Celestia Forums

Are all the clever people aliens like Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton and Bill Gates?

Jitz wrote:Are all the clever people aliens like Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton and Bill Gates?

Certainly

I somehow doubt it.

I am the only real earthling here. You are all aliens.

Between "Are we all from Mars" or "are all smart people aliens", I'm starting to wonder what the hell people are being taught in schools...

So then T00fri and all the smart people here are aliens? Hmmm...that seems somehow predictable...I mean Spock from Star Trek is smart and he's an alien...wonder what kind of alien I am?

Malenfant wrote:Between "Are we all from Mars" or "are all smart people aliens", I'm starting to wonder what the hell people are being taught in schools...

Taught? That alien mindset is mostly a product of the entertainment industry, from books, to games, to movies. Problem is, teachers can't compete. I bet (no, I haven't researched it) if 1% of the budget that goes to those industries went to schools it would help immensely.

My mother just retired early (after 25 years) from teaching history because she said it had lost what she loved about it, teaching the kids to love history. She had been pushed into following a prewritten curriculum and teaching to state exam standards, there was no time for anything other than getting them to rote memorize dates, people and occurances. Kids get as bored with this as teachers get teaching it.

Instead of criticizing education, go thank a teacher, it's a tough job with VERY little backup. Many of us start strong and get so demoralized and beaten down by administrations, government, and parents (not to mention the kids ) that it is difficult to continue with the same vigor we had in the first years.

No child left behind, bah...

P.S.
Thank You Fsgregs, Andrea, and to all of you educators in the Celestia realm
(I'll smugly pat myself on the back as well)

If you'll pardon the intrusion here, I'd just like to point out that most
students in the United States educational system don't really wish to be
there in the first place.

Many don't have the foresight at a young age to get interested in readying
themselves for the future. Many are too focused on the simple matter of
day-to-day survival amidst parental divorces, peer pressure to fit in with
their so-called friends, avoiding or getting involved in mind-expanding
drugs, and a whole host of other problems which are much harder to
deal with as a child or a young adult.

Since many teachers are strapped in to educational systems as described
above, they rarely have time to deal with the underlying reaons why
students may not be learning the "right" lessons.

The good news is that when a potential student is ready to learn about
something, he or she can now educate oneself using a wide variety of
resources which did not used to be available.

That's why I frequent this board, the NASA sites, and many many other
places on the net. I also put myself through junior college and managed
to graduate with a 4.0 GPA. This is not bragging, but a statement of
motivation. I barely managed to graduate from high school, having
only a 1.2 GPA at that time. The difference was that I was too busy
with survival to care too much about my future.

Another good thing is that there are a great MANY excellent teachers
to be found here and on other sites around the world.

My thanks for the education I've received here from Dr. Thomas, Dr.
Schrempp, Mr. Gregorio and the greatest teacher on the net in my
opinion, Mr. Selden E. Ball, Jr.

Food for thought.

WildMoon wrote:...wonder what kind of alien I am?

...this mean you consider yourself as a smart person?

Jitz wrote:Are all the clever people aliens like Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton and Bill Gates?

Hmmm... that list reminds of the old PBS song, "Which one of these doesn't belong?"

Bill gates is too wrong in the head to be an alien.