MacGuffin
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I guess nomix understood the intention of my post the best.
Ancient cultures had technology that is reminiscent of the industrial revolution, but they had no understanding of the underlying physics behind it, and that is crucial difference between Ancient societies and modern ones.
I think you're selling the Romans pretty short on that one. Had political issues not caused the empire to implode we'd be a good 1400 years ahead of where we are now.
FTFY
Thomas Edison didn't receive a standardised school education. The Greek philosophers argued until the cows came home, yet could never agree on standards for everything. Albert Einstein was an academic misfit.
Standardisation, if applied strictly and without exception, completely stifles innovation and discovery.
There's too many kids not getting the challenge they need to learn faster because they are smarter than some other kids. Then again, there are a lot more kids not learning because they're not going babystep enough.Moderation, as always, is key.
I think that's the problem most of the time. The term "special needs" has been made synonymous with "learning impaired", which IMHO is wrong. Special needs can just as well be needs for a faster pace and more complex issues taught. But while we do have public institutions for slow learners, there is next to nothing for fast learners - they are supposed to be able to deal with it all by themselves, almost as if they're told "Well, if you're so much smarter than me (you little twerp), you'll have no trouble getting over your issues! Now get in line with mediocrity and JUST PUT YOUR MIND TO STUDYING!"
Seconded. Getting rid of the dept. of education is pretty stupid IMO. There's a reason why it exists.
She's saying get rid of it on the federal level. Basically, let the States take care of it themselves. It's not the worst idea ever. It's a small department and i'm not entirely sure they even do anything.
Moderation, as always, is key.
I think that's the problem most of the time. The term "special needs" has been made synonymous with "learning impaired", which IMHO is wrong. Special needs can just as well be needs for a faster pace and more complex issues taught. But while we do have public institutions for slow learners, there is next to nothing for fast learners - they are supposed to be able to deal with it all by themselves, almost as if they're told "Well, if you're so much smarter than me (you little twerp), you'll have no trouble getting over your issues! Now get in line with mediocrity and JUST PUT YOUR MIND TO STUDYING!"
In most German states, we have three kinds of highschool. The better your grades in elementary school are, the more likely you are to be recommended for (and succeed at) the most difficult of the three. However, the recommendation is not binding and so there's loads of people dropping out of the Gymnasium after a year or two, only to attend the school they were recommended for in the first place.Here in the states there's gifted programs in most public schools catering to faster learners.
Hero et co were using steam engines to open temple doors. The issue was the cultural mindset.
No you are wrong. Read my post two posts up from yours.
They used it but they didn't know why it worked, they didn't understand the expansion of gas was producing work, and without understanding the underlying physics of how something works it would be very difficult to develop much more complex systems. It's more than just a cultural mindset they may have held them back (which I somewhat doubt because Humans have always pushed the boundaries of what we can do).
Moderation, as always, is key.
I think that's the problem most of the time. The term "special needs" has been made synonymous with "learning impaired", which IMHO is wrong. Special needs can just as well be needs for a faster pace and more complex issues taught. But while we do have public institutions for slow learners, there is next to nothing for fast learners - they are supposed to be able to deal with it all by themselves, almost as if they're told "Well, if you're so much smarter than me (you little twerp), you'll have no trouble getting over your issues! Now get in line with mediocrity and JUST PUT YOUR MIND TO STUDYING!"
I also fit into that category, I cannot learn the ways most everyone else does. Had I gone to a average or sub par school I would have failed and dropped out. Thankfully, I went to an exceptional school in an excellent school system in a city that emphasized education.
why should I care about you when you didn't care about me?
My father, who is a retired maths and physics teacher, once told me how he'd loved teaching the youngest kids in the type of school that he taught at. Those were the fifth- and sixth-graders and he vividly remembered their openness to new things, their eagerness to discover and their enthusiasm for learning - not learning by heart or studying until their grades were perfect, but the actual process of taking in knowledge, digesting it and using it. On older students, he commented that many of them had (been) turned into robots* who went to school for no other reason than getting their grades and be done with it.Do you think they might have a similar thing to say?
Do you think they might have a similar thing to say?
You are looking at it from a modern mindset. If you look at ancient texts you will see the past idealized. Look at Hesiod's Works and Days where each subsequent age is worse and worse. The Sumerian King's list shows rulers living ever shorter lives. The Bible says man lived longer and happier at the start of time. These are just examples off the top of my head. Obviously invention did happen but there was no drive like there exists in the modern world. Ancient peoples believed "what is was" as far as technology is concerned.
The Greeks were able to deduce the world was round and fully understood advantaged geometry. I doubt Hero didn't observe that gas was expanding which allowed his various steam powered inventions to work. These people aren't idiots.
Learning sound production from an Acadamy Award winning sound engineer, who knows how to teach, and having (attempted to) learn from the exact opposite, I know the importance of good teachers. I went through a period some months ago when my life was agony from bad teacher; the contrast to now is amazing.