School officials are afraid of everything. The school I work at has blocked slashdot because they say students can use it to find out how to "hack the system".
They also call notepad a "hacker's tool" and don't allow students access to it... unless they know how to open any.txt file which brings up notepad.
I think that everyone in a school setting needs more tech training, students and teachers. Let people learn and explore and face to consequences of their own actions rather than locking everything so tight it barely resembles a computer.
Pay is not the issue. As a math/comp sci. teacher I would love more pay but that is not why math tests have gotten easier.
Math tests are easier as a result of the expectations that grade inflation has put on the schools. Everybody expects their child to get an A and they get upset with the school and the teacher when that doesn't happen.
Schools are also becoming diploma factories; for example at my school, teachers are reprimanded if their failure rate is above a certain percentage. For many teachers, which is easier: working above and beyond to reach all students or making the test easier?
As a math graduate student and as a high school math/comp sci teacher, I use wikipedia all the time. I think that the proofs work to enrich the topic they are talking about, just as we teach proofs to deepen the understanding of why something is true.
I can tell you the Pythagorean Theorem is true but until you see the proof, you will not understand why it's true.
As a high school math and computer teacher, I think that we could see a bigger gain by creating a bigger demand for actual math & science teachers. Better salary would encourage more talented people to become teachers and raise the level of education in the country... ideally.
Slashdot Mirror
School officials are afraid of everything. The school I work at has blocked slashdot because they say students can use it to find out how to "hack the system".
.txt file which brings up notepad.
They also call notepad a "hacker's tool" and don't allow students access to it... unless they know how to open any
I think that everyone in a school setting needs more tech training, students and teachers. Let people learn and explore and face to consequences of their own actions rather than locking everything so tight it barely resembles a computer.
HTML in a basic text editor is a great place to start. It teaches how to open and close tags and the importance of correct syntax.
You can also make it more complex by adding CSS or Javascript which resemble real programming.
As a math graduate student and as a high school math/comp sci teacher, I use wikipedia all the time. I think that the proofs work to enrich the topic they are talking about, just as we teach proofs to deepen the understanding of why something is true.
I can tell you the Pythagorean Theorem is true but until you see the proof, you will not understand why it's true.
As a high school math and computer teacher, I think that we could see a bigger gain by creating a bigger demand for actual math & science teachers. Better salary would encourage more talented people to become teachers and raise the level of education in the country... ideally.