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Maurice wrote:
I'm not going to address that litany of "they done me wrongs" and thinly veiled jabs at the left above, but it's pretty well established that there a lot of history taught that's baldly incorrect.
American history has often mythologised in public school textbooks due to the needs of the textbook industry to placate local school boards. This is why we get whitewashed versions of Helen Keller, Reconstruction, etc., and persistent myths like Betsy Ross.
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Well they did do me wrong
Of course they did everyone wrong. My old high school had some pretty incredible drop out rates.
Of course it's 100% my own fault that I never to this day got my GED.
Come to think of it, I failed metal shop through lack of trying, so I guess by 9th grade I was failing my teachers as much as they were failing me.
Hmm, I was wondering why so much of school taught history is incorrect.
I mean, the first thing that springs to my mind is "damn leftist politics" (which there was a lot of, jab jab) but the reality of it is a lot of the stuff I learned that was false, had no political motivation behind it.
You say it's because the textbook industry is trying to make money? or are you saying they are trying to fill some sort of quota?
And what Betsy Ross myths are you talking about?
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JarodRussell wrote:
Oh come on, surely you were taught about basic Newtonian physics, regardless of how much your teacher rambled.
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Actually my 8th grade science teacher, Mr. Little, did teach us about Newtonian physics. He had this lovely demonstration, he said "You know how women love to wear lipstick to make their lips all waxy? Karen, I want you to stand up and wet your lips. Just give 'em a quick lick like this."
After she licked her lips he said "there you go folks, that's our physics lesson. Wet waxy lips. Or WW LIPS. Which stands for Wheels, Wedges, Levers, Inclines, Pulleys, Springs"
He had made the big deal of making Karen lick her lips for the spectacle so that we'd remember it, considering we were going to spend the second half of the year learning about those exact things, and about Newton's laws of motion, and building devices using those principals, and explain the motion, the cause and effect, with the laws of newtons physics.
And because I had the biggest crush on Karen, I'll never forget her wetting her waxy lips.
I only remember the name of two of my teachers. Mr. Little, because he was my favorite, and actually the teacher who got me to care about science. And Mrs. Greene, because good god that woman had legs LOL
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Christopher wrote:
Yeah, sometimes teachers are a crapshoot. I went to a high school that's considered one of the finest public schools in the United States, yet I still got a biology teacher who was a creationist and a health teacher who was a mortician. I did get some really great teachers, though, like a physics teacher who was an actual professor.
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A creationist biology teacher and a health teacher that was a mortician. Oh I could just see his speeches "and here are the 5 things you can do to make sure you never have to come see me at my other profession, eat right, exorcise, don't smoke..."
I just remembered another teacher I liked, how he inspired all of us, and how he was wrongfully fired. I'll put this in a spoiler tag so everyone can skip it.
Actually I just remembered another teacher. Mr Thompson, either 8th or 9th grade PE teacher. He was really good. He was all about "trying" and team spirit. And if you didn't do well in his class, near the end of the semester, he'd pull you to the side, and really giving you a polite talking to about how he grades on effort, individual progress, group participation, and sportsmen conduct. How you can come in last in the race, and still get an "A" if you finish the race faster than last time, and had a good positive attitude.
I remember one day, I was chosen as team captain for basketball practice, and my opponent went first. He chose Darnell who's nick name was "wings" because he could fly through the air and slam dunk. I made my choice, and then Charles walked in, saying he is sorry for being late. My opponent got to choose him. The best damn basket ball player in the entire neighborhood. And my opponent (the other captain) was probably the third best basket ball player. So their team had the three best players (by a land slide). Because these three men were like professional NBA stars, versus a bunch of pudgy little white boys and girls, we knew there was no way my team had a chance no matter who else I picked. So lo and behold my opponent started choosing the absolute worst people to fill out the rest of his team. He chose the fat people, skinny little white girls afraid to break their nails, and all the stereotypical nerds. The people who had a reputation in our class as being the least athletic, and the most shy and socially awkward.
We played, and they're team still won LOL. But afterward, I heard Mr. Thompson talking to the team captain (can't remember his name) and he commended him for choosing the team the way he did.
You see, the team captain wanted to make it fair, he knew he had the three best ball players in the school, so he chose all the weakest people, passed the ball to them. Made them, forced them, to be a part of the team, and then made them all feel like winners by winning. All the while giving my team a fighting chance.
That was the kind of spirit Mr. Thompson could inspire in us.
A few years later the school fired him for being homosexual.
Talk about messed up. They fired one of the few teachers who ever made a positive impact on anyone, just for being gay. Not that he was gay with his students or any scandal like that.
And what shocked me was, this was a school that beet you over the head with liberal tolerance and equality, they just didn't want to practice what they preached.
Further proof that yes, there are some good teachers, but man, something was just wrong with my school district.
I am wondering what you guys think of this solar system theory that earth is not revolving around a stationary sun, but is instead traveling in a spiral.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6jBK...eature=related