Re: [Nolug] boat anchor laptops

Ron,
    I've been teaching for 10 years so I can't talk about what happened
decades ago, but you are right about the kind of schools where I have
been. There are just not enough facilities and teachers to go around.
For instance, recommendations from the Amer. Chem. Society call for no
more than 24 students in a lab class because it's too hard for a teacher
to make sure everybody is working safely. Sure would be nice! Rather
than risk injury and lawsuits, most teachers have the students do only
really safe activities themselves. The other things that could be
interesting are either not done or done as a demo by the teacher only.
    Rant: Many of those making up educational policy nationwide seem to
think that if you put a computer in front of a student, he/she will
magically learn by osmosis through the screen. That's ridiculous.
Speaking as a technophile since a young age and a computer geek since
college in 1970: I would rather see a few hundred thousand dollars spent
in a school/district to hire a few more teachers and fix up the labs
than see tens of millions of dollars spent on computers that will be
used mostly as expensive email terminals.
    (BTW, Joey, I'm not against computers, just against people who think
they are magic. I plan to donate a boat anchor laptop for your Haiti
project.)
Dave P.

Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 12/17/08 23:50, Dave Prentice wrote:
>> Ron,
>> Lots of times stuff doesn't get done in school not because of
>> anybody's sensibilities, but because of logistical reasons. It's
>> tough to supervise 34 students and maintain safety and order while
>> they do experiments. With smaller class sizes we could do more
>> hands-on activities.
>
> And probably not enough places at the work tables. But hasn't that
> always been a problem in public schools?
>
>> Dave Prentice
>>
>> Ron Johnson wrote:
>>> On 12/17/08 10:44, Jeremy (mailing list box) wrote:
>>>> Ron Johnson wrote:
>>>>> This "I refuse to dissect a frog because it's inhumane" cr*p
>>>>> really p*sses me off. With a wussy culture like this, no wonder
>>>>> the country is sliding into 2nd-world status.
>>>>
>>>> Virtual dissections exist for other reasons Ron. Sometimes a Bio
>>>> teacher would like to show a dissection that requires an animal
>>>> that is difficult to acquire. Other times, schools don't have
>>>> the facilities and resources to actually have a dissection.
>>>
>>> I don't buy those rationalizations.
>
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Received on 12/18/08