Education

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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

A general catch all thread for non-college discussion.

My wife is working as a student aide in kindergarten (she is there for medical issues, not to teach) at a nearby elementary school and we are learning a ton of shit about the school system and parents.

For example:
A parent recently sent the teacher an email stating (and I'm paraphrasing), "We are a flat Earth family. You don't have to teach it, but if my daughter (or son, I forget) asks if the Earth is flat, you'd better say yes. I will not accept anything else. You do not want to piss me off."

The teacher didn't bother responding.

Another example:
A parent, who happens to be a professor at a college, emailed the teacher stating (and I'm paraphrasing), "You recently taught the subject of our solar system and I did not like that you referred to the sun as a giant ball of fire. The sun is actually...very long scientific breakdown of the chemical composition of the sun and various reactions taking place within...I would appreciate it if you would teach your students properly and not just call the sun a fireball."

The teacher emailed back explaining this is kindergarten, and anything beyond "fireball" is way too advanced for them. Most of the kids can't read, they're learning to write, and one can't even talk.

Some of the teachers are complete shit as well:
The music teacher is a young woman who, all the adults exposed to her believe, hates kids. Her music class for the first 60% of the year involved HER singing, and if the kids tried to sing, they'd get yelled at. It also involved lots of coloring. Literally, her classes were 50% her singing then telling the kids to color. Someone must have complained as lately the kids are more involved, but it's still the worst class/teacher the kids see. (I'm glad my kids don't attend that school. Someone's does...)

One sub is used quite often and is so obese that she comes in, parks in one chair, and doesn't move the whole day. She just lets the kids do whatever they want and she's too fat to do anything.

Another recent sub is a 55 year old woman who had to google the differences in a full, half, and crescent moon. She had no idea.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

We need to stop coddling retards, and relegate them to the retard jobs.

Your wife isn't at a Montessori School, is she?
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TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

Now I feel a little bad about emailing my daughter's math teacher and explaining that a box plot is a statistical analysis of data from which absolute truths (such as what # of sampled data is above the median) cannot be derived. (Though some other statements can be made, etc)
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

GORDON wrote: Your wife isn't at a Montessori School, is she?
No sir.
TheCatt wrote: Now I feel a little bad about emailing my daughter's math teacher and explaining that a box plot is a statistical analysis of data from which absolute truths (such as what # of sampled data is above the median) cannot be derived. (Though some other statements can be made, etc)
Ha! Depends what grade she's in and what they were teaching. You have to remember that sometimes they're just teaching concepts, not "how" or "why". They're prepping them for later.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

Leisher wrote: Ha! Depends what grade she's in and what they were teaching.
6th grade. She made another mistake on an exam as well, due to a lack of details in her problem. It probably annoys me more than it should.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

Guess Trump was right.
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GORDON
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Post by GORDON »

They need more chromebooks.
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thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

TheCatt wrote: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:09 am such as what # of sampled data is above the median
What am I missing...Is it not 50%? I guess...the box plot doesn't have sample size, so you don't know the number of samples?
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Post by TheCatt »

thibodeaux wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 6:55 pm
TheCatt wrote: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:09 am such as what # of sampled data is above the median
What am I missing...Is it not 50%? I guess...the box plot doesn't have sample size, so you don't know the number of samples?
Let's say you have these values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

It's not 50% above the median.

Or, 1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5... etc. etc
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thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

TheCatt wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 7:55 pm
thibodeaux wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 6:55 pm
TheCatt wrote: Thu Mar 07, 2019 11:09 am such as what # of sampled data is above the median
What am I missing...Is it not 50%? I guess...the box plot doesn't have sample size, so you don't know the number of samples?
Let's say you have these values: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

It's not 50% above the median.
Yeah, sure I get it. If N is odd, then it's (N-1)/2
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

thibodeaux wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:05 pm Yeah, sure I get it. If N is odd, then it's (N-1)/2
1, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 5
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thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

Oh, I see what you're saying.

Of course, you ain't gonna really have a box in that plot :p since your whole distribution is the number 3 (1 and 5 are whiskers)
Last edited by thibodeaux on Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

But let's be realistic. Most schooling is the ignorant leading the stupid. Ed-majors are the bottom of the barrel, and do we really expect 6th graders to get stats, when most grown-ups don't, at all?
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

thibodeaux wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 8:55 pm But let's be realistic. Most schooling is the ignorant leading the stupid. Ed-majors are the bottom of the barrel, and do we really expect 6th graders to get stats, when most grown-ups don't, at all?
I'm just saying. The people who MAKE the curriculum should be smart enough. I don't fully expect a middle school math teacher to... well, actually, I do expect a 7th grade math teacher to know 7th grade math. But, anyway...

I still remember in high school Physics, the teacher had a question that was something like:

A thing linearly accelerates from 10 mps to 15 mps (meters per second) over 5 seconds: How far does it go?

I mean, it's a rectangle + a triangle (or, calculus if you prefer). I had the right answer, but I got it wrong. For some reason she thought you should disregard the entire portion under the # 10, and just do the 0 to 5 part. (The triangle, disregard the rectangle) I was like "How could this thing go LESS FAR than a thing going a constant 10 meters per second?" And she said "That's just how it is"

WTF?

I was bitter, I had to appeal to get my points back.
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thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

It could be worse
A Mathematical Model for the Determination of Total Area Under Glucose Tolerance and Other Metabolic Curves

Diabetes Care 1994 Feb; 17(2): 152-154.
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

thibodeaux wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 8:49 am It could be worse
A Mathematical Model for the Determination of Total Area Under Glucose Tolerance and Other Metabolic Curves

Diabetes Care 1994 Feb; 17(2): 152-154.
Huh. Way to reinvent pre-calc, I guess?
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thibodeaux
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Post by thibodeaux »

And get it published!

And get it cited!
TheCatt
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Post by TheCatt »

thibodeaux wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 9:39 am And get it published!

And get it cited!
According to reddit, it was mostly cited as a joke... but who knows.
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Leisher
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Post by Leisher »

Jeb Bush with a decent take on the current education system.

I'm not down with every aspect of his plan, as it seems a bit too "trade heavy", but it's nice to see a politician suggesting that the current education system is broken.
“Every record been destroyed or falsified, books rewritten, pictures repainted, statues, street building renamed, every date altered. The process is continuing day by day. History stops. Nothing exists except endless present in which the Party is right.”
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