We don't mind being held up to merit pay or performance pay, if you give us the tools back to manage our classes and be honest with students and their parents. But you can't have it both ways. You want higher test scores and results, without providing the means to achieve them.
Sometimes kids need a crack on the rear to behave and get focused. Sometimes "F" is appropriate for failure to do any work or make any effort. Sometimes, mom and dad, we need to tell you it IS YOUR FAULT and to get off your ass, instead of being forced to kiss your ass so you don't cause trouble for the principal. Sometimes, your kid needs yelled at or lectured about how they are ruining their lives and the classroom environment, instead of following some lame procedure filling out a form to kick them out of school because that is the only option schools have left. Sometimes, holding a kid back is indeed best for them. Sometimes, good teachers need to be hired instead of those who can coach a sport or are friends with a school board member.
In other words, leave us alone to do our jobs in a way that lines up with the best research (classroom management is the number 1 factor for learning ahead of income and race) - and BRING ON the merit pay - uh, that is, if you provide the money for a merit pay system.
There is no FREE college tuition anywhere at any school. You and I and every other taxpayer will pay for it directly or parents will pay extra tuition to cover the lost "free" tuition dollars. If you think it is such a great idea, then pony up your own money in the form of a scholarship or donation and get all the others who believe this is so amazing to do the same. Oh, you don't want to do that, eh? I didn't think so. Leave me out of this scam, then, too please!
No one should be surprised by this. The left (in this case academic elites) is in charge of education. That means the emphasis is on equality of outcome and not equality of opportunity. So the smarter you are, the less attention you get while classes cater to average and below average students.
My own school has several special classes with ideal teacher/student ratios. But guess what? All those student are borderline test students. In other words if either pass or fail by a wide margin you are forgotten and ignored. If you are on the bubble, you get all the resources to make sure you land on the right side of test scores. Why dump money, time and teachers on kids you know will pass or on students that have no chance to pass? You need to squeeze another 3% of your student population over the passing mark so you focus on them and to hell with rest.
Deep Blue's win over Kasparov was the triumph of a human team that programed a machine with 200 years of chess knowledge that could be recalled without error. Period. This match was about the same as a spelling bee with a human vs. a spell check database.
No chess program that is only programmed with the moves and rules could ever beat a Grandmaster, International Master, or even a rated Master here in the USA. Ever. A chess program with the moves, rules AND Alpha-Beta search (that counts only the value of the pieces) might beat a Master occasionally on a very fast computer. Let me hash this out in the three stages of a chess game:
OPENING: Kasparov was beaten by another human who programmed 200 years of already-known opening moves into Deep Blue. Indeed, the last game was lost by Kasparov because he fell into a "known" opening trap. "Known" to the computer through human programming.
MIDDLE GAME: Strategy used by DB was programmed by a human Grandmaster. Then it is checked during the game by brute-force calculation. DB played roughly equal here. Every Grandmaster today checks his middle game ideas for tactics or traps with a computer that can find mistakes in a few minutes that would take a human days or weeks to find.
END GAME: Knowledge of end game positions and strategy was programmed by a human Grandmaster. Kasparov outplayed DB completely here.
No machine or software has ever beaten a Grandmaster without human intervention.
World of Warcraft's Subscriber Definition: World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.
Not one single submission that reflects disagreement with global warning gets posted - no matter the source or their credentials or even the quality of science that backs it up. But this type of flamebait title gets posted right away. How many more pro-GW articles can you throw up here? At least make some attempt to not appear part of the alarmist crowd. Even most of the Pro GW crowd isn't as militant about GW as Slashdot.
"Peer reviewed" actually means "agrees with us and receives the same government funding we do." In other words they are biased and void of any OBJECTIVE scientific research. I would trust the people who are there everyday and have been over the last 30 years over the "peer reviewed" crowd of inbreds.
"What keeps the most important and powerful communication tool since the telephone from being universally embraced?"
Because *Important and *Powerful and *Tool are in pen of the writer. Most Americans have little use for any communication tool when they still enjoy talking face to face with the people next door or go to church a couple of times each week to share time with their friends and family. Who needs to be on call 24/7 or have instant access to news when the most important issue of the week is deciding whose house we're going to be at for Mother's Day? We can figure that out with a couple of telephone calls over a few days time.
All you nut jobs that think global warming is fake better get a clue. The research is finished. It is in our textbooks, our schools and the news media so global warming is now fact. We know it is real because 51% of all scientists receiving grant money to prove it is true, have proven it is true. All those other scientists from elite universities with their fake Phd's whose research shows otherwise are idiots. Come to our next seminar and we'll prove it - if it isn't snowed out again...
People like you have been trying to stamp out Christianity and Jews for eons either through institutions or murder. But we're still here. That's because humanity doesn't determine the fate of our belief system - God does. And He and His followers will continue to be here long after you and the generations after you have rejected Him and continue to murder and marginalize His followers.
Now we just need to continue to pour more government and foundation money into the crapper of evolution. Maybe if we put 100% of our dollars there instead of 99%, we can push that number of non-believers down. No matter that the scientific foundations of macro-evolution are completely bankrupt. Just keep putting this one-sided trash into our textbooks, science classes and other media so the same losers can keep parroting the same useless misinformation generation after generation. After all - how else are you going to get funded? Not by real scientific research, that's for sure.
Slashdot Mirror
We don't mind being held up to merit pay or performance pay, if you give us the tools back to manage our classes and be honest with students and their parents. But you can't have it both ways. You want higher test scores and results, without providing the means to achieve them.
