From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f948976d12c7ee33 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-06-23 18:34:17 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!sccrnsc01.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3EF7AA8F.8050209@attbi.com> From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Understanding and Teaching: Who may teach Ada? References: <3EF5B10E.40804@noplace.com> <3EF695F3.7020703@attbi.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.62.164.137 X-Complaints-To: abuse@attbi.com X-Trace: sccrnsc01 1056418456 24.62.164.137 (Tue, 24 Jun 2003 01:34:16 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 01:34:16 GMT Organization: AT&T Broadband Date: Tue, 24 Jun 2003 01:34:16 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:39627 Date: 2003-06-24T01:34:16+00:00 List-Id: Georg Bauhaus wrote: > Robert I. Eachus wrote: > : John R. Strohm wrote: > :> The fundamental test of whether one really understands > :> the topic is whether one CAN prepare a "freshman lecture" (or a "man in the > :> street" book or article) on it. > > In a better world, this phrase should be put in a frame, > and teachers should not be employed if they fail. > Maybe the test should be more flexible, offering a choice > of audience, but only for the test. Definitely agree. > Do you think that Feynman might have succeeded in teaching > "real" average Freshman, had he been under more pressure? I guess I didn't do a good job of making my point about the Feynman lectures. They CAN be understood by a college freshman. But the lectures work at several different levels. You could take them every year for a half dozen years and learn a completely new set of information each time. Sort of like "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." Delightful stories for children, but if you reread them in college, you find that there is a completely different world of informantion in them. (In fact I almost borrowed from Humpty Dumpty and called the Feynman Lectures a portmanteau course. But I wasn't sure how many readers would understand the reference.) Snap quiz: There are six (now) common English words which appeared for the first time in Jabberwocky. Name them. ;-) (If you really want to try here is a hint: http://tinyurl.com/f34d for what seems to be the hardest neologism to recognize today.)