!@#!@My first physics class... Academia Pub!@#$%$

Many immigrant families are zealous about having their daughters succeed in business and/or STEM careers, usually because in their home countries, these avenues are closed to them. It's not uncommon that the parents themselves are advanced degree holders, but are working lower jobs because of credentialing costs and barriers to entry in tech fields and professions in the West.

Yes there's some families from abroad who absolutely have highly patriarchal, brutal attitudes about men and women's roles in society. They tend to have low education as a common thread, or are primarily entitled through their religious affiliation/tribal affiliation in their country of origin. That said, those folks will rarely come to public school as they have the resources to send their kids to private schools (or not, in the case of girls whose families are wealthy and diplomatically influential enough to discourage provincial child welfare advocates from nosing around too much).

Parents are often too overworked, depressed, resentful, angry, hostile, or feeling cheated/bitter so they are not inclined to care what their kids are doing or not. They are prime vectors for the kind of anti-science, anti-education, anti-authority claptrap "free" social media news provides in great shovelfuls.

The main thread that runs across all the problems with school funding and societal value is, low education begets low value placed on education. This isn't just a matter of opportunity, but also of fulfillment and satisfaction (cost-effectiveness) of investing in education. Even if everyone in America got a free college degree, not everyone would have a job waiting for them. It's this disconnect between the opportunity cost, and the actual EV of a diploma, that helps fuel anti-science among even educated clerical-class adults.

I think certain IV league colleges were very adamant on why certain ethnicities are as accepted as others. To quote Princeton, "we find ____ to be intellectually boring." You can guess which ethnicity that would be... I felt that was a stereotype until I met the parents. While I commend these parents for their frivolous and tenacious appetite to see their kids succeed the suicide rate for this demographic is extremely high.

Hard to find the right balance... Success can be subjective to most people. I think Covid has really shined a light for teachers on who is really on their side. Imagine a district telling you, "we know you're scared of covid but if you don't come in we will replace you." That attitude led to the massive exodus of teacher quitting and finding other most likely better paying jobs.

Not really going to go there with the ethnicities commentary. I don't want a debate on the relative merits of stereotypes of this or that particular culture.

Suffice to say that every culture has people in it who value teachers, and people who don't. And until very recently in human history, the role of teachers was not valued very highly.

The invention of moveable type made some degree of literacy a realistic goal for the majority of society for the first time ever. And with it, the birth of the scientific method, modern law, modern medicine, and secular humanism.

Or we could just throw that all away and go back to landed feudalism and private tutors for the lucky few, and hellfire and damnation for everyone else.

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solwitch wrote:

Dropping it tomorrow... The teacher over the computer wanted us to answer a question. "Where does the subconscious come from?" It was more of an icebreaker to show us how important physics is in all aspects of humanity, even in the most unlikely places.

Anyways... I answered. "We don't exist..." He told me to elaborate, well I did. I said... "I can not be sure if I exist, take for example the pen in my hand it still takes microseconds for the sensation of that pen to reach me..." The teacher kept quiet asked everyone else to chime in, no volunteer... The teacher went, "hmph."

Well, I glanced over the syllabus, NOPE. Too many classes, the workload is a shit load. I respectfully told the teacher I would take his class next semester. But something is telling me I won't.

That doesn't sound like a physics class question. Asking a question like that in physics means that practically any response should be fine, IMHO. In other words, your answer was perfectly fine.

I enjoyed physics. I really liked how physics does such an excellent job of marrying mathematics and reality.

My best physics teacher required us to learn how to use a slide ruler.

And my best calc teacher never let us use a calculator for tests.

Good memories for me anyway.

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somnambulistdead wrote:

My best physics teacher required us to learn how to use a slide ruler.

And my best calc teacher never let us use a calculator for tests.

Good memories for me anyway.

I love my trigonometry teacher...

I used to love physics and chemistry in HS. It's like how everything works. Concepts of gravity, inelastic collisions, entropy, etc thought me much I use in construction. I probably woulda been heavily involved into it had I gone to college and majored in Physics or civil engineering but life took a different turn I had a son at 19 and had to make that paper and couldnt dick around on a college campus..we have a civil engineer that work for us for stamp but i know more than him except in maths...he designs state approves I change everything

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Aim_Deep wrote:

"I solve practical problems."

If you haven't played Engie, you haven't lived.

After growing up not having access to a calculator, computer, cell phone, or any of that, I see kids in HS using phones, calculators, etc. in exams in school.

To that I say,

YES..?

Granted, it makes me facepalm when I'm watching the nephews playing minecraft and they can't do the math to line up their overworld portal with their nether portal better.

But if you're describing the steps in a multi-step chemical reaction, using a calculator to check your accuracy is perfectly fine.

You either know how the reaction proceeds, or you don't. No amount of arithmetic knowledge will help you if you don't know how the ions mix (or don't). Same with physics. If you don't know the bigger picture of how springs work or electrical resistance works, being an arithmetic whiz doesn't make up for it.

The calculator is there to help keep track of the minutiae, which are important, but you're not testing for that, you're testing for f = -kx or Ohm's law.

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crunkatog wrote:

"

Aim_Deep wrote:

"I solve practical problems."

If you haven't played Engie, you haven't lived.

After growing up not having access to a calculator, computer, cell phone, or any of that, I see kids in HS using phones, calculators, etc. in exams in school.

To that I say,

YES..?

Granted, it makes me facepalm when I'm watching the nephews playing minecraft and they can't do the math to line up their overworld portal with their nether portal better.

But if you're describing the steps in a multi-step chemical reaction, using a calculator to check your accuracy is perfectly fine.

You either know how the reaction proceeds, or you don't. No amount of arithmetic knowledge will help you if you don't know how the ions mix (or don't). Same with physics. If you don't know the bigger picture of how springs work or electrical resistance works, being an arithmetic whiz doesn't make up for it.

The calculator is there to help keep track of the minutiae, which are important, but you're not testing for that, you're testing for f = -kx or Ohm's law.

Going to change the title of the post, looks like this would be a good place to vent or talk about school, kids going to school etc...

I decided to take a long break from school till next year. Looks like many of the teachers I adore are leaving, transferring, or quitting. It's so sad... Teachers really need more respect.