heartening at first to see that the other teacher at my school doesn't teach "8 is 40% of what?" by direct translation (8=0.40 x ____), and yet after the writing of 8 ~ 40%, x ~ 100%, alack, the method was immediate cross multiplication, which is more generally meaningless. But still, it is at least a step up from the alternative, I suppose, even as I do my best to try and remain diplomatic and helpful, as I am upending my own ideas about what it is to be a teacher, albeit unsystematically and between keikos.