Yes, I know this reply is slow and I am sorry. It is a busy time back
here. But just one final comment to really stir John D's blood.
When I put up the example of the "good" part of the syllabus, John
obviously thought that it was a pretty mediocre sort of good. Well just to
show how bad the bad can be, here is a final exert from my physics
syllabus...
" define resistance as the ratio of voltage to current for a particular
conductor: R = V / I "
I think I can imagine his response :-) Time for something more forceful
than pitch forks and torches I think. At least the good bit was defensible.
Thank you to everyone for your responses and ideas, they have been a huge
help and my students understand the concepts more clearly now.