🙂
And in the meantime, pray that nothing serious will happen to them, we have had a very, very bad time with our son. One of the many nonsense (crazy things) he did was touring South America with his backpack and tattoo equipment on his back. On the border between Ecuador and Colombia, we almost lost all contact with him. He was saved (saved) by a young woman who took a photo at the time he was arbitrarily detained (by portrayal of hippie aspect) and placed it in FB, a friend recognized him and let us know.
My oldest son traveled urgently, the consul Argentinian in Ecuador intervened, he was taken in an emergency consulate car 200 km away, and found him abandoned and beaten by these beasts, in a square. My daughter told her about FB, don't move from there!
Thank God he listened. This was four years ago, I tremble just remembering it.
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Saved by facebook! Every cloud has a silver lining. Hope your son sufferred no long term ill effects.
We find our community facebook page extremely useful - once you get past the inevitable missing cats and dogs!
Errare humanum est...about the only Latin I know, meaning "To err is human." We've all been there, one way or the other. 🙂
My hypothesis is that your engine had dirty hydraulic lifter, which the excess of motor-oil cleaned out by flushing away the tiny bit of crud that was allowing it to leak-down just enough to tick under load.
I have cured ticking hydraulic lifters on a couple of old cars I owned, simply by doing two or three oil changes in succession at shorter-than-usual intervals.
-Gnobuddy
GnoBuddy's observation — that there was bimodal distribution developing from the 1980s forward in the kids he was observing is something dark, indeed.
I know — especially since My Pa was a K–8 teacher from the 1960s thru 1990s — that tho' it is not pölïtically correct to “lay the observation at the feet of the pedagogical curate”, from HIS perspective it should be.
A few points he made, fairly often, sometimes with zeal:
Strong discipline — This was Dad's № 1 point. A classroom full of 'trouble-makers' is a classroom that'll learn next to nothing. Quiet when quiet is required; not by 'a dictator', but out of accepted (and parent-agreed) manners.
Tireless repetition — some things are best repeated, and repeated, until they become 'rote'. The payback is huge later in life, since 'muscle memory' of the key ideas, principles, facts and philosophies of the academica sphere really are fundamental to all the rest of one's higher level enterprise.
Personalized classrooms — A classroom devoid of decoration stunts the interest of students sitting there. Every teacher should be given free reign to tack 'whatever they like' up on the walls. BUT… the trappings are also owned by the teachers, personally. Not paid for by the school. Required, yet 'donated'.
Change-it-up' curricula — Books are fine, but every class, every subject, needs the day-to-day routine broken up with looking at the subject matter from a totally different perspective. Field trips. Lab demonstrations. Listening (or watching video) of 'great lectures', or such.
Comprehensive parental investment — Parents that accept the need for discipline, that support teachers attempting to assert it, without rancor and petty angle-politicing. Parents that take away the bôob-tubes, dumb-fones, endless games. Parents that actually participate in some of the homework, as proxy teachers.
Exceptional case latitude — The extra-smart, need intellectually challenging outlets that don't let their latent talent atrophy. Just the same, students lacking experience, talent, or perhaps just “interest” also need attention, feeding and care. This is the hardest area, practically.
Administrative support — Support for discipline, for manners, for respect, for timeliness, for shooting for the balance between 'latitude' and 'lassitude'.
Prudent funding — Schools (Dad was adamant) do not need to be rich in order to educate well. Admittedly they should not need to be starving funding wise, but they also don't need to be administratively top-heavy, and 'rich'. Tho' it isn't in vogue, kids need paper, pens, to write, to get 'muscle-memory' going in ways that “smart phones” simply cannot.
Dad's methodological strength was eventually recognized, as he was awarded one of California's 'Teacher-of-the-Year' awards in the 1980s. Beloved by his students, mostly by their parents, begrudgingly by the administrations, vaguely by the PhD's in charge of curricula, he followed his own tough code. He turned down funding for 'useless bbb-bb-b-bûllsnot', he turned down pointless advisors, purposeless assistants, rancorous school board recommendations.
And that made him one awesome teacher.
His classroom was straight out of a 1960's Hippie Art Museum exhibit. He simultaneously taught Art and Science, same classroom, at the same time. Even in his dottage, former students would greet him enthusiastically in town, showing off their lil'uns, and proclaiming that they too were trying to replicate what he had done. And often pining that the 'modern education' was really veering off the track of delivering … fine, upstanding, determined kids.
