30 Comments

I was a horse nut as a kid (long before MLP) and read everything about them that I could get my hands on. I could name the transitional fossils (if they existed, which they don't) from eohippus to equus. It was fascinating to learn that they walk on their middle finger. That curiosity spread to other animals and eventually made me give up on my catholic upbringing because, well, science just made a lot more sense.

Expand full comment

As long as Zeno is stuck not quite at the doorway of that one room, we'll never really know if calculus works.

Expand full comment

They don't want to be fat - how do you darwinsplain the whale vomit everywhere?

Expand full comment

Needs more open contempt and sneering, I think.

Expand full comment

I was born in 1947, so just the right age for the post-Sputnik panic push of kids into science. I was once pretty smart, so I was an obvious pushee. No real complaints -- I love to learn stuff, and science will do that for you.

Expand full comment

Actually, I think the Diagonal Theorem should be taught in, say, HS Algebra 2. It's not that hard to understand, and it is the most accessible example of the *mind* *blown* aspect of math.

Expand full comment

Wait. Doesn't that make it a "transitional copy"?

Expand full comment

Now. Always.

Expand full comment

Personally, I prefer Bissomy.

Expand full comment

They evolved from pond scum?

Expand full comment

Particularly in secondary education, it's almost unavoidable that some teachers will be teaching some subjects that they did not explicitly study in their own college careers. (This is because there are a lot of relatively small high schools). And then there are substitutes.

However, unlike home-schooling, all public school teachers will be teaching SOME subjects that they did personally study, and many of them have received instruction and training in how to teach a subject in which they are not personally super-competent.

Also, there is the matter of demeanor. Challenging students without over-criticizing them is a challenge in itself. Especially so, when they are your own kids. At least for me.

Expand full comment

Is this another whale joke?

Expand full comment

Yes. Prove I wasn't.

Expand full comment

Watch out for the divided nasal passages.

Expand full comment

Funny how they never ask that about Genesis.

Expand full comment

They might well-enough adapted to survive. We still have crocodiles, after all.

Expand full comment