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I recall one "experiment" I had to do in a science class was literally "do the batteries wear out if you leave a flashlight on in a closet overnight". Turns ou

I recall one "experiment" I had to do in a science class was literally "do the batteries wear out if you leave a flashlight on in a closet overnight". Turns out yes, they do. What a surprise. This was in middle school. What lesson this was supposed to impart was unclear, but the lesson it did impart was "your teacher thinks you're a moron who doesn't know how batteries behave." I think maybe a previous experiment hadn't worked properly and my teacher wanted one that definitely would and came up with this idea from scratch. It's totally possible to do this stuff well- I remember a pulleys-and-weights module another year that I liked- but when it's bad it's pretty bad.

NikolaNovak 5y ago
I think expectations we have of an age are indeed part of it. I started my education in Eastern Europe, and we got Physics and Biology as dedicated subjects in grade 5, with formulas and proofs etc. So when we did "inclined slope" in Canada in grade twelve, in what was for many their first true "Physics" class (and this was AP!), it did indeed feel like we were about 6-8 years too late. --- To reminisce and meander seemingly pointlessly on a personal anecdote - I remember reading "Ender's Game" when I was 18, and initially thinking "what BS, this guy doesn't know how to write kids, they all sound like adults!". And then realized... wait... that's exactly what I WAS thinking when I was a "kid". Kids don't think they think "like kids". We all think as humans. We have plans and schemes and wants and concerns and ponderings no matter the age. So whatever good bad and ugly there may be in Ender's Game specifically and Orson Scott Card generally, I like to remind myself as I raise my own two kids now, that we need to give children WAY more credit for capability of thinking than we sometimes do, on this continent in particular.

NikolaNovak 5y ago

I think expectations we have of an age are indeed part of it. I started my education in Eastern Europe, and we got Physics and Biology as dedicated subjects in grade 5, with formulas and proofs etc. So when we did "inclined slope" in Canada in grade twelve, in what was for many their first true "Physics" class (and this was AP!), it did indeed feel like we were about 6-8 years too late. --- To reminisce and meander seemingly pointlessly on a personal anecdote - I remember reading "Ender's Game" when I was 18, and initially thinking "what BS, this guy doesn't know how to write kids, they all sound like adults!". And then realized... wait... that's exactly what I WAS thinking when I was a "kid". Kids don't think they think "like kids". We all think as humans. We have plans and schemes and wants and concerns and ponderings no matter the age. So whatever good bad and ugly there may be in Ender's Game specifically and Orson Scott Card generally, I like to remind myself as I raise my own two kids now, that we need to give children WAY more credit for capability of thinking than we sometimes do, on this continent in particular.