So,
-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
I know — especially since My Pa was a K–8 teacher from the 1960s thru 1990s — that tho' it is not pölïtically correct to “lay the observation at the feet of the pedagogical curate”, from HIS perspective it should be.
A few points he made, fairly often, sometimes with zeal:
Strong discipline — This was Dad's № 1 point. A classroom full of 'trouble-makers' is a classroom that'll learn next to nothing. Quiet when quiet is required; not by 'a dictator', but out of accepted (and parent-agreed) manners.
Tireless repetition — some things are best repeated, and repeated, until they become 'rote'. The payback is huge later in life, since 'muscle memory' of the key ideas, principles, facts and philosophies of the academica sphere really are fundamental to all the rest of one's higher level enterprise.
Personalized classrooms — A classroom devoid of decoration stunts the interest of students sitting there. Every teacher should be given free reign to tack 'whatever they like' up on the walls. BUT… the trappings are also owned by the teachers, personally. Not paid for by the school. Required, yet 'donated'.
Change-it-up' curricula — Books are fine, but every class, every subject, needs the day-to-day routine broken up with looking at the subject matter from a totally different perspective. Field trips. Lab demonstrations. Listening (or watching video) of 'great lectures', or such.
Comprehensive parental investment — Parents that accept the need for discipline, that support teachers attempting to assert it, without rancor and petty angle-politicing. Parents that take away the bôob-tubes, dumb-fones, endless games. Parents that actually participate in some of the homework, as proxy teachers.
Exceptional case latitude — The extra-smart, need intellectually challenging outlets that don't let their latent talent atrophy. Just the same, students lacking experience, talent, or perhaps just “interest” also need attention, feeding and care. This is the hardest area, practically.
Administrative support — Support for discipline, for manners, for respect, for timeliness, for shooting for the balance between 'latitude' and 'lassitude'.
Prudent funding — Schools (Dad was adamant) do not need to be rich in order to educate well. Admittedly they should not need to be starving funding wise, but they also don't need to be administratively top-heavy, and 'rich'. Tho' it isn't in vogue, kids need paper, pens, to write, to get 'muscle-memory' going in ways that “smart phones” simply cannot.
Dad's methodological strength was eventually recognized, as he was awarded one of California's 'Teacher-of-the-Year' awards in the 1980s. Beloved by his students, mostly by their parents, begrudgingly by the administrations, vaguely by the PhD's in charge of curricula, he followed his own tough code. He turned down funding for 'useless bbb-bb-b-bûllsnot', he turned down pointless advisors, purposeless assistants, rancorous school board recommendations.
And that made him one awesome teacher.
His classroom was straight out of a 1960's Hippie Art Museum exhibit. He simultaneously taught Art and Science, same classroom, at the same time. Even in his dottage, former students would greet him enthusiastically in town, showing off their lil'uns, and proclaiming that they too were trying to replicate what he had done. And often pining that the 'modern education' was really veering off the track of delivering … fine, upstanding, determined kids.
So,
-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
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An observation corresponding with my perception of those students as employees. A minority are rocket scientists, easily competitive with previous generations. A solid remainder are pleasant, easygoing B Ark ticket holders. The minimal impact of the world's knowledge in a pocket format couldn't have been predicted 50 years ago.
Your dad was perfectly correct in putting discipline first, and I would put administrative support firmly alongside that. A school with a sound discipline policy that is robustly supported by the school management team is a place where learning has the best chance of taking place.
Of course, the ultimate aim is to promote self discipline in students rather than simply rely on imposed discipline.
"Nothing of importance is ever achieved without discipline. I feel myself sometimes not wholly in sympathy with some modern educational theorists, because I think that they underestimate the part that discipline plays. But the discipline you have in your life should be one determined by your own desires and your own needs, not put upon you by society or authority."
Bertrand Russell
Always such traumatic episodes leave sequels, psychic and had physical as well. He is in psychological treatment and improving. His broken collarbone ( they broken it ) was operated as soon as he arrived here again. If it had not been for the help of his brothers, my wife and I do not know how we would have done to bring him back to his home ...
Thanks for your good wishes !
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I can empathise with the sense of panic and helplessness you must have experienced.
And, what a traumatic experience for your young son!
Thankfully, the strength of your family pulled everyone through.
And, what a traumatic experience for your young son!
Thankfully, the strength of your family pulled everyone through.
