Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

DSK

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:08:48 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

DSK

You may be right, but I think you lean left:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html

--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

DSK

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

DSK

I've never denied that the 'best' info comes from reading. As Fox News doesn't publish a newspaper,
I would guess it was presented as part of their news. There have been several stories on obesity in
the TV news recently.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible - the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20 professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...

As Fox News doesn't publish a newspaper,

Almost any of the Gannett fish wrappers are a close substitute for Fox
broadcast news.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:49:15 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

This study would indicate that only about 41% of the population read the newspaper, and only about
8% spend an hour or more reading the paper. Most get their news from TV.

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=613
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote
Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).


Very few people read nonfiction for pleasure, and the
fiction audience gets smaller & smaller every year in this
country.

I am shocked at the number of people I meet in the
university environment who read as little as possible, and
that only within a very narrow range of interest (within
their field of course). I met a far higher percentage of
avid readers in the military.

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.


Sure. And IMHO the internet makes it worse... this newsgroup
is an example... instead of sampling a wide range of
material and digging further for interesting details, people
tend to form little clusters of self-reinforcing interest
groups.

Doug Kanter wrote:
I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible - the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20 professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.



Partly because I was an older student (returning vet) and
partly because I pushed pretty hard, in college I spent a
lot of time in grad courses & hanging out with grad
students. For a couple semesters I found myself as an aide
and responsible for helping to grade undergrad papers... at
least half of those "essay questions" were answered with
incomplete sentences, gobbledygook sprinkled with keywords
plucked from the textbook. It was appalling and I was told
many times to not grade so harshly! After a while, I felt
that the guys who wrote long-winded evasive paragraphs about
very very little were at least deserving a C for being able
to write coherently.

When I say that the average reading level in the US is at
the 5th grade, I'm including college... unfortunately.

Regards
Doug King

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:49:15 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

This study would indicate that only about 41% of the population read the
newspaper, and only about
8% spend an hour or more reading the paper. Most get their news from TV.

I stopped receivin the newspaper over a year ago.......I got tired of the
constant socialist slant (and that was the "conservative" paper in town.)
The sports coverage sucked, unless it was the hometown teams, and it ended
up more ads than anything. I have found I can get the all the major
editorials on line, (realclearpolitics is a good one for that) as well as
better sports coverage...and the links typically will give you further in
depth info. I watch the TV news only for the "breaking" stories....and most
of the time it is comical seeing the "journalists" trying to cover a story
that they have no idea what they are talking about.



http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=613
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:11:15 GMT, "Doug Kanter" wrote:

"JohnH" wrote in message
.. .

As Fox News doesn't publish a newspaper,

Almost any of the Gannett fish wrappers are a close substitute for Fox
broadcast news.


I wasn't simply trying to answer your question. If you don't get Fox News, how can you be so
judgmental?
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"DSK" wrote in message
...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote
Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).


Very few people read nonfiction for pleasure, and the fiction audience
gets smaller & smaller every year in this country.

I am shocked at the number of people I meet in the university environment
who read as little as possible, and that only within a very narrow range
of interest (within their field of course). I met a far higher percentage
of avid readers in the military.

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.


Sure. And IMHO the internet makes it worse... this newsgroup is an
example... instead of sampling a wide range of material and digging
further for interesting details, people tend to form little clusters of
self-reinforcing interest groups.

Doug Kanter wrote:
I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material
for college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place
for spotting plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their
work as computer documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the
seniors in the course had swiped some or all of their writing off the
web. And, their bibliographies listed books which did not exist in the
school's library. Sort of interesting, considering it was a course in
research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

Partly because I was an older student (returning vet) and partly because I
pushed pretty hard, in college I spent a lot of time in grad courses &
hanging out with grad students. For a couple semesters I found myself as
an aide and responsible for helping to grade undergrad papers... at least
half of those "essay questions" were answered with incomplete sentences,
gobbledygook sprinkled with keywords plucked from the textbook. It was
appalling and I was told many times to not grade so harshly! After a
while, I felt that the guys who wrote long-winded evasive paragraphs about
very very little were at least deserving a C for being able to write
coherently.

When I say that the average reading level in the US is at the 5th grade,
I'm including college... unfortunately.

