| Thursday,
Subject: Greeks bearing gifts
Petronius the Questioning wrote: I recall in the 1970s
at UC Irvine, when I was a student there, a project to build a computer
database of all extant ancient Greek writings.
Here is at least a partial deeby:
http://classics.mit.edu/Browse/index-Aristotle.html
+ + +
Regarding teaching algebra in HS, I have always
thought a year of statistics might be more profitable to the kids. Every day
they are bombarded with statistics -- by activists, industries, governments,
and other interest groups -- but when did they last need to factor an
equation? As a benefit, the statistically well-informed can find endless
amusement reading newspapers and watching the evening news on TV.
MikeF
"If to provide itself with a king belongs to the right
of a given multitude, it is not unjust that the king be deposed or have his
power reduced by that same multitude if, becoming a tyrant, he abuses his
royal power." -- Thomas Aquinas, On Kingship, I:6
Michael Flynn is a fellow holder of the
Heinlein Medal, and a professional statistician. He's entirely right: the
abysmal lack of understanding of statistical inference is staggering, even
among college graduates. And he's right about the amusement.
==
Subject: Electricians and algebra
Having gone through the four years of the electrical
apprenticeship, I can say that algebra and other mathematics does play a
part. One third is on the job training where you learn to pull wire, dig
ditches and bend conduit. One third is study of the National Electrical Code
so you know the rules. And one third is electrical theory where you do use
algebra to manipulate Ohm's law. Admittedly, the electrician you happen to
see at work does not seem to be using algebra much but he does have to be
aware of how much amperage a circuit is carrying. Bending conduit requires a
smattering of trigonometry. And, of course, you need these math skill to
pass the journeyman's test.
Also I note that Strategy Page has a point about the
Hamas victory. Up til now, they were just a terrorist organization
["terrorism is a grey area between a police concern and a military problem"]
but when they become the government, any further attacks become an act of
war.
~Peter J. Michael
Application of formulae does not require
formal education in algebra. Passing tests probably does. My wife's father,
having been invalided by silicosis from the mines in Idaho, moved to
Seattle, taught himself to be an electrician, and made a second career
installing electrical systems in shipyards. This was during WW II when labor
was scarce and the examinations to become a journeyman were practical, not
theoretical. I am not convinced that algebra is required. Math and
arithmetic, yes, and that requires the addition and multiplication tables.
Of course those aren't taught in early grades. Better the "new math" which
no one understands and which helps no one. Ah well.
==
Subject: Algebra as Indicator of College Success
Dr. Pournelle:
I was never very good at algebra, but did fine in
college otherwise. Scored well on the LSAT, got a law degree and I've passed
bar exams in two states. I am also a fair to middling lawyer. 8-)
Of course, I may have been turned off of math by
tyrannical 5th grade teacher who hit me with a paddle if I didn't get the
problems right on the board. I don't know, but I think that, at least as far
as learning and practicing the Law is concerned, aptitude in Algebra is not
a good indicator of success.
Lee Keller King
Formal algebra is essentially an IQ test;
if you'd had to learn it, you could have. But we do note that the SAT has
both Verbal and Math scores, and while those are correlated, the
correlations are not very high.
==
Subject: on algebra
Jerry,
I graduated from high school in California in 1960 in
Carmel, California. The town was about 5,000 then, and my high school class
was 160 kids. The School Board ran our system, and local property taxes
funded it. We also did the typical local additional fund raising for
“extras”. It was a public school, not a government school.
I was on the college prep track. That meant I took one
English, one math, one science, one language, one social study, one physical
education and one elective classes each semester, two semesters a year. I
really did not need much in the way of counseling each year, except for
choosing electives (and getting the teachers I wanted). I did shop and radio
shop, but a lot of guys chose auto shop. We probably were split 60% to 40%
for this college-bound track versus the vocational track. Algebra was the
freshman year (9th grade) math course. Kids not in the college prep track
did not have to take algebra, they had another math course.
By observation my preparation then was superior to all
but the best private schools now, but then I wanted to go to university. The
kids who were in the alternate tracks were equally well-prepared for life
with a HS Diploma. Obviously we could return to this system with enough
motivation.
Jim Dodd
San Diego
==In Tennessee in the 30's and 40's the
college prep high school curriculum was four years of literature, four of
math, four of a foreign language, two of civics, and some electives. Those
with passing grades (later with a B average) were automatically admitted to
the University of Tennessee. It was not expected that more than 20% of the
students would take the college prep track, but most of those who opted for
it did pass. The technical curriculum was different with practical courses
like drafting; I don't recall the other technical track courses, since I was
in an all academic track high school (mine was Catholic; Central High was
the public all-academic high school; I recall painting GO CBC on their lawn
with tri-iodide one dark night, resulting in a fairly spectacular event the
next morning, and a permanent burn on Central's front yard; Brother Roberts
knew precisely who had done it, but not officially...)
