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Re: Discussion: Do US Math Teachers Suck?
Posted:
Mar 27, 2012 1:31 PM
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> I think it would take strength of character, rarely found in adults, for a young child in such a situation to realize that despite conditions it is in his long-run interest to obey the rules and do the work. Given the massive evidence before his eyes that playing by the rules and doing the work is a sucker's game, most young kids are going respond exactly to the incentives given them by the schools. They will do nothing. Isn't this just what we (Paul not included) see in the schools, today?
>
> Haim
> Shovel ready? What shovel ready?
This idea of a competitive race is quite typical. Note it's "every
man for himself" so unlike education systems which encourage peer
teaching starting early.
Think also of a circus. The lion tamer might suck on the tight rope
(certainly the lions would). Acrobats don't necessarily make good
clowns, though some do.
The conveyor belt kicks on, just like the conveyor belt of life.
Time waits for no man, time marches on, append your own cliche about
inevitability, the hourglass, the sands of life.
Forget "social promotion" -- no one salutes a 4th grader more times
than they salute a 3rd grader and neither can vote.
Your body is growing. The sports change and the teachers have morphed
to deal with that age group.
One of the biggest misleading forces are the screenwriters for TV, who
went on strike but didn't stay on strike (too bad).
Screenwriters show these never-never-lands in appealing prime time
color, with convincing actors.
Kids all go "I want a job like THAT" when there are no such jobs, only
screenwriter imaginations.
Anyway, the capitalist solution to all this is to let the family or
student/individual amass more gear and capability in their own "cubby"
or "pod" (what laymen know as a "house").
Students see the benefits of squirreling away microscopes with USB out
that attaches to the flatscreen. There's more privacy, yet room for
friends.
There's also room for teachers as we've arrived in that brave new
future of "two way TV" (also known as Skype).
But hey, no one said you couldn't go outside and meet teachers through
Meetup. Nor did I say there's no organized school system.
Anyway, that's more or less the world a lot of Quaker kids are growing
into. Small lab in the house, 3D printer maybe. Permaculture. Pets.
You go to meetups with your peers and practice skills as a group all
over town. We have the necessary connections.
Especially in the Silicon Forest (we were run out of Philadelphia, so
fewer privileges there).
Building up music equipment is especially enjoyable and that's where
frequency modulations, transformations occur.
Case in point: our Blue House (household) provides a scholarship for
a musician in the basement studio. True, she happens to be a
corporate refugee from the dark ages "defense" industry (forced down
your throat toys you'd rather not play with is more what it's like).
There's a Yamaha keyboard, Bose tower speaker kit, drum machine
(affectionately named R2D2), a computer. She already knows Perl, or
did.
We do outreach through AFSC to advertise the virtues of this lifestyle.
We don't care if you're "documented" and we certainly don't care if
you refuse to train in the use of outward weapons (that's your human
right, don't let any little tyranny in a bottle tell you otherwise).
On the other hand we do provide training in outward weapons to those
who wish it (it's not necessarily unQuakerly to shoot or carry, but
the three laws of robotics still apply).
We also inject a few powerful memes under the heading of "rad math"
and/or "verboten math". Unless your curriculum has the integrity to
show a non-cubic model of 3rd powering, we turn up our noses at it and
call it nasty names. We're elitist in that way. American
Transcendentalists, and by extension the rest of us (including
Martians) need to stick together, given all the corrosive
screen-writing for TV (and the movies) that goes on. Which isn't to
say I advise against screenwriting. Our local AFSC office produced
local cable TV shows for years, much at my insistence (LAAP program,
'Voz Juvenile').
So yeah, you may wanna drop out of that brick and mortar thing down
the street where they don't let you amass capital. But you'll find
friendly Federal agencies at your beck and call through that Matrix
Portal on your desk (aka your computer -- tax free given education
benefits). Curricula like they never offered you in that building are
to be accessed here. Pretty soon you start meeting new teachers.
Yes, police are involved and there are abuses, crack downs, just like
everywhere. Learn survival skills. Don't take candy from strangers.
Involve your parents. But don't shoot unless cornered in a dark alley
and even then aim for the legs. Remember your Jesus camp.
We're also LBGT friendly. Our musician has a girlfriend who sometimes
models. She did some poses for Flextegrity the other day, which, if
you've been following at all, you know the Blue House promotes. She
is also one of our teachers for that "off your duff" story-problem
I've written about: how to rescue food waste efficiently and get
people fed. People advance quickly through this program, gain in
rank. This teacher I'm talking about, as well as the officer in the
basement, are high above most Pentagoners when it comes to command and
control, at least within our networks (we can argue how extensive --
we definitely penetrate the beltway and have always had privileged
access in DC via FCNL and so on).
Anyway, I'm sounding a lot like Haim this morning, encouraging
recruits to turn their backs on what's not working and join us through
OPDX / FNB or any number of outlets. We've got a head shop planned
for PDX (nothing illegal) where we introduce the somewhat recycled
psychedelic aesthetics that characterize much of our geometry. Once
you don't insist on 100% flat and 100% "square", you've got an edge.
It's no accident that nano-technology is taking off here, and not in a
squares-ville in Florida.
Kirby
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