I think if there is a constant pushback from the teacher I would be looking at how your son is questioning things. - Is he using a respectful tone, is he accepting the teacher's answer, is he disrupting the class for a large amount of time.
I once worked with a woman who felt she could not be convinced to do anything without a full explanation of why she was doing it. Meetings were tedious in the extreme with this person, when everyone else could see that the woman was just plain nit picking/being argumentative.
I'm certainly not saying that children don't have a right to question authority or have their questions answered, but I do feel very strongly that some parents don't respect schools but send their kids anyway with the belief that they don't have to respect their teacher at all.
I think if your child is old enough to be questioning the teachers methods, they are old enough to request a meeting outside of class time, where they can outline their own concerns and possible solutions. Such as: I can't show my work because.... Can you give me some more problems so I can prove to you I know what the answers are.
This will then hopefully give the teacher an opportunity to say -well I am worried that you can come up with the answer in this case, but what about more complicated problems - do you know how you get the answer etc.
Likewise child can also explain to the teacher that he really struggles to understand the how of something if he doesn't know the why and can she build an explanation into her lessons.
We all know there are some very bad teachers out there, but I think we have to teach our kids some personal responsibility with regard to how they function in a society that is not really set up for them.
