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It’s not a sufficiently difficult topic for you. Have you ever taught algebra to a classroom of people from a wide range of intellectual capabilities and exper
by syops 5y ago
It’s not a sufficiently difficult topic for you. Have you ever taught algebra to a classroom of people from a wide range of intellectual capabilities and experiences? Are you even aware of some of the pain points to learning algebra?
- TameAntelope 5y agoDo I need experience teaching calculus in order to suggest that it's got more to do with environment and situation than it does intellectual capability? No, I don't think that's true. Are you seriously suggesting trying to raise multiple children while simultaneously learning calculus is approximately as hard as living alone and trying to learn calculus? Honestly, I think you're trying to find a neat solution where none exists. You haven't stumbled on anything here, you're more likely ignoring the real-life circumstances your students find themselves in, and your colleagues are not.
- DangitBobby 5y ago> Do I need experience teaching calculus in order to suggest that it's got more to do with environment and situation than it does intellectual capability? To suggest it? No. To be taken seriously though?
- TameAntelope 5y agoWhat a strange world we'd live in, if only calculus teachers could talk about how people learn in ways that might also apply to calculus teaching.
- threatofrain 5y agoAre you seriously surprised that zero experience translates to a hit on credibility?
- TameAntelope 5y agoYes, because I'd expect HN readers to understand an ad hominem when they see one. I could be living in a ditch down by the river, or I could be the leading researcher into how people learn calculus and it wouldn't make a difference with regard to my argument (though, practically speaking if I were the lead researcher on how people learn calculus, I'd be more likely to back my argument up with objective research, and that would strengthen my argument).
- threatofrain 5y agoOh, well, if you're a leading researcher in math pedagogy, you should just say so and save time. Such credibility would offer serious firepower to the debate.
- TameAntelope 5y agoI don't think it would or at least should.
- DangitBobby 5y agoAd hominem occurs when you use someone's reputation in another area to discredit someone on an unrelated matter. For example, you're the worst golfer on the planet so I say you don't know how to cook. Golf expertise has no bearing on your cooking skills. But if you consistently burned toast or you mainly use your oven to heat up frozen pizza, I'm going to take anything you say about baking a cake with a giant grain of salt.
- TameAntelope 5y agoNo, ad hominem occurs when you use who a person is rather than their argument to claim they are incorrect. Here's a definition from Google: > (of an argument or reaction) directed against a person rather than the position they are maintaining. Nothing about a reputation or using it to discredit them. For example, I'm not a calculus teacher, therefore I couldn't possibly form a valid argument about how teaching works. That would be an ad hominem, because it focuses on who I am (not a teacher), rather than what I've said (the teacher I was replying to hasn't eliminated any variables at all before drawing their conclusion). (It's also nonsensical, considering how many other things people teach, and how small a percentage of all teachers calculus teaching ends up being, and how unrelated-to-the-science-of-education calculus is). It's actually funny, because the example you've given isn't an ad hominem, since you have evidence to support the idea that I can't cook (the burnt toast). You're equating an absence of information about me with specific data, which is different.
- beej71 5y agoIs "and experiences" different than environment?