I'll just perhaps-unsubtly point out … no one has taken a go at answering the “600 lb Gorilla” question: … what has been the 12 year educational goal(s) that displaced broad, good, learning?
Tell you what … I'll do some more talking with the high school bunch, to see what it is.
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
Tell you what … I'll do some more talking with the high school bunch, to see what it is.
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
It's a surprisingly tricky question to answer. From what I can see, it mostly comes down to making a few numbers look as high as possible. Most notably, graduation, college acceptance and a few standardized test scores.
This is just my opinion, but teaching is as much an art as it is a science.
This is just my opinion, but teaching is as much an art as it is a science.
My guess is that it is TV and the Internet, particularly in the form of always-connected smartphones and social media that displaced broad, good learning...most of which needs to happen during the 16 hours a day the child is not in school.
When I think back to my own childhood, there are dozens of examples where I figured out something during childhood play, that many years later made the full-blown version much easier to understand.
For example, when I was maybe 7 years old I tried to make tree-houses by tying sticks into square frames with twine to make the four walls. I found out quickly that the squares didn't stay square, or planar. So I tied a diagonal stick into the frame - better, but it still wouldn't stay planar. I tied in the second diagonal - eureka! My square walls now stayed square and planar. I had discovered the concept of a fully triangulated structure, without ever having heard the term. (Being in the second grade at the time, I wasn't about to hear it for a long time to come!)
At about the same age, I remember trying to make a little cardboard model of a bicycle. I made the bicycle frame from strips of cardboard, and I was joining them at their intersections with ordinary thumb-tacks because I was too impatient to wait for glue to dry. The frame wouldn't hold its shape at all until I added the diagonal bar that holds the saddle. But as soon as I pinned that in, the frame became rigid (well, as rigid as you can get from a few strips of cardboard.) Once again, I had confirmed to myself that triangular frames were rigid, in a way that squares and other shapes were not.
Fast forward maybe ten years, and I had a conversation with an older boy, a mechanical engineering student, who told me how he had just learned about trusses, and the concept of a fully triangulated structure. I got the concept immediately, thanks to my childhood discoveries made while playing with sticks, twine, cardboard, and push-pins.
What if the iPad had existed back then, and someone had stuck an iPad in my hands at age two? I would never have tried to build either the tree-house, or the cardboard bicycle. Most likely, I would never have heard of fully triangulated structures, or understood the concept, till my dying day. Instead, I would have a deep understanding of poop-emojis, LOL cats, and baby Yoda.
🙄-Gnobuddy
What if the iPad had existed back then, and someone had stuck an iPad in my hands at age two? I would never have tried to build either the tree-house, or the cardboard bicycle. Most likely, I would never have heard of fully triangulated structures, or understood the concept, till my dying day. Instead, I would have a deep understanding of poop-emojis, LOL cats, and baby Yoda.
I remember years ago I used to have a 'bridge builder simulator' on my tablet. Basically the aim was to build a bridge with the least segments possible and when ready, it would have a truck or row of trucks cross the bridge to test stability.
The physics wasn't too bad and it did show the need for triangulation in stressed designs.
It reminded me of the school science lesson where we had to superglue bits of dry spaghetti to make a bridge before load testing it..
Although a game, it still taught a little bit of mechanics, which I thought was good. I think digital technology can have a place in learning, but other temptations (Social, youtube etc) must be limited or removed.
Attachments
For effective teaching, however, you still need to design experiments which show correlation of the real world to the computer models. Most importantly, the range of validity, and where the models break down. Or do you really believe the latest simulation that someone posted in Solid State of his latest breakthrough amp simulation showing how to get .0000004% THD20k using models he got for free off the internet, pure voltage source for the power supply, and do not include a full electromagnetic analysis of the layout?
In my particular profession, I see soooooo many interview candidates who know only computer simulations, have never used a soldering iron in their life, and really don’t know basic electronics. These are the ones who have actually been through college. You see a handful that actually know something, but they all want to go to work in California (God only knows why, when a six figure salary only buys you a $-dump apartment).
In my particular profession, I see soooooo many interview candidates who know only computer simulations, have never used a soldering iron in their life, and really don’t know basic electronics. These are the ones who have actually been through college. You see a handful that actually know something, but they all want to go to work in California (God only knows why, when a six figure salary only buys you a $-dump apartment).
