Amusing Anecdote
On Tuesday, I tutored a student who had been in an entire math class in which a teacher “taught” the concept of factoring sums and …
Culture
Rational Vocabulary
Vocabulary is done as if we were training parrots, not men: rational animals. In school, we are given lists of words which are “defined” by something …
The Arrow
I really enjoy some aspects of The Arrow. (I am in Season 2, around Episode 10.)1. It’s fun.2. The lead character has an amazing athletic …
Education Then and Now
Watch ABC’s Tinley Park High School 1988 – America’s Kids: Why They Flunk, hosted by Barbara Walters.Things any better? Any worse? The same?I’d say they …
When 1/2 Causes a Lightbulb Moment
On Saturday, when I derived some area formulas, a junior high school student said in regard to the formula for the area of a triangle: …
Doing Chemistry Right
A recommended read: A Short History of Chemistry by Isaac Asimov.Instead of learning about “chemical stuff” thrown at you here and there, we should learn …
STEM
I despise the push for students to go into STEM: science, technology, engineering, math. The government should have nothing to do with it. The culture …
SAT/ACT Advice to Parents
Prepare your children for the SAT and ACT years in advance!! Please. Please, please, please.Getting As in school or taking dual-credit classes is not necessarily …
Physics Fail, Reprise
Groan. So much physics is taught without giving content and examples to the concepts. It pains me. It hurts seeing how students suffer from this; …
Physics Fail
What a shame that so much physics is taught to empty of content. Students do not know much about what the concepts mean; examples are …