16 Oct
2011
16 Oct
'11
2:10 p.m.
start by undoing a lot of what they had previously
been taught, such as
that PI was EXACTLY 22/7 ! (half a century ago, in elementary school, I
got into "big trouble" for telling a teacher that PI was NOT 22/7 !)
Aarrghh!! Is that what they teach in American schools?? That is *evil*.
My mother once had a teacher who when his pupils were bad, told them to
behave, otherwise he would teach them wrong. In his opinion that was the
worst punishment he could think of.
I am absoutely sure that over here everybody is taught, and always has
been, the difference between natural, real, rational and irrational
numbers, and that pi is an irrational number which can be approximated
by 22/7.
The Swedish school system may have very serious problems, but hearing
this kind of thing makes me very, very grateful that my kids haven't
grown up in the USA.
/Jonas