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The Dream Palace of Educational Theorists
New English Review ^ | December, 2006 | John Derbyshire

Posted on 12/02/2006 2:20:13 PM PST by Leisler

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To: rellimpank

And today they give a degree in "Communications".......................translated that means those students FINALLY learned to read and write a paragraph having failed to learn such thru the first 12 years in public school.....................Make dat phirst duzen yeers of publik skool.....


41 posted on 12/03/2006 12:57:38 PM PST by litehaus (A memory tooooo long)
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To: Leisler; rellimpank; Tired of Taxes
Where do flunked out edjamkation majors go? Journalism?

Judging by the quality of the articles written that are posted in threads here on FR, yes.

42 posted on 12/03/2006 1:02:54 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: megatherium

"because 30% of all PhDs in math go to women."


Would it be Un PC for me to ask -What women? Percentage Wasps/Asian/African/Afican American/Indian/etc etc .............................Father of math PhD asking this question..........


43 posted on 12/03/2006 1:04:53 PM PST by litehaus (A memory tooooo long)
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To: GSlob
I really, really wish I had saved that one from Organic Chemistry, which involved "draw a diagram of the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of an enamine. Show the reactants, products, and the movement of the electrons."

The response involved a cartoon of a two-legged critter, labeled "the enamine" looking up in surprise as a beaker of acid spills on him.

The next panel was a bunch of clouds and scribbles, with a zig-zag mess in one corner labeled 'movement of electrons'.

In the last panel there was a new, cuter-looking critter with a big smile on its face, next to the smashed (and empty) beaker of acid. This was labeled "no longer an enamine, now an enaniece."

Cheers!

44 posted on 12/03/2006 1:07:08 PM PST by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: Leisler; All

When I walk into a classroom and it is mostly education majors, I always have a sense of dread.

Education majors are and have been for the decades I have been teaching in colleges and universities, the worst students and the least able to learn.

As the saying goes: "I have had some great and brilliant education" students, but that is maybe 10 % or less and at the K-8 range, the percentage is much lower.


45 posted on 12/03/2006 1:08:43 PM PST by Ryde (Post-modernism: good only for those who sleep in soft beds.)
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To: somniferum

see # 39. We were trying, OOH, to do it as easily on ourselves as possible, but OTOH, to do a decent grading job. If a student clearly does not have a clue, then where is the need to waste one's time on reading his/her garbage? Hence the cluemeter approach.


46 posted on 12/03/2006 1:10:10 PM PST by GSlob
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To: litehaus
Very good question. The US citizens who get PhDs in math are mostly white (both male and female); the non-US citizens who get PhDs in math in this country are mostly Asian. About 30% of US citizens getting PhDs are female (28% in 2005, 32% the previous year). (It's 30% counting both US citizens and non-citizens getting PhDs in this country.)

By the way, beyond the issue of gender the number that really jumps out is the fact that only 39% of PhD recipients are US citizens (when I got mine 20 years ago, it was close to 50%).

You'll find exact numbers for 2005 in the American Mathematical Society 2005 survey of new doctoral degrees: http://www.ams.org/employment/2005Survey-First-Reports.pdf. See the table at the top of page 236, as well as the highlights sidebar at the beginning.

47 posted on 12/03/2006 1:53:43 PM PST by megatherium
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To: DaveLoneRanger; 2Jedismom; Aggie Mama; agrace; Antoninus; arbooz; bboop; blu; cgk; ...
ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL PING!

For the record, I disagree with the last half of this article. Genes don't mold a child into a successful, responsible adult; raising the child with good values and motivating him or her to learn does. (But the first half where the writer describes the "public school racket" is on the mark).

This ping list is for the "other" articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. If you want on/off this list, please freepmail me. The main Homeschool Ping List by DaveLoneRanger handles the homeschool-specific articles.

48 posted on 12/03/2006 9:49:26 PM PST by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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To: litehaus

Hey, watch it. :-) I was a communications major. Newswriting is a tougher course than most people realize. Courses that involve just opening a textbook and reading it are a breeze. But, chasing someone down, talking the person into letting you interview him/her, then running around asking other people for their opinions, and finally writing and submitting a story was far more challenging.

I agree, though, that a four-year college education should be unnecessary for most majors.


49 posted on 12/03/2006 10:15:20 PM PST by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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To: Tired of Taxes
"But, chasing someone down, talking the person into letting you interview him/her, then running around asking other people for their opinions, and finally writing and submitting a story was far more challenging"

You gotta rephrase that-----sounds like paparazzi work for Natl Enq or sumtin like that, not reporting......;^)

50 posted on 12/04/2006 6:21:13 AM PST by litehaus (A memory tooooo long)
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Comment #51 Removed by Moderator

To: Tired of Taxes
I agree totally with your analysis of the article. The second half is total junk. Yes, DNA plays a part, but I'll cite an example that I will be honest, I don't remember where it came from.

I think it was a friend of mine describing the difference between children raised at home and children shuffled off to daycare/school. The kids of her friends that were sent to daycare very young grew up to be completely different than the parents. Nothing alike. The kids of friends that stayed at home grew up more similar to their parents. Hmmm.

I think the problem with these lower income children is that they get shuffled off to daycare and take on the values of whatever the cheapest daycare worker has or they stay home, but it doesn't help because mama has no values in the first place. I don't think this is necessarily across the board, but more of a general rule.

52 posted on 12/04/2006 9:13:20 AM PST by Kaylee Frye
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To: Tired of Taxes

"Genes don't mold a child into a successful, responsible adult; raising the child with good values and motivating him or her to learn does."

That is true. But it's hard to be motivated to learn if the cirriculum consists of things that most will never encounter once they leave school, not to mention being subjected to bullies, poorly-written textbooks, ugly, cell block-like classrooms, teachers who are little more than place-fillers, and then have to spend hours at home doing dull, empty busywork.


53 posted on 12/04/2006 2:38:52 PM PST by Clintonfatigued (Corporatism is not conservatism)
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To: Kaylee Frye

Thanks. I think your analysis of the problem is correct, too.


54 posted on 12/04/2006 9:30:09 PM PST by Tired of Taxes (That's taxes, not Texas. I have no beef with TX. NJ has the highest property taxes in the nation.)
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