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



Agree in part and disagree in part - as the Supreme Court might say.


On Sat, 27 May 2006, Richard Tarara wrote:

Jack,

It is all the psycho-babble that seems to scream 'stupidity'. I am much
more comfortable with 'ignorance', but an ignorance that comes partly from
poor preparation, but also from lack of intellectual curiosity and more
importantly, a lack of intellectual honesty on the part of students.

Yes. I see it as an outgrowth of the "bottom line" thinking that comes from the parents. When your focus is on the bottom line then curiosity is likely to distract you from your goal.

I think that "intellectual honesty" is a perjorative phrase that does not aid my thinking.


IMO, we can largely thank the lawyers (sorry) and the psychologists of the
past few decades for removing the responsibility of the individual from the
social equation.
_____________________________________________________________
Every generation finds its villains, and lawyers have been blamed for everything but the Trojan War since the comedies of Plautus (~150 bce)
, at least. Lawyers put this nation together following a pattern described by an ancient Roman lawyer. Lawyers help make people who cause accidents pay for them, and people who sell you dangerous objects without warning you about hidden hazards liable for ensuing damages. It's a systme that doesn't work very well in China, or Syria, or in countries like the old Soviet Union. Having said that, I want you to know that I've almost never met a lawyer I've liked or - more importantly - respected. But that is neither here nor there, because finding people to blame is simply unoproductive.
What is important, and productive, is to look at the problem from the viewpoint of the kids. They are under a multitude of pressures, and it is not for us to say what pressures are proper and what ones are improper. The kid in community college, for example, who is trying to get through school while holding a full time job is, IMO taking on an impossible task.
Our job (as adults) is to identify early the ones with potential and find ways to help them take on education with the time available to exercise the traits of curiosity and independent thinking that you and I hold so dear.
It's much too easy to step into the role of an old fogy and walk around (as I did 65 years ago in one of my first plays) muttering phrases like "Where are we going?", "What is this world coming to?" and "Ain't it awful what the younger generation is doing?"
So go forth and read your Arons and sin no more.
Regards,
Jack


In our cases, there IS a responsibility on the students
not just to go through the motions in our educational system, but to
actually engage their brains, to seriously try and understand the material.
High school students who think they live inside the earth does not strike
me as any kind on conceptual problem--it is rather pure ignorance which
almost has to be the fault of the students as I can't imagine that any
state curriculum doesn't deal with this kind of basic knowledge.

While everyone wants to bitch about NCLB, the number one fault I would
place on the whole enterprise is that it places almost zero responsibility
on the students and consequently almost zero consequences upon them for
what must be accepted as a personal responsibility--to become educated
citizens of the country/world.

Rick


[Original Message]
From: Jack Uretsky <jlu@hep.anl.gov>
To: <rbtarara@sprynet.com>; Forum for Physics Educators
<phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Date: 5/27/2006 1:33:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] Unit Conversions (was Mass and Energy)

Hi all-
Reading Rick's post, I'm willing to be $0.50 with anybody on the
list that he hasn't read, or at least has forgotten, the material in the
Introduction and Chapter 1 of Aronss' book <A Guide to the Teaching ...>.
Also, I think it unwise to confuse stupdity with ignorance.
Regards,
Jack



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