stupid science teacher

[Silent_Rebel]

Yesterday my !earth science! teacher told me that she firmly believes that light travels instantaneously. This astounded me. For the rest of class (30 min.) I did not talk at all because there were so many reasons that this statement was false flying through my head (I usually do not talk anyways but that was my reason yesterday). This probably has no purpose but I just needed to tell someone who would "listen" (at least I think that you people "listen").

EDIT: The title of this thread is not exactly what I am trying to say.

 

[Cognisant]

...how? How does someone like that become a teacher?

 

[Dormouse]

Maybe there was some misunderstanding... Have you talked to her about it? I know some teachers deliberatly simplify things to facilitate work for the students.

 

[Trebuchet]

That is just sad.

 

[EditorOne]

Perhaps she was winding you up? Or perhaps she meant that for all practical everyday purposes here on earth, "instantaneously" is close enough?

It could be worse. I once had a chemistry/physics teacher who made us watch John Birch Society propaganda films when activity periods fell in his class period.

 

[ashitaria]

Birch propaganda films?

What the hell does that teach you?

And btw, it's very likely that the teacher was just presenting an over-simplified concept so as for you guys to just get the general idea of how fast light travels.

 

[Kuu]

Yesterday my !earth science! teacher told me that she firmly believes that light travels instantaneously. This astounded me. For the rest of class (30 min.) I did not talk at all because there were so many reasons that this statement was false flying through my head (I usually do not talk anyways but that was my reason yesterday). This probably has no purpose but I just needed to tell someone who would "listen" (at least I think that you people "listen").

You should have brought up the issue instead of staying silent.

...how? How does someone like that become a teacher?

Oh, you'd be surprised....

I know some teachers deliberatly simplify things to facilitate work for the students.

This should never be. It just ends up making kids more confused over time, and with horrible foundations for math/physics. *avoids yet another rant about education's failures*

 

[JoeJoe]

This should never be. It just ends up making kids more confused over time, and with horrible foundations for math/physics. *avoids yet another rant about education's failures*

It depends a lot what subject you are talking about. If done well, the so-called didactical reduction doesn't make the previously learned false. For instance, you cannot start with atomic models in 8th grade by explaining what atomic orbitals are (heck, I'm in 12th grade and I don't know it yet). A problem I face relatively often in chemistry is simply that there are so many exceptions. You learn a certain rule, you look at some data or whatever a few years later and the teacher has to say: "Well, it is possible, under these conditions or whatever that the rule does not apply." (Makes one wonder if there is an exception to rule 34)

 

[Cognisant]

*stabs JoeJoe 1699763 times*

 

[lightspeed]

Though, my name suggests otherwise: I do not have a grand theory on the speed of light. All I know is that light is divine.

You just never know, though...All that we have are theories. I lost respect for science a long time ago. The even scarier part is: Can you prove she's wrong? And, if you can: Maybe you could challenge her (not while other classmates are around) and you might get her to clarify exactly what she meant. Communication can be much more powerful than people estimate.

I believe, though: Light doesn't travel only at one speed. There are too many variations, imo.

But what do I know: I was just a computer science major, at a technical college.

 

[Silent_Rebel]

This teacher does assume that we are idiots. She asked us once if we knew what angles were because we were talking about star positions and locating stars, and then she drew one on the bored just in case we did not get it. She might have just over simplified but this kind of thing happens over and over. Almost every class I could tear to microsopic logical threads, but I do not care enough to give the effort. Plus she is almost completely closed minded. She is the kind of teacher that rejects all input.

I have another story. You do not have to read it if you do not want to. I am just trying to prove to you that the problem is not just her simplifying. I think this happened last week. She was talking to a student on the other side of the classroom. (the classroom is a thin rectangle and the desks are facing a short side. I sit at the front left corner. The pencil sharpener is at the back left corner) My pencil broke so I got up to sharpen it. As I was putting my pencil up to the sharpener this teacher asks my what I am doing out of my seat. I had my pencil in the (manual) pencil sharpener so I thought it was obvious. I then asked her if I could sharpen my pencil and she said no. She said that she would get me a new one. She then goes over to her school bag-type thing at the front of the room and pulls out a new pencil and then goes to the back of the room to sharpen it. This takes about thirty seconds. After that she lectured me about getting out of my seat without permission and about how I was disrupting others learning. Then she gave me the new sharpened pencil.

Another Story/Anecdote: Before Christmas I brought a stop watch in to class to time how much class she wastes. It ended up being 71% of the fifty minute class period. I know that I could have made the timing unfair but I was on her side and only timed when she was doing something completly irrelevant.

 

[lightspeed]

This teacher does assume that we are idiots. She asked us once if we knew what angles were because we were talking about star positions and locating stars, and then she drew one on the bored just in case we did not get it. She might have just over simplified but this kind of thing happens over and over. Almost every class I could tear to microsopic logical threads, but I do not care enough to give the effort. Plus she is almost completely closed minded. She is the kind of teacher that rejects all input.

