we have so much education bashing from the public. If I read your response
correctly, you said that students are doing far better in physics if they have
had a physics course in HS. Doesn't this show success in preparation?
I agree that there are limits (as you have at the University level), but ther
e is success with students. The bimodal distribution, I would suggest, is a
result of motivation AND preparation.
I agree that there are limits to successful physics teaching, but I fail to
see that HS physics teachers are the cause of the problem. It is true many
are teaching phsycis who were not physics majors (I am fortunate to have
a strong background in physics and mathematics), but this doesn't mean that
people who have not majored in physics can not be part of a good solic
(solid) background in physics. I have taught with a few teachers who were
not physics majors, but did outstanding jobs teaching because they have
learned the discipline through YEARS of hard work teaching. I have yet to
meet a HS physics teacher who has not had a physics course.