On 5/17/2013 6:55 PM, Jim Thompson wrote:
On Fri, 17 May 2013 14:59:47 -0400, wrote:

On 5/17/2013 2:40 PM, Jim Thompson wrote:
I'm fighting the school system with, now, the 5th granddaughter, 6th
Grade.

Last week they were peddling how to cut corners out of a piece of
cardboard to form a box with the maximum volume, with no established
skill set.... "guess" your way to the solution :-(

In another context I and likely *you* would talk about this as getting a
"feel" for the math. I know that some of the best stuff I ever learned
was from "playing" with things, be they blocks or oscilloscopes. No
matter how much math I have learned, I don't consider I know a topic
until I get an intuitive feel for it.

That sort of problem, without the proper skill background, has no
"playing around" factor... it's just guessing... which I frown on
seriously.

I don't agree. I often delve into areas I have no specific knowledge in
and then once I run into my limitations, seek information from other
sources. At that point I have questions I want answered. When I find
the answers I remember them. You can call it guessing, but the point is
they learned the problem first, then learned the solution, rather than
just being spoon fed lessons to be regurgitated at a later date. Do you
really not see the utility of this?


When my granddaughter inquired, I suggested, that, with her skill
level, the only solution was to plot volume versus the size of the
cut-out and observe the maximum. She did so, and was rewarded with a
gift card as her prize... such is the level of education today.

I don't follow what you are saying here. Did you give her the gift card
or was that in class? Are you saying that is good or bad?


This week they suddenly jumped to Algebra, simultaneous equations,
without even any single variable background.

There may be more to this than you are getting second hand from a 12
year old.

No second hand about it. This is the modern era. Though she's in
Palm Springs, Californica, she PDF'd her homework sheet. I have it
right here in front of me.

Oh, you are in the classroom watching it all first hand?


And she says her teacher is already using the word "Calculus". I
guess that's the leftist way anymore, speaking the words makes you
expert :-(

Why is this a political issue?

We have an educational system dominated by nutcases on the left...
with twisted views that the only way to do things is their way. And
"their way", no matter how wrong, is still to be considered the
correct way.

Educators are left nut cases, or just the ones who promote anything you
don't like?


Teachers are highly educated in...
teaching.

Bwahahahahaha! Almost lost my lunch over that:-}

Exactly. That's the problem, you have no respect for teachers even
though you don't understand their methods.


It is not a subject that is trivial for the lay person. Try
sometime reading some of the material teachers have to master.

I'm hardly a lay person...

(1) I got 800 in Math on the SAT's. What did you get?

You sound like Larkin now. But this has *nothing* to do with teaching.


(2) I attended M.I.T. on a FULL Alumni Fund National Scholarship back
when scholarships were awarded on the basis of competency, not on
need... my parents were wealthy by the standards of the '50's.

Again, *nothing* to do with teaching.


(3) I graduated in Course 6-B, the HONORS Electrical Engineering
Program.

*Nothing* to do with teaching.


(4) And, though not worth all that much, an MSEE from ASU (*)

So you acknowledge that you have learned *nothing* about teaching?!


Teachers may be competent, but they're bound to parrot the line
established by the school boards and the administrators. Thus we have
children expelled for wearing NRA T-shirts, pointing with their
fingers, etc.

Unlike you, teachers are all educated in *teaching* and are accredited
in teaching. What are your qualifications again? Oh yeah, your
qualifications are all in being *taught* by *teacher*.


No wonder US students rank so low, worldwide, in math (and science).

Or maybe its because we just don't value engineers, etc. as highly as
other occupations, so students aren't interested as much in those subjects?

Our society has created a life-style based on texting, tweeting, and
sucking off the tit of the government.

I think you must be many decades older than myself. You sound like a
grandparent... no you sound like *all* grandparents through history.


The sooner the revolution the better.

(*) My first week at ASU, I was thrown out of a Physics class for
asking the Prof, "When do you plan to start teaching this course on a
college level".

Yes, and your level of disrespect for others continues. You don't get
that your critera for others is of no interest to the rest of the world.


After some "conversation" with the Dean, I got full credit for that
course and several others offered at ASU. Finally found some
non-linear control system courses that were useful ;-)

So you have a huge ego. That doesn't mean you ar equalified to judge
teachers.

--

Rick