Saturday, August 25

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Posted by Metamatician on Saturday, August 25, 2007

6 comments:

Sara said...

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

That's coz I'm 100% psychic and just 'knew' the answers.

August 26, 2007
Metamatician said...

Hah! Good on ye, mate.

Science is the bad word of the ignorant.

Everyone should get 100% on this test.

September 01, 2007
Sara said...

Note how I didn't take the Eighth grade math test....

September 01, 2007
Metamatician said...

Understanding math, the gears and wheels behind the pretty picture show, is essential to making a complete person. I don't see how someone could attempt to understand the universe or themselves completely without seeing the beautiful geometric and numerical relationships between everything. It's one reason I get frustrated by pure artists who actually think math is some hideous abberation.

It's ok to be completely right-brained and not like the practice of the subject (It's ok to be anything), but to denigrate it as a field of inquiry for other is ignorant IMO. Not saying that's what you're doing.

September 01, 2007
Sara said...

It isn't what I'm doing. I do see the patterns and of course mathematical structure is what holds all things together. I'm just no good at it. My brain dosesn't work in that way at all and it's been an endless source of frustration for people like my father, schoolteachers and myself since early childhood. I feel like crying just thinking about long division!

September 02, 2007
Metamatician said...

You sound like my daughter! She had the worst time with long division and she still hates math. I think people are born with different aptitudes for it, just like with any other attribute, but also the way in which you're taught has a big impact on how you feel about the subject, and consequently, how you perform. Unfortunately our public school systems (in both countries, I would imagined) have let us down in this area, and in the teaching of all "fundamental" skills across the board. Maybe if teachers earned more money, the profession would attract more talent and competition for jobs, and better teachers would result. Instead, as it is currently, they head for university positions or practical applications of their skills outside Academia.

Both our countries have world-class higher education institutes undermined by very shaky K-12 foundations. That's why you see other Europeans and Asians in so many colleges and especially graduate programs. It's a great opportunity for them and I don't blame foreigners at all for out own political blunders. It's just sad to see your own country becoming functionally illiterate in writing, reading, and arithmetic. You know a few generations down the line the preponderance of intellectual acumen will not reside in the USA or Great Britain, but elsewhere, and we will both cease to be great, innovative nations. Why our own governments can't see that is a mystery. I suppose it is because they have limited terms, so they have a "it's not MY problem" attitude, and likewise their constituencies want laws passed that immediately benefit them, like tax breaks, rather than taking the long view and investing in their grandchildren's education. Selfish and sad really.

September 02, 2007

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