Category: Education Page 17 of 18

Education in the West

On Sunday, December 11, 2011

Day 111 of 1000

The kid’s friends, Mike and Nestor, came over to the house yesterday to study for their multi-variable calculus test for 4-5 hours. I got to talk to them a bit. Both of them want to be engineers, but neither of them took a traditional educational path, Nestor having come to the U.S. a few years ago and Mike having taken some extended time in Iraq. They are both impressive people and they work very hard at hard classes. My Russian buddy, Stepan and his wife are leaning hard toward what he calls “Home Education” for his two daughters. After looking it over they have decided they do not want the educational system, public or private, to get their hands on his daughters.

Then Eric G. sent me a link to an article on the bankruptcy of the Western educational system. The article, titled “Educated” people, is spot on. There is lots of stuff like this in the article:

We are not where we are because we were privileged; oh no. We got ahead because we work harder and just had a knack for that education thing.

This forgets of course that education in the United States and Europe at this point is a certification program more than anything else. It tests basic intelligence in some areas; in other areas, such as the liberal arts, it increasingly tests nothing but political allegiance and the ability to recite dogma in different forms (such “A Feminist Analysis of Cetacean Symbolism in Public Policy”).

Even in the sciences, we do not test intelligence so much as obedience, memorization and application of rote. This enables us to stop relying on smart people and to instead promote lots of interchangeable cogs.

I completely resonate with that whole quote. The problem now is to figure out how to educate one’s kids rather than “Educate” them in the sense described at the Amerika blog. Every day, we are more thankful we homeschooled our kids. We have turned more and more of the responsibility over to our kids. We will try to help them, but they will increasingly have to navigate the educational morass on their own. I wish I knew the answer.

The greedy man pays twice

By Dad

On Friday, December 9, 2011

In Education

Day 109 of 1000 (212.8 lbs.)

Stepan and I continue to talk in the mornings when we arrive at work. I am going to miss that a lot when I switch jobs next week. He told me another Russian proverb today: The greedy man pays twice. He says that not only applies if you buy cheap, shoddy stuff, but also in life. That is certainly true. I do not know whether my recent travails with Kelly’s and Christian’s classes have anything to do with that, but it certainly might.

I signed Lorena, Christian, and Kelly up for spring semester classes at Wake Tech, but in the confusion and busyness associated with my job change, I forgot to pay for them on the specified day. We were able to get both of the kids into Linear Algebra at Wake Tech with their favorite math teacher, Kelly was able to get her Macroeconomics class, and I was able to recover a couple of classes that had filled up by signing the kids up for two distance education courses each at Central Carolina Community College. I had to switch Kelly from Astronomy to Physical Geology, but that all worked out OK. The big problem was that Differential Equations and Physics II were both full.

It took about three weeks of pain and frustration, but I finally have him signed up for both classes at Johnston Community College. Lorena want to drive over there with him, so I signed her up for a couple of classes, too. To say it is a relief to have all this done is a wild understatement.

Update: When it rains it pours. They have Lorena as an out-of-state student and want here to pay more than three times as much for her six ours of classes than Christian paid for his seven hours of classes.

Kelly has a new article up at The College Fix

By Dad

On Tuesday, December 6, 2011

In Education, Money, Politics, Work

Kelly and I just had the following instant message exchange. The first link is an article she wrote. The second link is about students who study hard stuff versus students who don’t. After the exchange we discuss why it is OK to finish your career in something other than just STEM stuff.

Here is a great quote from the second article:

…people with an undergraduate STEM major make $500,000 more over their lifetime than non-STEM majors.

Kelly
hey dad check this out
12:48 PM

Kelly
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/9828
and also this : http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/9824
apparently lots of STEM majors leave the STEM work after 10 years in a STEM career
which is sad

me
Very, very cool! No it is not sad! They move up in the world so they are managing STEM people. You need experienced ex-STEM people to manage STEM people and sell STEM created stuff.

Kelly
oh ok

me
Some STEM people move right into the the sales/managment/marketing mode–that is not bad either.

Kelly
wow cool!

me
I am going to be wearing a STEM and a marketing hat.