==
Algebra class
Dr. Pournelle:
One of the great but little-acknowledged problems with
algebra class is that, in my experience, math of any sort is taught in ways
that don't work. Probably this has something to do with the fact that
neither teacher nor student is likely to be well-trained in reading.
In my mathematically mis-spent youth, I had a textbook
that gave this explanation for multiplying positive and negative:
You are filming a container of water. If you film the
container as it is being filled, but project the film in reverse, the
container will appear to be emptying. [DUH!]
The examples went on in this vein throughout all the
possible combinations; apparently both text and teacher felt that the
student was to discover the basic rule that multiplying like numbers
produces a positive answer, mixed produces negative.
I never had a teacher state that principle in so many
words until freshman math in college. Are things better now?
I wasn't among the people who failed math, but I
certainly never enjoyed it. I suspect that most of the students who passed
algebra in Los Angeles actually understood it just well enough to get by.
In any case, pre-college math courses seem to be
designed to steer students from engineering and hard sciences into sociology
and pre-law.
Absurdity:
A 20-year-old university student was at a party. As
with many college parties, there was alcohol involved. One party guest, a
woman, appeared to be dangerously drunk. The 20-year-old called 911. He
remained to assist even though the rest of the underaged students fled. A
police officer asked if he'd been drinking. The man responded that he had
(0.126 BAC upon testing. He was given a ticket, and later fined $71.00
(reduced from $140) for underage consumption.
The chief of police said that if he had been allowed
to go on his way without a ticket, the police might have faced liability if
he had had an accident due to intoxication.
Giving the police chief her due, what would have been
wrong with calling the kid a cab? How many other people will die now because
no one will want to risk a ticket by calling for aid?
Anarcho-tyranny strikes again.
(Sources: television and newspaper reports from the
Minneapolis, MN area. The incident took place in a suburb.)
Interesting, if maddening site:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html
The object of the game is to keep the red square from
hitting either the walls or any of 4 blue rectangles. Harder than it looks!
Learning to read, and learning the
addition and multiplication tables, is well within the capability of
everyone with IQ 80 or above, i.e.. more than 95% of the population. It
requires only drills and training, and little abstract reasoning.
My wife's reading program teaches nearly any
English speaking human to read in 70 lessons. It also works with those who
don't speak English well, although there will be a need for instructions in
what the words in the lessons mean. It has been used in private schools for
high IQ kids, in reform schools, in adult education classes, and in public
schools in areas with few native English speaking pupils. It works. There is
no excuse for not teaching kids to read (and I advise all parents to make
sure their children can read by age 6 without regard to the school system;
teach them yourself, and they will know; don't rely on the school system.)
The addition tables can be learned by end
of second grade, as can the times tables. In both cases they should go up to
12 (twelve plus twelve is twenty-four, twelve time twelve is one hundred and
forty four). This is straight memorization and needs to be drilled in until
when you see 8 + 7 you know it's 15 without having to think about it.
Once kids can read, give them real books
to read, not the vocabulary controlled pap that is designed to make money
for publishers and incorporate the latest politically correct gubbage. There
are a lot of good books out there in the world. By 6th Grade there is no
reason why kids should not be reading them.
The effects of our awful public schools
can be partly negated simply by being sure the kids can read and know their
plus and times tables. And with very few exceptions all kids can learn that
much.
==
Subject: dyslexia and autism
Dear Jerry:
As someone who was dyslexic before the condition was
generally recognized I often think I dodged a bullet by not being so
labeled. I had "remedial reading" in the Third Grade and then again in the
Eighth. I was once labeled "mentally retarded". I'm not surprised that high
IQ parents produce more kids with autism. They probably over think the
problem imposing their own anxieties when what the kid really needs is to
simply be left alone to figure it out. I know that I had to work very hard
to overcome dyslexia and had to use a number of workarounds. As you know I
still employ someone to edit my writing.
IQ isn't the same for everyone. There are various
kinds and at the ends of the Bell-shaped curve you get strange combinations,
like those folks with Williams 's Syndrome, who can play and sing any kind
of music, have great social skills, but can't read or do simple arithmetic.
I think that the whole area of IQ and learning and teaching is more unknown
than known.
