Deep 6 FaWtL

[gran rey de los nekkid]

I don't mind the neighbors' kids playing hopscotch in most places, but my driveway is where I draw the line.

Edit: I should probably cover up while there are kids about.

[gran rey de los mono]

Would a relief map show you where the restrooms are?

[gran rey de los mono]

I used to hate math, until I realized that decimals have a point.

[gran rey de los mono]

A pallet of weight-loss pills were stolen this morning. Police describe the suspects as being "at large".

[Sharoth]

NobodysHome wrote:

Tequila Sunrise wrote:

Man, I have my criticisms of private higher ed, but this takes the cake. (I don't know if your anecdote comes from private ed, correct me if I'm wrong.)

My experience has been that because private schools want tuition money, and know they won't continue getting it if too many students fail, they habitually grade on a curve to keep GPA's up. In my engineering program, and I'm assuming this phenomenon is common in STEM programs, there was the addition factor that "We're packing this program with what is actually 5-6 years worth of courses, more material than anyone can be expected to learn on 8 hours of sleep," so every professor curved every quiz and test to the highest scorer before the grades even got to admin. If they had not, at least 50% of us would have flunked out.

Which is scary when you think about it, because engineers are the ones building bridges and electric grids and all manner of high-risk systems that everyone depends on.

Anyhow, maybe your stupidest set of rules ever was an incredibly idiotic reaction to the grade-curving phenomenon. A kind of "We know that 50% should fail, statistically, so we're going to administratively assure that that happens without good reason" sort of thing?

I'm afraid that no, this was a public school, and merely stupidity of the highest order. The administration knew that "grade inflation" was a serious problem, so they wanted to ensure that they had a reputation as a "rigorous school" by setting the average grade to "average". They also wanted to be known as a "rigorous school" by getting rid of underachievers.

And not a single member of the administration figured out the repercussions of combining those two rules.

Truly sad.

And in response to Tequila Sunrise; at U.C. Berkeley (again, a public school), I took a quantum physics exam and got a 28%, all on partial credit. I did not even come close to getting a single question on the test correctly. I had no idea what I was doing, and...

You must lead a charmed life to get such a quarky grade.

[gran rey de los mono]

Sharoth wrote:

You must lead a charmed life to get such a quarky grade.

I'm sure his life has it's ups and downs, sometimes he's on top, sometimes the bottom, and occasionally it's all just strange.

[gran rey de los disclaimer]

For those who don't follow, quarks come in 6 types: up, down, top, bottom, charm, and strange.

[Sharoth]

I think his grade was just gluoned.

[gran rey de los mono]

Maybe he just saw a good idea and lepton it.

[Kileanna]

gran rey de los mono wrote:

Proper punctuation makes the difference between a sentence that's well-written, and one that's well, written.

I love this one xD

[Kileanna]

gran rey de los mono wrote:

I used to hate math, until I realized that decimals have a point.

In Spain the point is for thousands and the comma for decimals. It's our revenge against people who doesn't want to adopt the metric system xD

[Schmorgan Heckengaard]

Kileanna wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

I used to hate math, until I realized that decimals have a point.

In Spain the point is for thousands and the comma for decimals. It's our revenge against people who doesn't want to adopt the metric system xD

That's just more proof that Europe is backwards.

[gran rey de los mono]

The optimist sees a glass that's half-full. The pessimist sees a glass that's half-empty. The scientist sees a glass that's completely full, half with liquid and half with gas. The engineer sees a glass that's twice as big as is necessary.

[gran rey de los mono]

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

[gran rey de los mono]

Organic chemistry is difficult. Those who study it often have alkynes of trouble.s

[gran rey de los mono]

Did you just mutate for a stop codon? Because you're talking nonsense.

[gran rey de los mono]

Two chemists go into a bar. The first one says "I'll have an H2O." The second chemist said "I'll have an H2O too." And then he died.

[gran rey de los mono]

Two biologists had a set of twins. They named one Jessica, and the other Control.

[gran rey de los mono]

In microbiology, multiplication is done by division.

[gran rey de los mono]

The name's Bond. Ionic Bond. Taken, not shared.

[gran rey de los mono]

What would you call a benzene ring with all the carbon replaced by iron? A ferrous wheel.

[gran rey de los mono]

What did the stamen say to the pistil? "Hey baby, I like your style."

[gran rey de los mono]

What kind of fish is made of a pair of sodium atoms? Tuna. (2Na)

[gran rey de los mono]

If I ever go to prison, I want my nickname to be "Mitochondria". I'll be the powerhouse of the cell.

[gran rey de los mono]

Why is the ocean so salty? Because the shore wouldn't wave back.

[gran rey de los mono]

If I have 1,000 mockingbirds (Note, I'm using the comma correctly, Kileanna), and you have 1,000 mockingbirds (Still using the comma the proper way), what would we have together? 2 Kilomockingbird. (To Kill a Mockingbird, it's a book)

[gran rey de los mono]

How do you know when the moon is going broke? When it's down to it's last quarter.