Kelly
yeah that is super cool
12:51 PM

Homeschool and why Stepan never asks “How are you doing?”

By Dad

On Tuesday, December 6, 2011

In Art, Education, Homeschool

Day 106 of 1000 (214.1 lbs.)

I have talked previously spoken about my buddy Stepan from Russia here and here. Stepan has a family to whom he is very devoted. He is very interested in assuring his two little girls (ages 1 and 3) get the best education possible. His oldest daughter started Suzuki violin at age one with a teacher who is serious. The teacher told Stepan that her students should NOT play anything other that what they given so they would get in the habit of playing ONLY in the most correct way. Stepan liked that.

The three year old started preschool earlier this year. As is their wont, the teachers at the preschool had them do some fingerpainting. Stepan was not happy.

He said, “The only thing they do there is have fun. She already knows how to use a brush. Fingerpainting is NOT art.”

He has begun to notice that schools in the United States, public and private, are not so good. From the time Stepan was very young, he went to school to learn. There was no fun or self-fulfillment about it. He believes that life is a lot more fulfulling if you accomplish something. The only way to accomplish things is to work hard and not necessarily have fun. He believes the only way his daughters can get a good education here in America is through “home education.” I concur with the bulk of that.

It reminded me of when I asked him “How are you doing?” one morning when he came into work.

He said, “We never say that in Russia.”

I asked, “Why not?”

He said, “Because, in Russia, it is usually bad.”

“Well, what do you say, then?” I asked.

“We wish people health.”

Dead week at Wake Tech

By Dad

On Saturday, December 3, 2011

In Education, Family

Christian dead week It is dead week at Wake Technical Community College. The winter fine arts performance is over. There is only one mid-term left (multivariable calculus). No more papers. No more quizzes. Nothing but study, study, study. The effort expended this week separates the A’s from the B’s, the B’s from the C’s, the C’s from the D’s, and the D’s from the F’s. These pictures represent what our household willbe like for the next week and a half. Study, study, study with an occasional break to go to a review class, to eat, or to get a short workout. Normally, it is just Kelly, but this semester Lorena is in on the fun. Study, study, study. It is worth it.

Kelly dead week Lorena dead week

Pictures from the Wake Tech Chorus Performance

By Dad

On Friday, December 2, 2011

In Education, Entertainment, Music

Here are some shots of Kelly and here buddies singing at Wake Tech.

The whole chorus
About three quarters of the chorus

The Mexican small group sings “Somos el Mundo”

Kelly enjoys her singing
Take the A train

Dad and Mom wait for the concert to start Mom and Dad wait for the concert to start

We love community college

By Dad

On Friday, December 2, 2011

In Art, Education, Entertainment, Family, Music, Socialization

Day 102 of 1000

Lorena, Christian, and I made our way to the Community College last night to see the final performance and art show for the fine arts program. Paintings, pencil drawings, charcoals, and sculptures were displayed outside the music performance room. The chorus and the story-telling classes provided the performance arts. It was wonderful. There was a pretty good sized crowd to see it all. They dynamic of the community college is very fascinating. It is obvious that Kelly’s chorus professor and the story-telling professors take their jobs very seriously and derive great joy from them. Kelly sang with the chorus and with one small group of Mexican students who sang “We Are the World” in Spanish. Christian got some great pictures–I will put up a few of them this evening. Wake Technical Community College has an impressive facility, the student body is eclectic and fascinating to watch. It was all pretty impressive and very, very fun.

Lorena, Kelly, and Christian are running in the 8th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge

By Dad

On Thursday, December 1, 2011

In Education, Entertainment, Exercise, Family, Homeschool

Lorena, Kelly, and Christian are running in the very demanding 8th Annual Krispy Kreme Challenge. I personally have decided not to run because it is so much more demanding to drive the car, eat the leftover donuts, and hold the coats.

I lied about Christian’s computer–he did even BETTER!

