Thanks Dan, While we're having a rant (sorry BRL, I know this should be in General Discussion - this will stop after this) let me replay a conversation I had with a teacher friend of mine, after one of my daughter's boyfriends said "Learning, what's the point?"
So I phoned my friend Liz, a teacher, spluttering “And then I mentioned Priestley and Einstein, and the mistakes they made…”
“John, they’ve probably never heard of Einstein.”
“Of course they’ve heard of Einstein. Everybody’s heard of Einstein.”
“They have - if they’ve been taught history and science. Otherwise he’s just the silly bloke with the fluffy hair.”
“Sorry, Liz, you lost me there. How could they not be taught history?”
“Because, generally it’s not taught in schools anymore.”
“What are you talking about? It’s the basis. It’s the framework… I mean, I hated it, but it’s the backdrop to all other subjects!”
“The present government has declared history to be one of the ‘wooley’ subjects, along with philosophy and a few others, and so it is now not one of the mandatory subjects.”
“Liz – are you telling me that there’s no history being taught in schools at all?”
“Well, history is now considered to be part of the social sciences. And is taught by the Social Science teacher. Or not.”
“And if the Social Science teacher doesn’t know any history…”
“It doesn’t get taught.”
Right, enough. Let's get back to programming.
So I phoned my friend Liz, a teacher, spluttering “And then I mentioned Priestley and Einstein, and the mistakes they made…”
“John, they’ve probably never heard of Einstein.”
“Of course they’ve heard of Einstein. Everybody’s heard of Einstein.”
“They have - if they’ve been taught history and science. Otherwise he’s just the silly bloke with the fluffy hair.”
“Sorry, Liz, you lost me there. How could they not be taught history?”
“Because, generally it’s not taught in schools anymore.”
“What are you talking about? It’s the basis. It’s the framework… I mean, I hated it, but it’s the backdrop to all other subjects!”
“The present government has declared history to be one of the ‘wooley’ subjects, along with philosophy and a few others, and so it is now not one of the mandatory subjects.”
“Liz – are you telling me that there’s no history being taught in schools at all?”
“Well, history is now considered to be part of the social sciences. And is taught by the Social Science teacher. Or not.”
“And if the Social Science teacher doesn’t know any history…”
“It doesn’t get taught.”
Right, enough. Let's get back to programming.