Re: [Phys-l] Unit Conversions (was Mass and Energy)

["Richard Tarara" <rbtarara@sprynet.com>]

I don't know about others here, but if I were to really believe in
everything John Clement posts to this list then the logical conclusion is
that people are just TOO STUPID to learn much of anything, much less
Physics.  It would seem that there are just too many 'formalized'
deficiencies out there to be overcome in any of our poor physics courses. 
I'm starting to doubt my own skills and abilities since certainly I
couldn't have escaped all these learning disabilities.  I must not have
really learned to read, write, and do arithmetic in K-8, nor learned
Algebra, Geometry, and Trig  in HS.  I must not have understood anything
useful about Chemistry and Physics in HS, and heaven only knows what was
going on in College and Graduate School, because no one, to my knowledge,
ever directly (or probably indirectly) addressed any of these problems John
keeps listing.  They gave us material to read AND answer questions on
(matched to our tested reading levels), had us memorize both the spelling
and meanings of words--and forced us to write sentences (real sentences)
using these words.  We had to memorize our math tables and then do all
kinds of operations (no calculators to help us)--even doing square and cube
roots by hand.  A few teachers may have even given us word problems to do! 
We worked through Algebra, Geometry, a real Trig course, and Analytical
Geometry--Calculus was withheld until College.  In College I was surrounded
by other students who seemed to have similar--if not superior--prior
training.  I guess it was all just a sham!

;-)

Rick


> [Original Message]
> From: John Clement <clement@hal-pc.org>

> There are several problems here.