Sometimes kids need a crack on the rear to behave and get focused. Sometimes "F" is appropriate for failure to do any work or make any effort. Sometimes, mom and dad, we need to tell you it IS YOUR FAULT and to get off your ass, instead of being forced to kiss your ass so you don't cause trouble for the principal. Sometimes, your kid needs yelled at or lectured about how they are ruining their lives and the classroom environment, instead of following some lame procedure filling out a form to kick them out of school because that is the only option schools have left. Sometimes, holding a kid back is indeed best for them. Sometimes, good teachers need to be hired instead of those who can coach a sport or are friends with a school board member.
In other words, leave us alone to do our jobs in a way that lines up with the best research (classroom management is the number 1 factor for learning ahead of income and race) - and BRING ON the merit pay - uh, that is, if you provide the money for a merit pay system.
There is no FREE college tuition anywhere at any school. You and I and every other taxpayer will pay for it directly or parents will pay extra tuition to cover the lost "free" tuition dollars. If you think it is such a great idea, then pony up your own money in the form of a scholarship or donation and get all the others who believe this is so amazing to do the same. Oh, you don't want to do that, eh? I didn't think so. Leave me out of this scam, then, too please!
No one should be surprised by this. The left (in this case academic elites) is in charge of education. That means the emphasis is on equality of outcome and not equality of opportunity. So the smarter you are, the less attention you get while classes cater to average and below average students.
My own school has several special classes with ideal teacher/student ratios. But guess what? All those student are borderline test students. In other words if either pass or fail by a wide margin you are forgotten and ignored. If you are on the bubble, you get all the resources to make sure you land on the right side of test scores. Why dump money, time and teachers on kids you know will pass or on students that have no chance to pass? You need to squeeze another 3% of your student population over the passing mark so you focus on them and to hell with rest.
Deep Blue's win over Kasparov was the triumph of a human team that programed a machine with 200 years of chess knowledge that could be recalled without error. Period. This match was about the same as a spelling bee with a human vs. a spell check database.
No chess program that is only programmed with the moves and rules could ever beat a Grandmaster, International Master, or even a rated Master here in the USA. Ever. A chess program with the moves, rules AND Alpha-Beta search (that counts only the value of the pieces) might beat a Master occasionally on a very fast computer. Let me hash this out in the three stages of a chess game:
OPENING: Kasparov was beaten by another human who programmed 200 years of already-known opening moves into Deep Blue. Indeed, the last game was lost by Kasparov because he fell into a "known" opening trap. "Known" to the computer through human programming.
MIDDLE GAME: Strategy used by DB was programmed by a human Grandmaster. Then it is checked during the game by brute-force calculation. DB played roughly equal here. Every Grandmaster today checks his middle game ideas for tactics or traps with a computer that can find mistakes in a few minutes that would take a human days or weeks to find.
END GAME: Knowledge of end game positions and strategy was programmed by a human Grandmaster. Kasparov outplayed DB completely here.
No machine or software has ever beaten a Grandmaster without human intervention.
Since the article doesn't seem to have it (from the actual blizzard press release, http://www.blizzard.com/press/070724.shtml [blizzard.com]):
World of Warcraft's Subscriber Definition:
World of Warcraft subscribers include individuals who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access. Internet Game Room players who have accessed the game over the last thirty days are also counted as subscribers. The above definition excludes all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or cancelled subscriptions, and expired prepaid cards. Subscribers in licensees' territories are defined along the same rules.
Not one single submission that reflects disagreement with global warning gets posted - no matter the source or their credentials or even the quality of science that backs it up. But this type of flamebait title gets posted right away. How many more pro-GW articles can you throw up here? At least make some attempt to not appear part of the alarmist crowd. Even most of the Pro GW crowd isn't as militant about GW as Slashdot.
"Peer reviewed" actually means "agrees with us and receives the same government funding we do." In other words they are biased and void of any OBJECTIVE scientific research. I would trust the people who are there everyday and have been over the last 30 years over the "peer reviewed" crowd of inbreds.
"What keeps the most important and powerful communication tool since the telephone from being universally embraced?" Because *Important and *Powerful and *Tool are in pen of the writer. Most Americans have little use for any communication tool when they still enjoy talking face to face with the people next door or go to church a couple of times each week to share time with their friends and family. Who needs to be on call 24/7 or have instant access to news when the most important issue of the week is deciding whose house we're going to be at for Mother's Day? We can figure that out with a couple of telephone calls over a few days time.
All you nut jobs that think global warming is fake better get a clue. The research is finished. It is in our textbooks, our schools and the news media so global warming is now fact. We know it is real because 51% of all scientists receiving grant money to prove it is true, have proven it is true. All those other scientists from elite universities with their fake Phd's whose research shows otherwise are idiots. Come to our next seminar and we'll prove it - if it isn't snowed out again...
People like you have been trying to stamp out Christianity and Jews for eons either through institutions or murder. But we're still here. That's because humanity doesn't determine the fate of our belief system - God does. And He and His followers will continue to be here long after you and the generations after you have rejected Him and continue to murder and marginalize His followers.
Now we just need to continue to pour more government and foundation money into the crapper of evolution. Maybe if we put 100% of our dollars there instead of 99%, we can push that number of non-believers down. No matter that the scientific foundations of macro-evolution are completely bankrupt. Just keep putting this one-sided trash into our textbooks, science classes and other media so the same losers can keep parroting the same useless misinformation generation after generation. After all - how else are you going to get funded? Not by real scientific research, that's for sure.