Regards
Doug King


What's worse is that these people have the blessings of the commander in
chief, who has made it seem "elite" to be well versed in our native
language.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:28:26 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:04:35 -0500, JohnH wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

DSK

I've never denied that the 'best' info comes from reading. As Fox News doesn't publish a newspaper,
I would guess it was presented as part of their news. There have been several stories on obesity in
the TV news recently.

Hmmm - technically, that's not true. FOX is part of a newspaper
empire.

If Fox News publishes a paper, then the article may have been published in the paper. I got it he

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html

I didn't see the article in a newspaper, but perhaps the Washington Post and the NY Times are not
Gannet newspapers.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:11:15 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

"JohnH" wrote in message
. ..

As Fox News doesn't publish a newspaper,

Almost any of the Gannett fish wrappers are a close substitute for Fox
broadcast news.


I wasn't simply trying to answer your question. If you don't get Fox News,
how can you be so
judgmental?
--
John H

Up until last Spring, I had the cable version of Fox News. I shut off cable
when it became apparent that I'd be spending every non-work moment outdoors.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter" wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible - the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20 professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.


What is causing the decrease in the work ethic of students?

Your last sentence is especially true of math books. I wonder why the county spends so much money on
them.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Your students are not alone in their desire. Last year, my son and some of
his AP math class pals decided that the teacher was awful, compared to those
they'd had in the past. These kids would stay after school for extra help,
and the teacher was unable to explain things any better than during the
class. So, they created a petition to bring to the principal. The principal
wasn't too keen on that method of changing things, but even so, a couple of
days later, it was as if somebody had stuck new batteries into that teacher.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:31:44 -0500, "P Fritz" wrote:



I stopped receivin the newspaper over a year ago.......I got tired of the
constant socialist slant (and that was the "conservative" paper in town.)
The sports coverage sucked, unless it was the hometown teams, and it ended
up more ads than anything. I have found I can get the all the major
editorials on line, (realclearpolitics is a good one for that) as well as
better sports coverage...and the links typically will give you further in
depth info. I watch the TV news only for the "breaking" stories....and most
of the time it is comical seeing the "journalists" trying to cover a story
that they have no idea what they are talking about.



http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=613
--

Thanks for the link. I take the Sunday Post, because of the coupons! Every so often I'll allow the
delivery of the weekday papers, when they have a 'free three months' or whatever. The plastic bags
are the right size for picking up dog poop, and the carrier makes a little more for delivering the
paper, even though I'm not paying for it.

It's much easier to read the news online. The articles are the same, less trees are consumed, and
links are provided for further info.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.


What is causing the decrease in the work ethic of students?

Your last sentence is especially true of math books. I wonder why the
county spends so much money on
them.
--
John H

I think it's caused by parents who think they have to know the material in
order to help their kids. They give up too soon. They don't realize that
sometimes, just expressing an interest is enough to motivate kids.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:31:44 -0500, "P Fritz"
wrote:


"JohnH" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:49:15 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

This study would indicate that only about 41% of the population read
the
newspaper, and only about
8% spend an hour or more reading the paper. Most get their news from
TV.

I stopped receivin the newspaper over a year ago.......I got tired of the
constant socialist slant (and that was the "conservative" paper in town.)
The sports coverage sucked, unless it was the hometown teams, and it
ended
up more ads than anything. I have found I can get the all the major
editorials on line, (realclearpolitics is a good one for that) as well
as
better sports coverage...and the links typically will give you further in
depth info. I watch the TV news only for the "breaking" stories....and
most
of the time it is comical seeing the "journalists" trying to cover a
story
that they have no idea what they are talking about.

Which is exactly what I was talking about tailoring your reading to
reflect your personal beliefs and not reading or taking a broad
approach to understanding issues. If you only look at one side, you
can never really truly understand issues.

I have a daily routine in which I read liberal/conservative blogs, I
read/scan the NYT, Wash Post, Wash Times and WS Journal and keep the
TV news local. In the evening, I pick, at random, one conservative
and one liberal blog to read in it's entirety including commentary,
then after doing whatever hobby has my interest for that day, I spend
at least an hour reading non-fiction and a half hour fiction before I
hit the rack.