Much of the problem here is that going to college for 4 years (lets be honest, more like 5 these days) does not teach you how to be an engineer. It teaches you the theory that you need, but in most cases you won't learn the "in the real world" scenarios until you try to design something. Plenty of colleges have been trying to make engineering degrees more "obtainable", which is to say "doing the minimum necessary to meet ABET accreditation and nothing more".
As an example, a good percentage of the EE graduates at my college have almost no understanding of transformers. They argue that it's "masters's level content" that they shouldn't be expected to understand. They don't really want to understand it either.
One of the most brilliant high-power microwave engineers I have ever met does not have a degree. Rather, he's been playing with magnetrons and radar pulsers since he was about 15. Reading books on the subject, then experimenting.
As an example, a good percentage of the EE graduates at my college have almost no understanding of transformers. They argue that it's "masters's level content" that they shouldn't be expected to understand. They don't really want to understand it either.
One of the most brilliant high-power microwave engineers I have ever met does not have a degree. Rather, he's been playing with magnetrons and radar pulsers since he was about 15. Reading books on the subject, then experimenting.
Underlying the abundance of the obsession with phones is the tendency to want easy and quick gratification, no matter how trivial the event was.
Above is described the necessity for discipline, and easy gratification does not require any sustained thought or application; discipline.
It is not only the young that are susceptible to this, in my town there are numerous middle aged people absorbed in their phones to the point of walking obliviously into others. Often they are fat women, perhaps an indicator of compulsive gratification personalities, food being another 'quick fix', even when not needed.
I'm sure we all know that to achieve anything worthwhile takes devotion and discipline, one of the greatest for me was my speaker build in '03, the moment of 'switch-on' being the ultimate in 'success or failure' moment, tests.
When you watch the films of the space mission guys as they succeed yo can see the pure pleasure resulting from so much work.
A guy at the gym I attend who graduated a few years ago stated to me recently that the level of study was in his opinion about that of 'O' levels. I would have thought at least 'A' levels, but 'O' levels?
Above is described the necessity for discipline, and easy gratification does not require any sustained thought or application; discipline.
It is not only the young that are susceptible to this, in my town there are numerous middle aged people absorbed in their phones to the point of walking obliviously into others. Often they are fat women, perhaps an indicator of compulsive gratification personalities, food being another 'quick fix', even when not needed.
I'm sure we all know that to achieve anything worthwhile takes devotion and discipline, one of the greatest for me was my speaker build in '03, the moment of 'switch-on' being the ultimate in 'success or failure' moment, tests.
When you watch the films of the space mission guys as they succeed yo can see the pure pleasure resulting from so much work.
A guy at the gym I attend who graduated a few years ago stated to me recently that the level of study was in his opinion about that of 'O' levels. I would have thought at least 'A' levels, but 'O' levels?
I agree, it certainly has a place. But it's no substitute for all the real-world interactions kids (and adults) need to learn well.
There was a big international research study done about five years ago, involving many different countries, and tens of thousands of schoolkids, to study the effect of computers and Internet access in K12 classrooms.
I forget the exact numbers, but the result of the study was that having zero computer / Internet access wasn't optimal, and neither was having full-time computer / Internet access. What was optimal for learning was just a few hours of access to computers each week.
As a personal example, I learned to use LTSpice to simulate electronic circuits just a couple of years ago. Though I've been tinkering with electronics since my age was in single digits, LTSpice has let me design things I never could have before, such as guitar speaker emulation filters with a specific tailored frequency response matching that of a guitar speaker.
At the same time, LTSpice won't murmur a word of complaint if you apply, say, 5000 volts DC to a 30-volt rated op-amp. The simulated circuit will instead work perfectly, where you'd have had a flash of light and a puff of smoke in the real world.
I've never seen your bridge game, but I bet it doesn't tell you the difference between building your bridge out of dry wood, vs freshly cut wet wood. It won't teach you whether nailing, screwing, or tying the joints in your impromptu wood bridge is best. It won't help you identify by look, feel, smell, that one piece of wood that's dry-rotted and likely to break. The game doesn't reward your brain with the smell of wood, or the texture of the bark in your hands. The game doesn't tell you to avoid the sandy parts of the shore, or whether to build your bridge on rock or clay or shale.
And so on - there are thousands of complexities in the real world, all of which have been stripped out of the little 2D diagram in the digital simulation.
Digital simulations can be a nice addition to the learning tool-chest. But definitely not a replacement for all the ways in which our brains have evolved to learn from our interactions with the physical world.
-Gnobuddy