By Dad

On Thursday, December 1, 2011

In Education, Technology

Day 101 of 1000

Lenovo x220 i7 8GB Chirstian’s new computer is amazing. I do not think you can really appreciate until you hold it in your hands. It is a small, thin computer with a world class keyboard and an unbelievable screen. It is thinner than most netbooks and has a slightly bigger footprint, but it does not feel anything like a netbook. He got the i7 version of the x220 and 8GB of RAM, so this thing is a monster performer for anything in this type of package.

I am really glad Christian did not get the tablet version of this model (Worries: the mechincal sturdiness and screen appearance) nor the Alienware (Worries: build quality, keyboard, and form factor) for which he had originally planned. This is the type of computer about which people will marvel on airplanes. I am envious.

More fun with the commie professor

By Dad

On Tuesday, November 29, 2011

In Education, Politics

Day 99 of 1000

Commie prof The following is the transcript of Kelly’s texting from today’s class. It speaks for itself.

Kelly

in communism, ALL ppl who work a socially useful job get whatever they need whenever they need it

mantra switches from “me, me, me, s***w you” to “US”

we TRANSCEND

we are above the fray

8:58 AM

it’s a beautiful thought but should’nt we be free to choose whether we want to be selfish or sharing?

from the Marxist perspective there is no human nature

Exactly. You are forced into stuff. I work with my Russian buddies and they HATE communism.

9:02 AM

Kelly

how are you going to change human nature? it’s very unlikely that you’re going to change you’re forcing everyone to subscribe to the same view… under capitalism you have the freedom to choose to be selfish or sharing

in capitalism you’re rewarded for being greedy. socialism is different

9:04 AM

Kelly

this guy thinks he’s so smartttt

They kill people off.

Kelly

how are you going to remove human nature from this equation?

9:07 AM

Kelly

the only ppl who are going to go to med school are the ones who want to help other people, not the ones who make money. socialism rewards people for making the right decisions

9:09 AM

Kelly

two things: who decides what’s right and what gets rewarded under socialism and how can you depend on the good of people if you know that people are so greedy? human nature is impossible to remove

Kelly

these kids are getting brainwashed

How gravy got its name

By Dad

On Wednesday, November 23, 2011

In Cooking, Education, Technology

Blind baby In the Igor’s turkey cooking theory post, Bryan made a comment that was truly educational. In spite of the fact that he handicaps himself by using a Mac, his technical skills are so finely honed that none of the rest of us can do anything more than compete for second place. I just had to share this comment about how gravy got its name. It helps to read the post and all the comments to get some context. You have to admit we are out of our league, Eric. Here is the comment in all its glory.

I see you’ve covered the temperature and pressure differential’s, but you’ve left out the most critical: gravitational differential! Immediately upon removal from the oven, the turkey, while still in it’s pressure differential sack, and before the temperature differential returns, should be inverted 180º (as in orientation, not temperature), for several minutes while cooling, to overcome the gravitational forces on the moisture that existed while cooking. Any moisture that remains in the pressure differential sack, after the aforementioned gravitational differential reversal, becomes gravy. (NOW you know why they call it gravy.)

NCSU tuition increase causes serious hardship

By Dad

On Saturday, November 19, 2011

In Art, Education, Money, Technology

NCSU caused hardship Now that we found out NCSU is going to make dramatic tuition increases, Christian has decided he is going to make do with the equipment he had. RWDub’s Reviews will be quite happy to know he uses Linux Mint on a USB stick to run the computer and persist his data between boots. There is no money even for a hard drive. It is good thing we had that old cardboard box from when we could afford to buy stuff from Amazon. We are going to have dig up a mouse somewhere, too.

Cardboard box computer

Christian’s Multivariable Calculus Notes

By Dad

On Saturday, November 19, 2011

In Art, Education

Christian takes very cool note in his Physics and Calculus classes. He invented his own font (with serif) and is good at illustrating complex things. Here is an example:
Christian's Multivariable Calculus Notes

Computer travails: Why we are not rich

By Dad

On Saturday, November 19, 2011

In Education, Money, Technology

Day 89 of 1000

When it rains it pours. Between Kelly and Christian, there are five research papers that need to be written between now and November 30. That means most of Thanksgiving break will be spent at the computer typing. In addition to that, there is math and physics quiz, test, and lab preparation. Now, when I was in college (I cannot believe I said that), we did all of our studying out of books. The kids still have their books, but they rarely even use their math or physics books as reference. They do their homework at online services like WebAssign. If they get stuck, they visit places like PatrickJMT and Khan Academy for tutoring and examples (they like PatrickJMT best).

