SciencePundit.com
By Christopher MooreWhile you wait for ilovephysics.com to be revived from the ashes, visit my Science Blog at SciencePundit.com.
2 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Chris,
Don’t you see the irony of your intolerance of the educational system? Your students were forced to be in your class. In spite of what you might tell yourself, you had a captive audience that probably wouldn’t have shown up if they had a choice. How many tests did you waive because you knew a student could get an A? How much did you protest standardized testing when you had the chance? I bet you didn’t.
The reason you were supposed to take classes in education was that you were teaching. What, exactly, was your objection to learning something new? I find it interesting that you enforced the will of the system on your students, but you considered yourself to be above the rules. If you ever become a teacher again, you should ask yourself why your students should trust you; you have already demonstrated your own disdain for classrooms, tests, and learning.
Kelly Snyder
Comment by Kelly Snyder — Wednesday -- January 26th, 2005 @ 1:34 pm
Why is this posted as a comment here? Isn’t this more relevant to an article I wrote WAY up the page?
Anyway, you are wrong on so many levels. First, not one of my students was forced to be in any class that I taught. They chose to be in my class.
I never poo-pooed standardized tests in general, I merely said that it was ridiculous to require a man with a Ph.D. in physics to take a middle school level math test. If you read carefully, you would see I never made any objection to taking education courses. I just thought it was stupid to require an undergraduate linear algebra course when I’ve successfully completed a graduate level linear algebra course (not to mention having actual experience using linear algebra to solve real problems.) I was in the process of taking education courses, but No Child Left Behind was breathing down the neck of my schools administration, and they might not have waited for me to finish.
Do I consider myself above the rules for high-school students? You’re damn right I do! Because I have the knowlegde they want. If they want it, then they play by my rules. I’m the adult with the degrees and deep understanding of the subject.
Kelly, I do not have a disdain for classrooms, tests and learning. I have never demonstrated such a disdain. In fact, everything I wrote was in defense of classrooms, tests, and real learning. You missed the entire point of my article: Physics is being taught by “science” teachers who had one physics course in college and got a C. It’s not that I have a disdain for learning, I have a disdain for incorrectly learning.
Comment by Chris — Wednesday -- February 2nd, 2005 @ 2:56 am