Yeah, I thought about that for a while. I'd love to think they were playing ignorant but the more I see the less confidence I have. I suppose I am biased by recent discussions about the current methods of teaching kids to read. A career as a teacher used to be a profession. That's no longer true in Australia. Teaching is a heavily union-controlled job and I suspect a lot of Australian teachers have learnt just enough to be able to teach, then forgotten how to learn.
You never know--it's quite possible that the boys are perfectly aware of the uses of mathematics, but have learned that it's funnier to play ignorant. I mean, the idea of some hoser standing on a bridge calculating the area under the parabolic curve described by the stone he's tossed over the side is more amusing than the idea of the same guy at his job, designing faster planes. It's not a huge leap of logic to see where such a thing as the quadratic equation might come in handy, but at that age, if you admit that you've made that leap, you're a big dork. Even when teachers go to the bother of pointing out practical applications for maths, science, grammar, spelling, et cetera, kids still pretend not to have heard.
Yup, I figured. :) Comments moved up by one entry. I need to make it clearer which comment link applies to which entry.
edit: ok, I've added a horizontal bar to separate the entries.
I like that. It made me smile. I thought I'd post my follow-up doggerel here as well as on EK, because I know how much you love those dirty packbawkies (you dirty packbawky sympathizer, you!)
Today, I am confounded and beset
Belaboured from the sighing eaves
With the cries of packbawkies, yet--
And the smell of fallen leaves.
Yeah, I thought about that for a while. I'd love to think they were playing ignorant but the more I see the less confidence I have. I suppose I am biased by recent discussions about the current methods of teaching kids to read. A career as a teacher used to be a profession. That's no longer true in Australia. Teaching is a heavily union-controlled job and I suspect a lot of Australian teachers have learnt just enough to be able to teach, then forgotten how to learn.
You never know--it's quite possible that the boys are perfectly aware of the uses of mathematics, but have learned that it's funnier to play ignorant. I mean, the idea of some hoser standing on a bridge calculating the area under the parabolic curve described by the stone he's tossed over the side is more amusing than the idea of the same guy at his job, designing faster planes. It's not a huge leap of logic to see where such a thing as the quadratic equation might come in handy, but at that age, if you admit that you've made that leap, you're a big dork. Even when teachers go to the bother of pointing out practical applications for maths, science, grammar, spelling, et cetera, kids still pretend not to have heard.
Great site Virge :) Lots of fun and talent :D
Yup, I figured. :) Comments moved up by one entry. I need to make it clearer which comment link applies to which entry.
edit: ok, I've added a horizontal bar to separate the entries.
I like that. It made me smile. I thought I'd post my follow-up doggerel here as well as on EK, because I know how much you love those dirty packbawkies (you dirty packbawky sympathizer, you!)
Today, I am confounded and beset
Belaboured from the sighing eaves
With the cries of packbawkies, yet--
And the smell of fallen leaves.
...damn packbawkies.
Oops...put the above comment on the wrong entry. I'm a wanker. You can figure out where it was supposed to go, though.
Hah! These are hilarious. I've got another one for the list of terrorists:
The IRC (instead of the IRA, you know) - An evil, yet oddly compelling force that drains your life by wasting your time.
this has been an uplifting experience, thanks Virge ;)
Virge! Hullo :] I had no idea that you had a website up -- it looks great! I shall now go and browse around a little more.