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Elementary, dear Watson-just to get credit someone may assign to "Advanced 
quantum theory", "The Brief History of Quarks", or ( worst case) "Celestial 
Navigation."� Imagine , that in a spherical trygonometry the sum of angles in 
a triangular is more than 180 degrees-how anybody destined to write in 
Washington Post could fathom it?



----- Original Message ----
From: "frankreed@HistoricalAtlas.com" 
To: NavList@fer3.com
Sent: Monday, January 12, 2009 9:44:20 PM
Subject: [NavList 7025] Celestial Navigation - a gut


This made me laugh, or rather, snicker. Jay Mathews of the "Washington Post" 
writes about the trendoids, probably all chanting "change... change... 
change...", frantically trying to bring so-called "21 century skills" to the 
core of the American education curriculum. It turned out he had seen this 
emphasis on collaborative, problem-solving, teamwork-driven skills while 
taking a class years earlier in, you guessed it, celestial navigation. 
Checking his Wikipedia biography, this was at Harvard back in 1967. Here's 
what he has to say:

"...reminds me of my last personal encounter with what I now realize were 
21st-century skills. I needed a science credit to graduate from college. I 
signed up for Celestial Navigation. I was assured it was a gut, the popular 
term then for a course that required little or no effort. I was in love, soon 
to be married, obsessing over what to do with my life, with no time or 
patience for study. I was a classic case of delayed social development, 
thinking and acting at age 22 like a typical high school senior. My college 
treated me like most high schools treat distracted 18-year-olds. It wanted me 
to graduate. It was not going to let a trivial thing like academic standards 
stand in the way. 

My final exam would be applauded today by promoters of 21st-century skills. We 
had to plot a course on a Boston Harbor cruise ship, strategizing, analyzing, 
collaborating. I don't recall understanding any of what was going on, but I 
turned something in. As I expected, I got a good grade and a bachelor's 
degree, despite learning no science. 

That's why I get nervous whenever I hear of some brilliant new teaching method 
that is going to sweep our students into a new century, wise beyond their 
years. It takes hard work to teach this stuff, and even harder work, by 
poorly motivated adolescents, to learn it. "

-FER





      

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