OT: What are our schools learning

J. Clarke wrote >> Any more silly questions? >

Someone wrote today in rec.crafts.metalworking:

Mr. Clarke, You are confusing me. You criticize the group for not possessing the knowledge to shorten a chain and yet you obviously do not know, because you asked the question. Sounds like a very good case of self criticism for a task that is rather simple. Did you expect the group to do your measurements, determine the type and location of the attachment points and pull the correct length out of our ass? Steve

Is there a theme?

We had sex-ed in 9th grade PE.

About the only thing I remember was how to unhook a brassiere latch one-handed (without losing a finger).

And practice makes perfect...

He may be reporting on other surveys. In my state, for example, a recent survey found that 30% of high-school biology teachers believed that humans and dinosaurs were contemporaries.

I taught high school Physics and Chemistry.

We had seven math teachers in the school and I had more college mathematics than all of them. Combined. I was forever giving my physics students math problems that confounded their math teachers when the students went to them for help. Things like Zeno's Paradox or whether the universal set was a proper subset of itself.

The pity was that a retired engineer could have walked into virtually any of the math classes and and made the subject fascinating.

Here's an example: The teaching of plane geometry. Of the three teachers who, at one time or another, taught the subject, not a one knew why it was in the curriculum. The purpose behind teaching plane geometry is not to turn out surveyors or pyramid-builders; the purpose behind teaching plane geometry is to teach deductive thinking! Plane geometry is merely the vehicle to achieve a broader goal.

So the teachers taught the "subject" rather than the purpose. To bring this back to wood-working, it's like having a semester of drill on how to make jigs without any concept of the eventual use of the constructed tool.

The really sad part is the stuff they teach that is just plain _wrong_. I didn't realize that that was happening until junior high school, when Mrs. Carpenter informed us that jet engines worked on "the principle of jet" (Newtons' laws apparently didn't have anything to do with it) and that a "coronagraph" was some kind of timepiece. It was a great revelation--before that I was under the impression that teachers were teachers because they had achieved high mastery of their subject, not because their husband's job at the mill wasn't bringing in enough to make ends meet and it was the only job they could get.

I can see your points: It's ridiculous that somebody, in the real world, NEEDS to have a job to make ends meet, and you feel you should be the one to tell them what jobs are acceptable. You expect perfection in others, but don't offer it up yourself - I've read your posts. You believe that there are no good teachers anywhere. {sheesh} You are angry and bitter. Well, that's not a point of yours, but it is rather obvious.

To sum up, we have a person (you) that is imperfect, bitter, angry, lacking communication skills and social graces, that wants to tell other people what to do to make things perfect. Let me know how that works out for you...

You mean like what I call the Parson Weems version of American History?

It's "... to tell other people what to do to make things PERFECTLY."

Brush up or hush up.

That's another one. And there was the Americanism vs Communism class in which we learned that the Continental legal system (they didn't call it that in class of course) was unique to Communism.

...perfectly make things ...make things perfectly

...make perfect things ...make things perfect

I thing any of those would be OK. What am I missing?

That Bub is a boob. His attempts at humor can charitably be described as lame. His reasoning faculties are a wee bit lower down on the scale.

I knew what I meant, and I wrote it.

An argument in text seems to be Mr. Clarkes' theme.

Mark

Okay then. I guess that's the last word on this thread. We can all walk away and find better things to do.... Whew, for a moment, I thought it would never come to an end. But I'm glad I was mistaken.

Bill

Which is why many of us have him filtered. He causes these same types of trollish arguments over on Wreck.Metalheads.

-- Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly. -- Plutarch

I've had some damn good teachers. Sorry about the idiots you've met up with -- they HAVE left their mark.

Simple. read the point you dispute.

So how it is that the know-nothings breeding results in a static population"?

In his static population scenario it appears that "voluntary population control" _is_ working. Seems to be the way it went in the real world in Japan.

snippery

So, what's the Real Purpose of teaching Chemistry? Or Shop? Or Driver's Ed?

Is your "wall" thread still going? I haven't called in lately.