There is a high level autism called Aspberger's
Syndrome. It is characterized by high IQ people who have very poor social
skills. In other words, science fiction fans.
Sincerely,
Francis Hamit
Dyslexia usually means insufficient drills
in phonics. True neurological dyslexia is very rare, and most of those cases
respond to alternate sensory input including such things as "air writing",
saying the names of the letters before trying to read the word, and so
forth. Learning word attack skills can be tedious, and is boring to teach,
so it's not usually done; and of course it results in "slow readers"
compared to those who read whole words. Those speed differences vanish with
practice, and after a while those with full phonic decoding ability are able
to read anything, including words like dimethyldiethylbromide and
Constantinople and antidisestablishmentarianism. Those who learned whole
words only haven't a chance when encountering words they never say before
and thus have to use controlled vocabulary readers. Producing controlled
vocabulary readers is a very lucrative business so there is a big incentive
to keep our kids from learning to read.
As to all the autism diagnoses, I refuse
to believe that American protoplasm deteriorated so horribly since I was a
kid that now 20% of the boys in the country have to be drugged. But that is
for another discussion.
==
Subject: High school diplomas
Dear Jerry,
I believe that we need three different high school
diplomas. Basic, Standard and Honors. They would correspond to specific
criteria. These would include specifics in the matter of courses passed and
a final comprehensive test to a national standard. This system would provide
opportunities for students of all IQ levels to show their efforts and
diligence, something that employers value. It also provides an achievable
goal at all levels. It would have the same effect as tracking did in our
youth, but would not restrict a student from striving for the highest level
they can.
The Standard would be today’s diploma with Algebra,
hard sciences, English etc. The Basic would be for those who cannot achieve
the Standard. They would be the kids who take Environmental Science instead
of Chemistry, business math instead of Algebra, etc. The Honors would
require a higher score on the graduation test along with a specified number
of scores on Advanced Placement tests (to avoid course description
inflation) as well as well tougher curricula, including more math, hard
sciences, composition, economics and such. Students would be encouraged to
go back to school and upgrade their diplomas if desired.
These diplomas would be standardized nationwide and
would provide comparable gates for higher education and other opportunities.
The advantages of this system are achievability for all, national
comparability and opportunity for all.
John Monahan
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not his
own facts." Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Perhaps an improvement on what we are
doing. I'd be satisfied with getting the feds, and teachers unions, and
professors of education out of controlling power, and getting local boards
in control of the schools. Let a hundred flowers bloom...
==
Subject: Highly-educated unemployed
Dear Dr. Pournelle:
Governor Bob Taft of Ohio, in his state of the state
address, proposed requiring
"all students to take the Ohio Core, a rigorous high
school curriculum that includes four years of math, including Algebra II;
three years of science, including biology, chemistry and physics; four years
of English; three years of social studies; and at least two years of a
foreign language"
In a state where a large majority of workers are in
factory or trade jobs, I have to wonder at the nincompoopery of this
proposal. I want my plumber to install my water-heater correctly, not
converse with me in French. I want my carpenter to rebuild my back porch
well, not explain what v=½at^2 means.
Not that the study of arithmetic, English, and the
sciences aren't important, but the whole idea that everyone going through
high school is tracked for college prep is nuts.
Back in the late 1960s I went to a technical high
school in Cleveland. It had it's own cabinetry shop, a foundry, an
automotive shop, a welding shop, and an electrical / electronics lab. Most
of the boys in school were training for a trade. It also had a full
business-machine wing for training in secretarial and business operations. A
small minority of us were in the college prep classes. The rest of the
school, about 3,000 kids, took the kind of arithmetic and English classes
that would prepare them for life. When a kid got out of that high school,
they could DO things. Even the college-prep people had to take enough
practical courses so we could get a job out of high school if college didn't
work out.
Now, kids who would be happier in a trade are funneled
into college prep without much hope of getting into college or being
prepared for it, let alone having the capabilities to pay for college.
In a backhanded acknowledgement that high schools
aren't preparing kids for anything, another of Taft's proposals was moving
"all remedial education to Ohio's two-year campuses,
where costs are lower"
-- Pete Nofel
P.S. Thanks for the "gentle nag." I renewed my
subscription to your site.
Actually it's s=1/2 a t-squared but yes, I
agree entirely. (v = at). And for a long time a high school diploma was
real, and signified an ability to do a LOT of things.
Thanks for renewing!
==
Subject: Algebra
Having done the coursework for a math PhD before
finishing a computational biology PhD, I obviously find math congenial, so
my opinion here is biased. I agree algebra shouldn't be required for high
school graduation, but a high degree of competence in ordinary arithmetic
should be if algebra is too abstract for a student. Students stuck in the
wrong track should be able to switch, perhaps by an intensive summer school
session or two.