[gran rey de los mono]

What are cations afraid of? Dogions.

[gran rey de los mono]

What does a subatomic duck say?

[Less-Than-Adequate Duck]

Quark!

*is temporarily very, very tiny*

[gran rey de los mono]

What kind of bear dissolves in water? A polar bear.

[gran rey de los mono]

I decided to divide sin by tan, just cos.

[gran rey de los mono]

What is a sleeping brain's favorite band? REM.

[gran rey de los mono]

Is an educated tube a graduated cylinder?

[gran rey de los mono]

An infectious disease walks into a bar. The bartender says "We don't serve your kind here." The disease says "Well, then you're not a very good host."

[gran rey de los mono]

My boss must think my name is Power. He keeps making me work overtime. (Power=Work/time)

[A Saliva Colonizer]

Yay for science jokes!

[Freehold DM]

Rough start to the day...

Here's hoping things improve.

[gran rey de los mono]

Do science jokes hurt you that much? Have we found your kryptonite?

[Drejk]

Kileanna wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

I used to hate math, until I realized that decimals have a point.

In Spain the civilized world the point is for thousands and the comma for decimals. It's our revenge against people who doesn't want to adopt the metric system xD

[Drejk]

Math ones do. Math-based physic jokes? Possibly...

[NobodysHome]

gran rey de los mono wrote:

Or, if you have a couple hundred bucks leftover from your Hawaiian vacation, you could buy a drywall lift. Or, see if there is a hardware store or other such place nearby that rents them out.

Or, you could always head over to your local Home Depot/Lowes/whatever nice and early one day and pick up a couple of day laborers. If you're into that sort of thing.

See, I *knew* there was some kind of weirdo tool for it!

Well, Impus Major proved quite proficient with the screwdriver, so I am up to 2 competent people, one of which is questionable (myself), but first I've got to get all that insulation behaving itself.

Well, it's my summer hobby now...

[gran rey de los mono]

I'm not sure "weirdo tool" is the politically correct term for day laborers.

[Drejk]

*sigh*

Can I wake up from this (minor) nightmare of mine? I dreamed this nightmare before, with my teeth splintering into pieces and falling out... No need to repeat it for the nth time...

[gran rey de los mono]

Do they make dragon-sized dentures?

[Tequila Sunrise]

NobodysHome wrote:

(2) I greatly admire the Japanese (and other Asian) model that every classroom teaches the same topic on the same day. Not only does it ensure that transfer students are instantly "caught up", but, as Freehold says, it ensures teachers are at least covering what they're supposed to be teaching. I'm not even going to get started on Impus Major's Spanish teacher assigning more than a dozen ART PROJECTS over the course of a year of Spanish, but reining in freewheeling teachers who feel that they can teach "whatever" would go a loooooooong way in improving my son's experience.

For every incredible teacher out there who teaches in a totally new and novel way that never touches the syllabus, yet inspires students to greatness, there are two dozen who think they're doing that, only to be making their students hate math (or English, or Spanish).

I am firmly against mandating *how* a teacher teaches. Puppets, pantomime, group work, lecture with slides; every teacher has a personal style of teaching, and every good teacher can make their style work for whatever the subject matter is. But I am a strong proponent of standardizing the subject matter so, as I say, teachers don't get "creative".

For example, Impus Major is in his third year of high school English. I'm sure he could not tell you what a "gerund" is. He certainly can't properly format an argumentative essay. But boy, is he good at BS'ing about "hidden meanings" in Shakespeare or Orwell...

(2) Thinking about it on the way to and from the store, a lot of teachers oppose standardized syllabi because it takes away their "creative freedom". But as a parent, having standardized topics and homework would eliminate the whole, "Well, Impus Minor has xxx for chemistry, so he has 4 hours of homework tonight, but Gluteous Maximus has yyy, and she doesn't believe in homework, so he has none."
If it were well-designed (a nigh-impossible task given the administrative quagmire that is public education), you could balance homework, provide teachers with a complete syllabus and homework set, and teachers could actually, y'know, TEACH. What a concept!

Gorrammit, I wrote a thoughtful post and then the forum ate it! Well maybe that's for the best, deep heavy convos don't really go with FAWLT's lighter tone.

Maybe I'll start a thread sometime to solicit experiences and opinions, and discuss the differences between STEM subjects and other subjects, and which things lend themselves to standardization and which do not.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Freehold DM wrote:

this is only more fuel for the flames of my math hatred.

Shhh...shhhhh, math is always with you Freehold, whether you know it or not. ;)

[The Game Hamster]

Kileanna wrote:

gran rey de los mono wrote:

I used to hate math, until I realized that decimals have a point.

In Spain the point is for thousands and the comma for decimals. It's our revenge against people who doesn't want to adopt the metric system xD

Just remember: there are two kinds of countries in the world; those that use the metric system, and those with a flag on the moon.

[Captain Yesterday Smurf]

Or at least a soundstage that looks like the moon with a flag on it.

[The Game Hamster]

You don't have a conspiracy theorist alias?? I'm shocked.