Later,

Tom

The reason I like realclearpolitcs is that it links to a smorgasboard of
edtitorials and news articles across the country.
Don't go assuming on me. ;-)

I love reading rags like Smithsonian, Nat. Geo, and a few trade ones, I
just never had the time or desire for much fiction.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:31:44 -0500, "P Fritz"
wrote:



I stopped receivin the newspaper over a year ago.......I got tired of the
constant socialist slant (and that was the "conservative" paper in town.)
The sports coverage sucked, unless it was the hometown teams, and it
ended
up more ads than anything. I have found I can get the all the major
editorials on line, (realclearpolitics is a good one for that) as well
as
better sports coverage...and the links typically will give you further in
depth info. I watch the TV news only for the "breaking" stories....and
most
of the time it is comical seeing the "journalists" trying to cover a
story
that they have no idea what they are talking about.



http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=613
--

Thanks for the link. I take the Sunday Post, because of the coupons! Every
so often I'll allow the
delivery of the weekday papers, when they have a 'free three months' or
whatever. The plastic bags
are the right size for picking up dog poop, and the carrier makes a little
more for delivering the
paper, even though I'm not paying for it.

It's much easier to read the news online. The articles are the same, less
trees are consumed, and
links are provided for further info.

I stopped with the coupons when they discontinued the 2 - 3x offers. :-)

I like the realclearpolitcs site because you really get a cross section of
links.



--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

Tom,
Ok so why you do teach a few classes, and only teach part time. ; )


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:03:37 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not
my real name. wrote:

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?

I'm retired.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:45:30 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible - the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20 professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Having undergone the same circumstance, multiple times, I would guess it's because they thought they
learned more from you. The question is, why did they think that? It could be because you taught the
subject in a way that was more understandable for them. It could be that you were something new, and
therefore they paid more attention. It could be that the teacher, knowing you were a sub, left you a
little less material to cover than would normally have been covered, and therefore you could get
into more depth with the material.

There are undoubtedly other explanations.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:54:16 GMT, "Doug Kanter" wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Your students are not alone in their desire. Last year, my son and some of
his AP math class pals decided that the teacher was awful, compared to those
they'd had in the past. These kids would stay after school for extra help,
and the teacher was unable to explain things any better than during the
class. So, they created a petition to bring to the principal. The principal
wasn't too keen on that method of changing things, but even so, a couple of
days later, it was as if somebody had stuck new batteries into that teacher.


A few phone calls from parents can work wonders!
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:10:58 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not my real name. wrote:

Tom,
Ok so why you do teach a few classes, and only teach part time. ; )


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:03:37 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not
my real name. wrote:

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?

I'm retired.


There's no such thing as 'part time' teaching. You just devote all your time to fewer students!
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

It's kind of like drills in sports, an effort to get muscle memory working
so you don't have to be totally conscious of how to swing a bat.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:54:16 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:08:05 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
m...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 15:28:45 -0500, DSK wrote:

And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm


JohnH wrote:
You may be right, but I think you lean left:

You "think" anybody who doesn't drool themselves to sleep at
night over a picture of President Bush holding hands with
Jesus is leaning to the left.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150663,00.html


Interesting article, thanks for the link... definitely gets
the point across about the health issues... but was this
covered on their TV news? Or does this further prove my
point that the best info is to be had by *reading*?

Funny you should mention this Doug. The other day, I was commenting on
an image on a photography group I have frequented for a long time and
used some imagery from mythology, in particular Campbell's "Thousand
Faces" to make my point. Nobody knew the reference or ever understood
it for that matter.

I have noticed more and more that the broad based reading you would
think "artists" would be doing isn't being done and that if you make a
literary reference, it's usually met with stone silence - unless the
reader is around my age (60 +/-).

I have often thought that one reason that we have the political
problems we have is that not enough people are well read enough or
spend their time reading that which is understandable to them, rather
than stretching their imaginations and intellects to at least try and
attain another level of enlightenment.

Later,

Tom

I wonder if what you're talking about has been caused, in part, by the
internet, and the ease of plagiarising such things as written material
for
college assignments.

Two years ago, a friend of mine taught a college course in research
methods
at SUNY Binghamton. The school apparently has a system in place for
spotting
plagiarized writing by the students, who must submit their work as
computer
documents. My friend found that 5 out of 20 of the seniors in the course
had
swiped some or all of their writing off the web. And, their
bibliographies
listed books which did not exist in the school's library. Sort of
interesting, considering it was a course in research methods.