None of my kids were mathematically-oriented, but they
all got a grounding in calculus, probability, and statistics in college. One
even got into differential equations and numerical analysis. It *can* be
done with the right teachers.
-- Harry Erwin, PhD "If you can't be a good example,
then you'll just have to be a horrible warning." (Catherine Aird)
Indeed. And ability to change tracks needs
to be built into the system. But there have to be tracks.
========
Subject: Journeymen and
algebra
Dr. Pournelle: You said: "Application of formulae does
not require formal education in algebra. Passing tests probably does. My
wife's father, having been invalided by silicosis from the mines in Idaho,
moved to Seattle, taught himself to be an electrician, and made a second
career installing electrical systems in shipyards. This was during WW II
when labor was scarce and the examinations to become a journeyman were
practical, not theoretical. I am not convinced that algebra is required."
I tend to agree. I had run across references of
workshops in the 1940's. They would have a highly-trained engineer, and his
lesser skilled helpers. The engineer would hand out nomograms to the helper
for the task at hand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomogram For those young readers out
there, a nomogram is a first cousin to a slide rule. It is a set of scales
printed on a piece of paper used to solve one specific equation. It can be
faster to use than a slide rule since it is optimized for its equation.
The point is, a journeyman with the required nomogram
in hand does not need algebra. For instance, a nomogram for Ohm's law would
have three scales: volts, resistance, and current. Given any two known
values and the nomogram will reveal the unknown value. No algebra is
required in order to manipulate Ohm's law to get the proper variable
isolated.
Nowadays I'm sure there are specialized pocket
calculators and PDAs capable of the same feat. Some may mutter darkly about
Asimov's short story "A Feeling Of Power", but such devices could streamline
the passage of students through trade school.
Winchell Chung
Asimov's nightmare -- actually just a
clever idea for a story -- was that we would all use hand calculators and
forget how to do arithmetic. Our professors of education have already done
that for us by eliminating learning the addition and multiplication tables
as "drill and kill" education. And of course every move those eggheads make
to "improve" education produces ever more ghastly results.
And the suckers who pay for it never catch
wise, and pay huge tuition to send people to education schools to learn how
to fail at teaching children to read, write, and cipher...
But wow are we cool and progressive.
Imagine a university that taught computer
science but none of its graduates couldn't write programs, or if they did,
had to do things they were taught ought never to be done. Who would hire its
graduates? Well -- everyone if you made it a matter of law that only
"credentialed" programmers could be hired, and that school had a monopoly on
granting "credentials" -- and you define "qualified" as meaning "graduated
from that college."
And the suckers never catch wise.
==
Subject: Algebra & Schooling
TO: Dr. Pournelle
I've been following many of your comments and
discussion about schooling, and thought I might share a few of my
observations with your readers.
My first hand experience and view is that public
schools no longer can teach, and are beyond reform. Less than 6 months ago I
decided to go with the home school route for my 9 year old son. This has
been among one of the best decisions I have ever made in my entire life. The
art of teaching has been twisted, lost and corrupted by the public education
system.
The switch from public to home schooling has been
remarkable and has defied my greatest expectations. My son's daily "core"
education is built around the following:
1) 30 minutes of Bible study 2) 90 minutes of math 3)
120 minutes of reading 4) 60 minutes of writing
The above workload for my son is usually completed by
noon, this leaves the 2nd half of the day open for polish in subjects like
cooking, art, music and so on.
I would like to mention that I try to have my boy solo
as much of the "core" work as possible. This is done to build independence
and free thinking.
The approach I use in the above list is focus. When my
son works on math he burns through a chapter out of a math textbook that
consists of about 100 math problems. The problems are about a 50/50 mix of
drills and story problems. The reading time is spent reading a single book
cover to cover that I've already prescreened. The time for my son to
complete a book can vary from days to weeks depending on the text. The
chosen area of study is not interleaved with other subjects. When a subject
or topic is picked for study it is focused on until the book(s) is finished.
After completing book(s), a new subject is chosen. The writing time consists
of hand writing a couple of pages a day. Writing is based off mix of
personal free writing and writing on the daily subject at hand.
As simple as the above seems, in just a few months my
9 year old son's math, reading and writing skills are quickly nearing or
passing that of many of my coworkers. He can crunch numbers like a human
adding machine for hours. He can devour and comprehend books in days rather
than weeks. He can now write pages on pages of coherent fiction and
non-fiction. This improvement happened in months, not years. My boy is
quickly mastering the art of self learning.