I have another story. You do not have to read it if you do not want to. I am just trying to prove to you that the problem is not just her simplifying. I think this happened last week. She was talking to a student on the other side of the classroom. (the classroom is a thin rectangle and the desks are facing a short side. I sit at the front left corner. The pencil sharpener is at the back left corner) My pencil broke so I got up to sharpen it. As I was putting my pencil up to the sharpener this teacher asks my what I am doing out of my seat. I had my pencil in the (manual) pencil sharpener so I thought it was obvious. I then asked her if I could sharpen my pencil and she said no. She said that she would get me a new one. She then goes over to her school bag-type thing at the front of the room and pulls out a new pencil and then goes to the back of the room to sharpen it. This takes about thirty seconds. After that she lectured me about getting out of my seat without permission and about how I was disrupting others learning. Then she gave me the new sharpened pencil.

Another Story/Anecdote: Before Christmas I brought a stop watch in to class to time how much class she wastes. It ended up being 71% of the fifty minute class period. I know that I could have made the timing unfair but I was on her side and only timed when she was doing something completly irrelevant.

This is why I dropped out of high school. It seems college professors know not if you are there, nor do they care...especially at big schools. As long as course work and exams are done.

Of course, I never learned anything in any institution. I learned everything I know by reading books, and the internet.

 

[walfin]

Your teacher has the right to believe that light travels instantaneously, that mass is not energy, and that sound is a transverse wave.

But she does not have the right to receive a paycheck for teaching all these things. Sue the ***!

Of course, I never learned anything in any institution. I learned everything I know by reading books, and the internet.

Well, some people need the certificates (by need I mean do not wish to bear the consequences of not having at least one).

And to be fair to teachers, not all of them are quite so screwed up as this one.

 

[EditorOne]

"After that she lectured me about getting out of my seat without permission and about how I was disrupting others learning. "

After doing more to disrupt it than you would have? Well, that takes care of it. There is a technical name for this kind of person: She's "a real pisser." Now that she's classified and pinned like a butterfly on a display board, you can move on and not get the megrims thinking about her.

You timed her wasting time? Standing ovation and a bow. Wish I'd thought of that 40 years ago.

 

[Decaf]

You should time her again, but this time document what she does during each span of wastefulness. If it ever came to using such evidence, you will wish that you had prepared in such a way that it would be difficult for anyone to deny it flatly (should she ever up her terribleness and send you to the principal or schedule a parent-teacher conference).

If you feel like being a smart ass, anonymously deposit printed research papers that counter what she says in class into her teacher mailbox (if you can access it) or on her desk. So this time its the speed of light.

For instance: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-th/pdf/9408/9408016v1.pdf
(That's probably not a great paper to use, but try searching Google Scholar to find more)

If she wants to talk about things happening instantaneously, you should bring up quantum entanglement.

 

[Kuu]

It depends a lot what subject you are talking about. If done well, the so-called didactical reduction doesn't make the previously learned false. For instance, you cannot start with atomic models in 8th grade by explaining what atomic orbitals are (heck, I'm in 12th grade and I don't know it yet).

Yes, as you said... if done well. Most of the time it isn't done well.
Instead of saying light travels instantaneously, she could have said it travels very very fast, so much that it seems instantaneous to us. A couple of extra words make this completely true and yet a simplified explanation. Of course most people fail at doing this kind of simplification, and they go "whatever, it's the same" at me for pointing out their inaccuracies, but no you morons, it is not the same!

The kind of crap one learns when young because of irresponsible adults, which later needs to be unlearned (and the time and effort thus wasted) is enormous. I'm a believer in doing things right the first time, so why have to re-teach people over and over again to clarify so-called simplifications that were unnecessary in the first place?

And in fact I do think we should start teaching physics from the bottom up, starting with fundamental forces and elementary particles and moving upwards instead of the other way. Most people never grasp all those things well and their connection to macroscopic events because they way things are structured a) treats children like idiots and b) leaves everything standing upon holes and 'simplification' patches to be 'fixed later' which ends up leaving people confused and with plainly false information. And then you get the worst kind of despicable ignorant people spouting pseudoscience left and right...

... and 'stupid science teachers'

(well perhaps elementary particles is going too far not to mention an area still with a lot of unkowns... but one could easily start at the atomic scale and take it from there)

 

[Silent_Rebel]

And in fact I do think we should start teaching physics from the bottom up, starting with fundamental forces and elementary particles and moving upwards instead of the other way. Most people never grasp all those things well and their connection to macroscopic events because they way things are structured a) treats children like idiots and b) leaves everything standing upon holes and 'simplification' patches to be 'fixed later' which ends up leaving people confused and with plainly false information. And then you get the worst kind of despicable ignorant people spouting pseudoscience left and right...

Me too. I know that this is on a completely different level, but I am only taking algebra and it is already contradicting things that have been taught to me.