To make matters worse, a few of the students' work was unintelligible -
the
kids could not write to save their lives. How they got past 15-20
professors
in years 1 through 3 was a complete mystery.

Anyway, some of these people never cracked a book.

I can believe it. Locally, we have a pretty good technical college,
but all the good professors are leaving or retiring. The new ones
they are being replaced with are results of the 80's era educational
process and are marginal. When I sub for the math instructors, I'm
constantly amazed at how little information they are imparting to
their students - it's almost as if they are teaching by rote or, worse
yet, don't understand the material they are presenting.

Not to brag, but I had a recent week long term sub assignment and the
kids were begging the administration for a new math teacher - me. I
know the material inside out and can present it properly and actually
answer questions about the mysteries they face.

I don't know that all means, but it's got to be significant in some
way.

Your students are not alone in their desire. Last year, my son and some of
his AP math class pals decided that the teacher was awful, compared to
those
they'd had in the past. These kids would stay after school for extra help,
and the teacher was unable to explain things any better than during the
class. So, they created a petition to bring to the principal. The
principal
wasn't too keen on that method of changing things, but even so, a couple
of
days later, it was as if somebody had stuck new batteries into that
teacher.


A few phone calls from parents can work wonders!
--
John H

I guess, but I thought it was pretty cool what the kids did. These were all
high achievers, too. They were basically saying they liked the difficult
course work, but wanted the help that would "always be available", according
to the nice speech from the principal at the beginning of the year.

On the other hand, my son's balanced enough to know when a teacher's trying
hard, but isn't quite cutting it. That's the deal with his AP physics
teacher now. The guy's 2 years out of college and he doesn't know enough
tricks for explaining things. The kids like him, but the whole class got 60s
on the first exam, and they were appalled.

I ended up spending 3 weeks on the phone looking for a tutor, at my son's
request. I ended up getting him with a physics professor from the Rochester
Institute of Technology. The guy's web page says he's interested in "Plasma
Surface Modification of Polymers (polyimide, Teflon) to Enhance Adhesion
with Vacuum Deposited (sputtering, evaporation) Metals (copper)". (WHAT???)
But, he offered to tutor my son, for free, with the understanding that he
pass along the knowledge to another kid in the future, if the opportunity
arose. The prof's actually enjoying it - he hadn't taught things like
conservation of energy in quite some time.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"DSK" wrote in message
...
And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

DSK


Some bias by the Brits also. The British are expanding their waist lines as
well as a lot of the other EU countries. Maybe it is the KFC, McD's etc, we
have exported, or their kids are sitting around playing xbox's also. Also,
how can we have so many fat kids, when according to the same EU people, we
are starving our poor. ;) There is almost no PE in schools anymore, and
you do not see the kids out in the streets playing ball, or kick the can.
Very little physical exercise.
Also, the definition of obese is a little strange. It is weight to height.
According to the charts, Gov. Arnold is obese.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

Tom,
Is that your story and you are sticking to it?


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:21:01 -0500, JohnH wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:10:58 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not my
real name. wrote:

Tom,
Ok so why you do teach a few classes, and only teach part time. ; )


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:03:37 -0500, "Smithers" Yes, Smithers is not
my real name. wrote:

Tom,
So why don't you teach a few classes full time?

I'm retired.

There's no such thing as 'part time' teaching. You just devote all your
time to fewer students!

I'm retired.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:25:59 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
. ..

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

It's kind of like drills in sports, an effort to get muscle memory working
so you don't have to be totally conscious of how to swing a bat.

Perfect explanation.

I done figgered it out by mahself.

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:17:42 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:47:11 -0500, JohnH wrote:

What is causing the decrease in the work ethic of students?

Parents. Because of the nature of my wife's work with her Union,
local, state and national, she's out a lot of evenings and I sometimes
field the calls from parents who like to bitch and moan about too much
homework or why do they have to teach math - that's what they make
calculators for. It's got so bad at one point last year that I just
didn't answer the house phone at night. It's way too much work for
the parents to observe, orient and help the kids even if they do
understand the material.