So, earlier this week, Christian tells me his computer power cable is broken. Again. He plans to order a very nice computer between now and the end of the year and asks if he should just wait until then. I say NO, NO, NO!!! We are in the middle of the hardest part of a very hard semester and we cannot survive without one computer per person–Christian, Kelly, and Lorena for school and me for work. In the meantime, Kelly’s cheapo Dell computer starts manifesting a line through the middle of her screen. The computer is an absolute work of art but wildly not robust. Christian takes it apart to fix it and now we need to buy another computer for Kelly now instead of in time for next semester.

Kelly's new ThinkPad E520 Christian and I put our heads together and decided to buy something a little more robust than the cheapo (but very colorful) Dell girly computers. We got here a factory refurbished Lenovo ThinkPad E520 for $384.01 — a smokin’ hot deal. It will be here before Thanksgiving. Kelly will HATE the color (black), but it is a WAY sturdier computer and has that cool ThinkPad logo embedded in the rubberized top of the computer that gives immediate seriousness cred–much better the foo-fooness cred that derived from her previous pink computer. Christian’s cable should be here any day now. In the meantime, we have to survive the weekend with a need for four computers and only two on hand.

Life is good during this cultural decline even if we do not understand it properly

By Dad

On Friday, November 18, 2011

In Blogging, Business, Christianity, Education

Day 88 of 1000

I subscribe to Hillsdale College‘s free monthly speech digest, Imprimis. It is a pamphlet size publication that advocates for conservative principles. I think I must have signed up for a periodic email titled “In the News” from them because one of them shows up in my email box every now and then. The last one featured an article titled Occupy Wallstreet Crowd Blind to Benefits of Capitalism by Gary Wolfram that was reprinted from the Media Research Center‘s Business and Media Institute blog. It made reference to a funny Monty Python bit about how the Romans had not given the people they conquered anything but sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, and peace.

Wolfram goes on to explain the reason that capitalism works so much better than socialism and why so many people are confused about capitalism in similar way to the Monty Python skit:

The Occupy Wall Street movement has shown a lack of understanding of how the market capitalist system works. They appear to think that the cell phones they use, food they eat, hotels they stay in, cars they drive, gasoline that powers the cars they drive and all the myriad goods and services they consume every day would be there under a different system, perhaps in more abundance.

But there is no evidence this could be or ever has been the case. The reason is that only market capitalism solves the two major problems that face any economy-how to provide an incentive to innovate and how to solve the problem of decentralized information. The reason there is so much innovation in a market system compared to socialism or other forms of central planning is that profit provides the incentive for innovators to take the risk needed to come up with new products.

My mother never once complained that we did not have access to the latest Soviet washing machine. We never desired a new Soviet car. The socialist system relies on what Adam Smith referred to as the benevolent butcher and while there will undoubtedly be benevolent butchers out there, clearly a system that provides monetary rewards for innovators is much more dynamic and successful. The profit that the Occupy Wall Street protesters decry is the reason the world has access to clean water and anti-viral drugs.

My thought was that capitalism came out of a Christian worldview as did so many other incredible innovations and inventions. I want my kids to understand that.

The commie prof promulgates the preeminence of the Gospel of Thomas

By Dad

On Thursday, November 17, 2011

In Christianity, Education

Commie professor Well, the commie prof is at it again. Christian called me after class today to tells us their professor had told them that all the other gospels were based on the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas that is dated from around 150 A.D. Many years after virtually all the gospels. Only fringe scholars of the likes of Elaine Pagels and Marcus Borg hold to such a theory and it has been thoroughly debunked since it was popularized by the radical Jesus Seminar in the 1990’s. Here is a link to an article by Craig Blomberg, a reputable New Testament scholar, that puts it all in context. Here is a good lay level discussion of the topic by Tim Keller.

