Controversy Corner
Last revised: April 07, 2013.
Warning:
This page is full of my own highly subjective personal opinions,
so prepare to be annoyed.
Contents:
| Antithesis | ||
| .................. | or: "It's Better to Light a Candle Than To Curse The Darkness." | |
| or: "If I See Far, It's Because I Stand On The Shoulders of Giants !" |
Back in May 2000, the public radio program Einstein-A-Go-Go raised the argument of whether students should be taught or conversely just left to educate themselves.
Apparently, there is a considerable body of opinion that believes students should just be told what to read, and then left to their own devices to teach themselves. This way, the students find their own level. The best will thrive, and the rest should fall by the wayside. (I have heard this technique referred to as "Immersion" on one occasion.) This is probably in the best traditions of Economic Rationalism.
This troubles me. Since I was a young nipper, getting up early in the morning to watch Julius Sumner Miller on The International Summer Science School, the value of a teacher that teaches seemed to be self-evident. But now I find myself unable to provide a scientific rationale for my belief.
Is there a way to show scientifically whether the Law of the Jungle should be applied to the most important part of civilization ? ..... I am open to suggestions !
(Q: Spot the internal inconsistency between my arguments above !)
And now on a lighter note...
Viewers of the Australian "Sale of The Century" program will have heard Julius Sumner Miller referred to as Canadian.
However, according to JSM's autobiography "The Days of My Life" , he was born and raised in Billerica, Massachusetts, in the New England region of the USA. (See also the books "Millergrams" and "Light and Modern Physics".)
BUT, there is
an unusual link here.
JSM was "The Professor" in the Canadian TV series: "The Hilarious House of
Frightenstein"
The show was something vaguely similar to "Deadly
Earnest", for those who remember the
1960s.
Go Up to:
WebMaster rj4oz-web ati@yahoo.com.au
A: The deliberate
inconsistency...
....After pontificating on why Logic is better than debating
technique,
I used the"Call To Authority" debating trick
by quoting some famous people.
This goes against the principle of logic that an idea should be
weighed on its own merits,
regardless of the source of the idea. (Thus the statue of
Justicia).
NLP practioners out there should have picked this easily !
Apologies to Eleanor and Albert.
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