[ExI] ideas for ted

[William Flynn Wallace]

Well, John, why should a college grad know physics?  Seasons?  Who cares -
can look it up, although tilt of the Earth may be too much to handle.  The
average college grad is not who we are looking to to do physics, although a
few things,like atoms, could be taught in, say, 3rd grade.

Anyhow, one doesn't go to Harvard to learn things, except in grad school.
One goes there to join clubs and meet people and get cool jobs later.

But it is an important point:  just how much of each subject should be
taught, and when, and to whom?  I wonder how many accidents, some fatal,
could have been avoided by one simple course in home ec?  How many giant
debts could be avoided by teaching one little course in how to deal with
money?  (just showing people a chart explaining compound interest puts
people in absolute awe - I did this and I know).  Yeah, you could find all
this and much more on Youtube, but will they look?  Remember the
correlation between intellectual ability and confidence in one's facts?
(yeah, this has a name but I can never remember it - Krauss something?)

bill w

On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 12:46 PM John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 11:56 AM <spike at rainier66.com> wrote:
>
>
>> *> I have been invited to give Ted talk, and I might take them up on it. *
>>
>
> Wow that's great Spike, congratulations
>
>
>> > *My notion is to talk about our local public school’s embracing highly
>> diversified curriculum: what if we do and what if we do not?*
>>
>
> I don't want to sound like a old fashioned fuddy duddy but I think there
> is something to be said for emphasising the 3 R's in grade school, you've
> got to learn how to learn and you can't do that if you can't read. By High
> School you should know how to read and so can start to study other things,
> but 70% never take a physics course and things don't improve much in
> college. This video was made of Harvard students at their graduation
> ceremony, I'm sure they could tell you a lot about the Canterbury Tales or
> 18th century Napoleonic battle tactics but they gave the WRONG explanation
> why seasons exist, something about reality that directly affects every
> human on the planet and has been well understood for centuries. And
> remember this is Harvard!
>
> Harvard Graduates Can't Explain Seasons
> <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0wk4qG2mIg>
>
> Also 27% of the general population of the USA and 17% of college graduates
> think the sun goes around the Earth.   41% of college graduates think atoms
> are smaller than electrons and 48% think Lasers work by focusing sound
> waves.
>
> Science Questions That Stumped College Grads
> <https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/10-easy-science-questions-that-stumped-college-grads/all/>
>
>
>> > *Help me Exi-wan Kenobi!*
>>
>
> May the Force be with you!
>
>  John K Clark
>
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