I swear to god this is a true incident. Wife was out and I caught the
call accidentally - it was a parent who wanted to know why there was
all this homework about the structure of government - her daughter was
going to be a Irish Dancer and really didn't need to know all this
sort of thing.

I swear that's true. There is another parent of one of my wife's
students who truly believes that "exploration" of the child's
environment is much more important than structured teaching.

Your last sentence is especially true of math books. I wonder why the county spends so much money on
them.

Math is math and everybody who doesn't understand math wants to make
it understandable.

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

Another true one:

I had some kids (8th grade) at the board doing problems. A girl had to multiply 6 x 7 as part of her
problem. She asked if she could go to her desk to get her calculator. I said no. She said she didn't
know what 6 x 7 was, so I told her to write seven sixes and add them up. At his point, she got teary
-eyed and someone else said, "42".

That evening her dad called and proceeded to jump all over me for 'embarrassing his daughter'. I
told him it wasn't my fault she couldn't multiply, and *he* should be embarrassed. I suggested he
get some flash cards and use them in the car next time they went to Kings Dominion. He said he was
going to talk to my principal.

I never heard any more about it.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

Here's a Story You Will Never See On Fox News
 

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:31:22 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:19:23 -0500, JohnH wrote:

knowing you were a sub, left you a
little less material to cover than would normally have been covered
.
That's actually not the case at all. I do more in less time than most
of the instructors.

I presented it only as a possibility.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

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On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:48:50 GMT, "Doug Kanter" wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:25:59 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

It's kind of like drills in sports, an effort to get muscle memory working
so you don't have to be totally conscious of how to swing a bat.

Perfect explanation.

I done figgered it out by mahself.


Yup. You did good.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

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On Tue, 20 Dec 2005 00:33:17 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 18:59:33 -0500, JohnH wrote:



Another true one:

I had some kids (8th grade) at the board doing problems. A girl had to multiply 6 x 7 as part of her
problem. She asked if she could go to her desk to get her calculator. I said no. She said she didn't
know what 6 x 7 was, so I told her to write seven sixes and add them up. At his point, she got teary
-eyed and someone else said, "42".

That evening her dad called and proceeded to jump all over me for 'embarrassing his daughter'. I
told him it wasn't my fault she couldn't multiply, and *he* should be embarrassed. I suggested he
get some flash cards and use them in the car next time they went to Kings Dominion. He said he was
going to talk to my principal.

I never heard any more about it.

My favorite came from a high school advanced class I was badgered into
one morning.

Had a smart ass who was trying mightily to make the sub squirm. At
one point, he claimed that I was a lousy sub and he knew more than I
did.

So I gave him this to solve: Find THE solution to x = sin(x).

Heh, heh, heh...

His father called me and actually thanked me. He starts telling me
that he's not as smart as his kid, etc, etc, etc. and finally somebody
put him in his place.

Later,

Tom

Luckily I don't run in to the badgering problem very often. I sub only at one school and only for
math teachers (with a rare exception if I really like the teacher). All the kids know me and we get
along pretty well. This year I've kicked a kid out of class only once, and that was an 8th grader
who should have been in prison. He got caught breaking into cars in the parking lot and is no longer
with us.

Subbing math has the advantages of teaching (seeing the 'ah-ha' light come on) without the
disadvantages - parents, papers, and principals!
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

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On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 21:53:04 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

I have a daily routine in which I read liberal/conservative blogs, I
read/scan the NYT, Wash Post, Wash Times and WS Journal and keep the
TV news local. In the evening, I pick, at random, one conservative
and one liberal blog to read in it's entirety including commentary,
then after doing whatever hobby has my interest for that day, I spend
at least an hour reading non-fiction and a half hour fiction before I
hit the rack.

=============================

When do you go boating Tom? :-)

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The parents need to start teaching the Mult. tables in 2nd grade. Whenever
we were driving in the car, the kids would have to answer the times table
automatically, so they didn't even think about it. My logic was the kids
were going to be doing upper level math, it was important they didn't have
to think about multiplying or dividing.


"JohnH" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:17:42 GMT, Shortwave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Dec 2005 16:47:11 -0500, JohnH wrote:

What is causing the decrease in the work ethic of students?