Returning back to the discussion about Algebra being
required for public school graduation, I would argue that it makes no
difference. Public school can't educate the masses in basic math and
reading, what would make one think they could do it for Algebra.
Just because public schools can't teach Algebra
doesn't mean I think children shouldn't learn it. I believe children ought
to be taught Algebra. I happen believe 95% of the children in this country
possess the brain power to work Algebra before the age of 10.
Real tragedy is that nearly a whole generation of
Americans are no longer educated and are illiterate.
TheWesman
I would make a small bet regarding the
percentage who will benefit from formal training in algebra. I'd put it at
about IQ 90 to 95 and above, which is something more than half the
population. To get to 95% you'd have to get much further down the IQ scale.
Now of course IQ is not the only measure
of ability; it's a measure of ability to do abstract reasoning, symbol
manipulation, particularly with a time limit, and that's pretty well a
definition of algebra.
In pushing kids to learn, I do caution you
to read about the education of John Stuart Mill. His father James Mill, and
Jeremy Bentham (who remains stuffed in a glass box at London University
where he is wheeled into meetings of the Board of Regents and is recorded as
"present but not voting") decided to show what young children were capable
of learning. John Stuart learned a lot, but the results were not universally
beneficial.
Of course it is irrelevant whether or not
algebra is required for graduation, since the public schools can't teach
basic arithmetic; but it does have an effect on all those who drop out of
school because they can't learn algebra, but who could have decent jobs --
only with all the affirmative action activities making personnel departments
rely on credentials lest they be sued out of existence, having a high school
diploma becomes important for getting any kind of real job.
Our system is designed to produce a steady
supply of kids destined to be hewers of wood and drawers of water and never
get ahead. The smart ones figure that out and try crime as an alternative
career.
But we never catch wise. And those who do
catch wise home school their kids or send them to private schools, or, in
the rare cases where there is a good public school system -- there are some
-- hunker down and hope no one notices that their kids actually learn in
public schools. If the education professors ever find the places that work
they'll do something to put paid to that joke.
Am I unduly cynical?
Subject: Fyi - Reward future scientists - Shift
in education policy would help keep nation competitive
Reward future scientists - Shift in education
policy would help keep nation competitive.
If current trends continue, by 2010 more than
90% of the world's scientists and engineers will live in Asia, warns the
Business Roundtable, which represents the nation's leading companies.
Failing to reverse that trend will result in a ³slow withering² of U.S.
economic might, the group warns.
Strong stuff. And that's just the beginning of
the complaints from the business community.
Math and science scores of high school students
in the USA are lackluster, at best, when compared with international
competitors. And most high school math and science teachers aren't capable
of taking students to a higher level, the business leaders say.
Their worries ‹ and prescriptions for making
the United States more competitive ‹ were summed up in a recent National
Academy of Sciences report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm. Their goal:
Double the number of engineering graduates by 2015.<snip>
Education symposium
continues below.
=========
Subject: Our Outstanding
Congress...
wants to be even more outstanding, Dr. Pournelle.
http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_3464717
"Wikipedia bars Congress from editing entries"
"The decision to temporarily block members of Congress
and their staffs from changing content within the site's 990,000 English
articles followed a Wikipedia investigation revealing Congress as a source
of vandalism.
"In July, Meehan's staff deleted references in the
online encyclopedia to the legislator's broken term-limits pledge and his
robust campaign account, which last year was the largest of any House
member, The Sun reported Friday."
Enjoy!
Charles Brumbelow
Imagine my astonishment.
===========
The Toonschluss.
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/741
--- Roland Dobbins
Heh
==========
Death by Government.
http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE1.HTM
-- Roland Dobbins
==========
The Theory of Counterinsurgency in Six Easy
Paragraphs.
http://www.d-n-i.net/fcs/six_easy_paragraphs.htm
- Roland Dobbins
Let me win your hearts and minds or...
============
Subject: Solution to education woes?
More federal government spending more taxpayer and/or
never-never dollars, of course.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-02-01-our-view_x.htm
"One initiative would reward low-income students
taking on a demanding high school curriculum and pursuing college degrees in
math, science or engineering. As long as they maintained a B-average, these
students would receive grants of $750 in their freshman year and $1,300 as
sophomores.
"A second program would similarly reward low-income
college juniors and seniors majoring in math, science or critical languages.
Those who maintained a B-average would get $4,000 a year in addition to aid
received under existing programs."
Should do the trick post haste, don't you think?
Charles Brumbelow
That ought to do it!
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