After that, our commie went on to say that their was too much time between when the events happened to when it was written down. Christian told him that people who were alive when the events happened were also alive when the gospels were written down and that, in the case of John, there is an eyewitness account. The prof’s response was to ask Christian if he could remember what he was doing seven years ago and then change the subject. This is too pathetic even to take the time to post the links that refute this goofiness. I wonder what he thinks we know about the life of Julius Caeser.

Update: In the meantime, Kelly sends the following text message:

Hey Dad, the professor is crazy… he brought up the Gospel of Thomas which is like directly contradicted in my New Testament textbook, said that Cain and Abel were possibly homosexual and when Christian argued that the Gospels came from direct sources to Jesus and not from inaccurate oral traditions, he countered with “Well, do you remember what you were doing seven years ago?”

Update II: The kids walked out of their commie prof class and into their New Testament class. The N.T. professor showed the Craig-Ehrman debate where Craig (to be very gracious) demonstrates that Bart Ehrman is either dishonest or not a serious scholar or both. The title of the debate is “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?” You can see the debate on YouTube here.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving: Visitors and the Wurlitzer

By Dad

On Thursday, November 17, 2011

In Education, Entertainment, Family, Socialization

Day 87 of 1000

Kelly's Wurlitzer Piano

For the first time in five years we will have a fairly big group of people at our house for Thanksgiving. Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah will get here on Tuesday along with our dear friend Gladys Christie. That makes seven and we expect to have an additional three to seven people beside that. It is not as big as we did in Oregon, but it that is OK because we need a medium size one to get back in practice. Lorena had me do a little work on a clogged shower and she has been preparing like crazy for a week. Studies should slow down a little after the weekend, so I am sure she will put us all to work.

We purchased a Wurlitzer console piano for the family about eleven years ago for about $2500. It was a big financial hit at the time, but has been an absolute joy ever since. Kelly took piano lessons for ten years with that piano and Christian took three years of lessons as a little kid before he switched to guitar. Kelly still plays the piano frequently, but, since she no longer takes formal lessons, we have let it get out of tune. We decided that everyone would probably want to sing hymns or play the piano during Glad and Grandpa and Grandma’s visit we would use that as an excuse to get the piano tuned. That happened on Tuesday so we are all set!

Luke at Sonlight experiences homeschool disconnect in his class

By Dad

On Wednesday, November 16, 2011

In Education, Homeschool

Luke Holzman over at the Sonlight Blog wrote a post about how he learned less about history in his traditional school than he did in homeschool. That experience resonates with us. See here, here, and here. He talked about the Sonlight Core D & E Curricula that includes the Landmark History of the American People books. He is right and this is part of the reason we have been such big fans of Sonlight. They are awesome books and give a feel for history I have not seen anywhere else. Now if they could just kick that horrible Joy Hakim history curriculum to the curb and find a worthy replacement. It was less than useless for us.

Cool stuff at work: Imaging an elephant with cataracts

By Dad

On Wednesday, November 16, 2011

In Education, Technology

Day 86 of 1000

Elephants at the zoo. I got to work sometime after 5:30 AM. As usual, I was the first one to arrive, but the CEO of the company (Bioptigen) showed up shortly after me. When I asked him what he was doing there so early, he said that he and two other colleagues were going to run down to the North Carolina Zoo to capture Optical Coherence Tomography images of the eye of one of the African elephants their because the opthalmologist from the NCSU Veterinary school needed them due to the fact that the elephant had cataracts. How cool is that!?!!

I would like to say one of the elephants to the left is the one that got the eye check, but it was against the rules to use the pictures because when people see them with no context, sometimes they think the elephants are being badly treated. Still, it was great to hear about it when everyone got back to the office. The elephant they imaged was a 12,000 pound African Bull Elephant. I will report back if I hear anything more about what happens

Alienware M11x vs. Thinkpad x220t for college

By Dad

On Tuesday, November 15, 2011

In Education, Technology

Day 85 of 1000

Christian is half way through his sophomore year in college. He has survived so far with a cheesy little 10″ HP netbook that he dual boots to Windows 7 and ArchLinux. We know he will need something better when he moves on from the community college to North Carolina State, University of Idaho, or whichever other place he decides to go. He saved up a bunch of money from his Engineering Internship last summer and now has almost all the money he needs for his next computer. He likes the small form factor because he can carry it in his backpack, but he wants as much power as he can get. He plans to dual boot to Windows 7 and some fairly lightweight version of Linux (probably Slackware or Arch).

