Stupid things they now teach in schools.

[sophie]

We're nowhere near West Virginia . The tights can't be a gang thing, they're allowed to wear black pants or shirts. I highly doubt any gang wears little girls black tights.
I asked about the "show your work" thing apparently they are supposed to draw apples, it wouldn't be that bad if the homework wasn't 4 pages with about 75 to 100 questions everynight just for math!

[HYHYBT]

Ugh. That reminds me of a teacher we had in high school. It was the first year that school had AP classes, and they hadn't quite got the hang of it. This teacher was used to using the tests that came with the book. The publisher supplied three or four versions of each test, all of which looked alike, but with the questions reversed, reworded, and moved. The idea was to discourage cheating by making it useless to copy your neighbor's answers.

His idea of making the class harder was to give everybody all the tests at once.

[Nyoibo]

Some private schools have stupid rules about their uniform being worn OUTSIDE of the school....which to me, makes me wonder how the hell they enforce it. Two of the more specific rules relate to students wearing blazers when they arrive/leave and wearing hats when they arrive/leave. Once they're out of school sight, how the hell are they going to get wind of that rule? It just seems a little bit silly.

Actually it can be regularly enforced, I used to meet teachers outside of school frequently and also old collegiates, anyone could ring the school and tell them that they'd been seen out of proper uniform, if it was proved there were repercusions.

[fireheart17]

Actually it can be regularly enforced, I used to meet teachers outside of school frequently and also old collegiates, anyone could ring the school and tell them that they'd been seen out of proper uniform, if it was proved there were repercusions.

Heh, I forgot you went to one of those schools

Although I can see that being abused heavily by teachers/almuni if there was a student they didn't particularly like.

[smileyeagle1021]

And they're not allowed to wear black tights, apparently it's a gang sign.

Really... I find it hard to believe that there is a street gang out there wearing tights... that kind of goes against everything that gang style stands for...

eta- I liked the passive aggressive technique that my middle school used to combat the baggy saggy pants that were so popular then... they reminded the students that wore them that it would be very easy for someone to pants them... oh and everyone else, look how easy it is to pants them, which, by the way, is still against the rules, but just saying, look how easy it is.

[TheHuckster]

Really... I find it hard to believe that there is a street gang out there wearing tights... that kind of goes against everything that gang style stands for...

Of course there are gangs out there wearing tights! Ever seen West Side Story? It happens all the time!

[dentarthurdent]

As for my favorite WTF moment in a textbook, that one comes from a college history text. The quote was:

"The Constitution of the United States of America was written with a bias towards the Republican Party".

Brownies for whomever can tell me what's wrong with this statement.

Oooh! This made me think of one of my favorite stories from Community College. I was taking a Physics for Non-Majors course, and the book had this gem:
"Why can't you open a door by pushing on its hinged side?"
And I was overjoyed when the prof assigned us to answer that question, because I replied that given enough force with a battering ram, it's perfectly possible to open the door by pushing on the hinged side. He marked it wrong. I'm still angry at him.

[dentarthurdent]

That is one reason that math and I don't get along. I get the answer right, but couldn't show how I did, or if it was shown, it wasn't the right way

That's how I feel about programming. I always felt that if I was able to make the computer display what it showed in the textbook, I was fine. I barely passed my programming class in high school, mostly because the teacher hated smartasses, and I barely passed my HTML course in college, but that was more related to hard drive troubles.

[SkullKing]

I really like my programming course because as long as the algorithm worked you got points for it, even if was different from the one they expected.(they might mark the question wrong, but if you asked them to implement and test they did)

However if you are writing for longevity(which should eb an habit, you never now when that old implementation might come in handy) It is very important to write, clean.easily readable code, both for future you and for any colleagues, or successor that might have to work with that code

[wolfie]

Oooh! I was taking a Physics for Non-Majors course

Whoa! You mean the course was open to all enlisted personnel, all officers from 2nd Lieutenant to Captain, and all officers from Lt. Colonel to 5 star general, but not to Majors?

"Why can't you open a door by pushing on its hinged side?"
And I was overjoyed when the prof assigned us to answer that question, because I replied that given enough force with a battering ram, it's perfectly possible to open the door by pushing on the hinged side. He marked it wrong. I'm still angry at him.

Does his office door open outward? Let me push on it with this D-9 (hinge side, of course) and it will open inward.

That solidly-built item is supposedly bulletproof? Been tested with a .50 BMG round? The sub-caliber API projectile from a GAU-8A is technically a bullet - and the Avenger has a rate of fire of 4200 rounds per minute.

Moral of the story: Anything that can be blown up with 10 pounds of C-4 can be blown up twice as well with 20 pounds.

[Nyoibo]

"Why can't you open a door by pushing on its hinged side?"

Want a fracking bet you can't?

[lordlundar]

"Why can't you open a door by pushing on its hinged side?"

Challenge accepted. Where's the shaped charge and steel plate?

[sophie]

I had a college professor that had everyone make a 5-year plan, then told us if we don't stick to that exact plan we would all be failures. I told him it was stupid you can't plan every detail of life, he insisted that you can plan everything right down to what house you will live to who you are in a relationship with...5 year in advance.

[HYHYBT]

You can make plans like that. And if you choose to define "failure" in general as "failure to stick to the plan no matter what," then you'd be one. Sane people, however, adapt their plans as circumstances change.

My biggest problem with the idea of a five year plan, or even the "where do you see yourself" interview question, is that it requires some sort of ambition, and I haven't got any. Unless looking forward to being able to replace my laptop counts.

[Nyoibo]

Challenge accepted. Where's the shaped charge and steel plate?

U'm, I can open my bedroom door by hand from the hinge side, what the hell is with the call for explosives?

Yes, fan of mythbusters, I know the attraction of boombooms