OT: Sci-fi (was RE: Ultra-portable terminals)

[Kenneth Brody]

Quoting John Esak (Fri, 28 Jul 2006 10:13:35 -0400):

> >
> > But, how many can name the crew of the 2nd lunar landing mission?
> >
> >     http://www.apolloarchive.com/apg_thumbnail.php?imageID=S69-38852
>
> Aw, c'mon... let's take it to the *really* ridiculous... How many can
> name who invented the TV?
>
> I'll bet none.

Umm...  Wasn't his last name Farnsworth?  First name "Filo" or "Philo",
or something like that.  I even recall a middle initial "T".

As I recall, he came up with the basic idea when he was a teenager.

Okay, now that I've typed what I recall...  clickity click...

Yup:

    http://www.vwoa.org/images/AmericanInventorsLarge.jpg

    Philo T. Farnsworth

What do I win?

> As far as all that goes... "in  my day"  He says, putting on that old
> tired voice...  We used to be taught who invented this and that. I will
> bet that *every* single person above the age of 40 on this list can
> name the inventor of the cotton gin.

Eli Whitney.

> Too strange, huh?  (by the way, I actually remember in what year, too.

You got me on that one.

> Maybe we just had better teachers?
> Less drugs?  More discipline and respect in the classroom? Parents who
> cared that we learned?
>
> Truly, though, content is everything and the window is changing so
> rapidly.Obviously, it is no longer "important" who invented the cotton
> gin... but, what is the answer to why no one knows who invented the TV?

What about the transistor?  I'm sure everyone here can say "Bell Labs",
but what about the people themselves?  (I only remembered one name.)

> Why do very few or no people know who invented the laser? (Okay, I'll
> even take the maser.)

You got me again on that one.


On the other hand, the ability to know how to find such information
is equally (if not more) important.  You can't know everything, but
if you know how to look it up...


In high school, math/science/etc all used "closed book" tests.  In
college, they all used "open book" tests.  It wasn't important to
memorize formulas.  As long as you know which formula to use, and
how to use it, it didn't matter if you memorized it or looked it
up in the book.

> Why are we not teaching basic computer skills, and programming
> to kids immediately after they learn how to read?

"We" as a society, or "we" as in "the people here on the filePro
mailing list", or "we" as in "Laura and I", because Laura and I
are certainly doing our part.

> Why are we not teaching foreign languages at earlier ages... and I
> don't mean just counting to 10.

The preschool we sent our kids to did some basic German and French.
Kristina's kindergarten and 1st grade teacher tought the classes
French.  How much they retain is another story, as we don't use
them in our house.

> For that matter, why aren't we teaching basic math itself.

We tought Alex about negative numbers before he was in Kindergarten.
(We've also taught Kristina a Katie about them, but they don't seem
to have the same "math skills" that Alex had at that age.  On the
other hand, phrase it as a money question, and Kristina will be all
over it.)  All 3 of them have been taught basic addition/subtraction
before kindergarten.

> I will bet that there is no 8th grader in the country who can manually
> figure out the square root of 15,237. Hell, I'm almost tempted to bet
> there isn't one who can manually divide 15,237 by 62. :-(

Hmm...  I'll have to pass that one by Alex and see what happens.  :-)

(Showing my age...)

I was taught how to use a slide rule in 7th grade, though it was one
of the last classes at that school to do so.

--
KenBrody at BestWeb dot net        spamtrap: <g8ymh8uf001 at sneakemail.com>
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