Parents. Because of the nature of my wife's work with her Union,
local, state and national, she's out a lot of evenings and I sometimes
field the calls from parents who like to bitch and moan about too much
homework or why do they have to teach math - that's what they make
calculators for. It's got so bad at one point last year that I just
didn't answer the house phone at night. It's way too much work for
the parents to observe, orient and help the kids even if they do
understand the material.

I swear to god this is a true incident. Wife was out and I caught the
call accidentally - it was a parent who wanted to know why there was
all this homework about the structure of government - her daughter was
going to be a Irish Dancer and really didn't need to know all this
sort of thing.

I swear that's true. There is another parent of one of my wife's
students who truly believes that "exploration" of the child's
environment is much more important than structured teaching.

Your last sentence is especially true of math books. I wonder why the
county spends so much money on
them.

Math is math and everybody who doesn't understand math wants to make
it understandable.

What they don't realize is that math is based on rote learning - you
can't really "get" math until you understand the arithmetic of
multiplication and division by rote - that's my opinion anyway and
it's pretty much substantiated by what they are doing in Europe. some
of the Czech and Hungarian Universities are teaching real mathematics
the real way - doing it, explaining it, some of it by rote teaching of
the mechanics.

They are very successful.

Another true one:

I had some kids (8th grade) at the board doing problems. A girl had to
multiply 6 x 7 as part of her
problem. She asked if she could go to her desk to get her calculator. I
said no. She said she didn't
know what 6 x 7 was, so I told her to write seven sixes and add them up.
At his point, she got teary
-eyed and someone else said, "42".

That evening her dad called and proceeded to jump all over me for
'embarrassing his daughter'. I
told him it wasn't my fault she couldn't multiply, and *he* should be
embarrassed. I suggested he
get some flash cards and use them in the car next time they went to Kings
Dominion. He said he was
going to talk to my principal.

I never heard any more about it.
--
John H

**** May your Christmas be Spectacular!****
*****...and your New Year even Better!*****

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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
nk.net...

"DSK" wrote in message
...
And it has nothing to do with political bias.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4501646.stm

DSK


Some bias by the Brits also. The British are expanding their waist
lines as
well as a lot of the other EU countries. Maybe it is the KFC, McD's
etc, we
have exported, or their kids are sitting around playing xbox's also.
Also,
how can we have so many fat kids, when according to the same EU people,
we
are starving our poor. ;) There is almost no PE in schools anymore,
and
you do not see the kids out in the streets playing ball, or kick the
can.
Very little physical exercise.
Also, the definition of obese is a little strange. It is weight to
height.
According to the charts, Gov. Arnold is obese.

So am I, and with a 38 waist.

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"Doug Kanter" wrote ...

I ended up spending 3 weeks on the phone looking for a tutor, at my son's
request. I ended up getting him with a physics professor from the Rochester
Institute of Technology. The guy's web page says he's interested in "Plasma
Surface Modification of Polymers (polyimide, Teflon) to Enhance Adhesion with
Vacuum Deposited (sputtering, evaporation) Metals (copper)". (WHAT???)

He's studying better ways of making circuit boards. (?)

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"-rick-" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote ...

I ended up spending 3 weeks on the phone looking for a tutor, at my son's
request. I ended up getting him with a physics professor from the
Rochester Institute of Technology. The guy's web page says he's
interested in "Plasma Surface Modification of Polymers (polyimide,
Teflon) to Enhance Adhesion with Vacuum Deposited (sputtering,
evaporation) Metals (copper)". (WHAT???)

He's studying better ways of making circuit boards. (?)


Either disks for disk drives or a good, cheap solar cell.

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"-rick-" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote ...

I ended up spending 3 weeks on the phone looking for a tutor, at my son's
request. I ended up getting him with a physics professor from the
Rochester Institute of Technology. The guy's web page says he's
interested in "Plasma Surface Modification of Polymers (polyimide,
Teflon) to Enhance Adhesion with Vacuum Deposited (sputtering,
evaporation) Metals (copper)". (WHAT???)

He's studying better ways of making circuit boards. (?)


The school gets assignments from Kodak and the CIA, so it could be any
number of very interesting things.

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Have you been to Europe lately? They have their share of "plump
people". They do have thin people, the differance, their smokers.