So he has it narrowed down to two choices:

Alienware M11x

Alienware M11x
Processor     Intel® Core i7 2617M 1.5GHz
              (2.6GHz w/Turbo Boost, 4MB Cache)
Memory        8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Display Panel 11.6″ High Def (720p/1366×768)
              with WLED backlight
Battery       6 Cell
Video Card    NVIDIA® GeForce® GT540M graphics
              with 2.0GB Video Memory and Optimus
Sound Card    Soundblaster® X-Fi Hi Def Audio
Hard Drive    500GB 7200RPM SATA 3Gb/s
Wireless      Killer Wireless-N 1103 a/g/n 2×2 MIMO

ThinkPad x220t

ThinkPad X220t
Processor    Intel Core i7-2640M Processor
               (2.8GHz, 4MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
Memory         8 GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM
   1333MHz SODIMM Memory (2 DIMM)
Display Panel 12.5″ Outdoor HD (1366×768)
   LED Backlit Display
Mobile         Broadband Ready, 2×2 Antenna
Battery        ThinkPad Battery 52+ (6 cell)
Hard Drive     320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm
Video Card     Intel® HD Graphics 3000
Wireless       ThinkPad b/g/n

He is VERY conflicted. He loves the idea of the dual tablet/laptop of the ThinkPad because he needs to do a lot of sketches and drawing. He also loves the graphics capability of the AlienWare because he does a lot of image and video processing. It is a hard choice. So what do we do when we run into these kinds of very tough problems. We ask our buddy Andrew who ALWAYS comes through with an amazing and thoughtul answer. I wrote Andrew the following email:

Andrew,

Christian had a very important question. He wants to know your opinion about what the “cool kids” would buy if they had the following choice. Well, he wants to know what you think in terms of utility, too.

Any opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Ken

Here is Andrew’s great response (Thanks again, Andrew!):

Well, “cool kids” would probably pick the Alienware. It’s styled to appeal to a younger crowd, and it is tuned for gaming. Meanwhile, the Thinkpad is about as corporate as it gets.

The Thinkpad only has integrated graphics. That’s not a big deal if you’re just writing code, but for games or graphics programming, it wouldn’t be a good choice.

The slower hard drive in the Thinkpad is a downer. If possible, I’d *definitely* upgrade it to a 7200rpm drive, a small SSD drive (if you don’t need much hard disk at all), or an aftermarket Momentus XT, which is a 7200rpm/SSD hybrid hard drive that isn’t too expensive. I would be willing to trade a slightly slower processor speed for one of these faster drives, if possible (but hard drive prices will be higher for the next few months due a factory that flooded causing a supply shortage, so upgrading may not be as easy as I’d think).

I’m not a big fan of Windows tablets, and I think the “t” in x220t stands for “tablet”. Personally, I’d probably get the x220 (non-tablet) version — for the same dollar amount, I could probably get an x220 with more features than the x220t. But I haven’t used a Windows tablet in 5 years, and Christian may specifically be interested tablet features… if so, ignore me here.

You know I liked my Thinkpad a lot. I thought it was very well built and reliable, and it has a terrific keyboard.

Summary: if I were choosing between these two, I’d get the Thinkpad, because I’ve had one before and it proved itself to me, and I would personally favor faster processor speed over faster graphics, because I never take advantage of graphics these days.

But when I was Christian’s age, I almost certainly would have chosen the Alienware for its styling and graphics capability. And its lower processor speed won’t be a big deal in daily use.

Alienware has always had a good reputation and both of these models are well reviewed, so I don’t think you can go too far wrong 🙂

–Andrew

Christian is now leaning toward Alienware. We will keep you posted.