Did he also inform them that Alaska is the only state from which you can see Russia? I'm sure that would have elicited gales of laughter!
Gambell, Alaska. Those blue mountains across the water are in Russia.
Posted on 09/02/2010 2:37:28 PM PDT by BruceDeitrickPrice
I confess--I had never heard the phrase "the Queen of the Sciences" until a few months ago. Even when I read it, it made no sense. They seemed to be talking about geography. What was all this???
Apparently, the wise and scholarly had much more respect for geography a thousand years ago than we do now. Once you start thinking about this decline--from Queen to corpse--you gain new insight into how radical (in the worst sense) our Education Establishment is.
These people never saw a fact they didn't want to drop overboard in a deep part of the ocean.
So I started thinking about WHY? What were all the reasons? I came up with four and wrote the linked article. I think you'll find it interesting. But the bigger picture is that we've got to reverse this whole destructive process. The brain wants information. Kids need facts.
Geography is a litmus test for schools. If a school is teaching a reasonable amount of geography, you know it's a good school. If not, then not. Geography is the point man (if a Queen can be so designated) for all foundational knowledge. That's what we need to start teaching again.
Facts are fun. Knowledge is power. With these two guiding principles, good schools result almost automatically.
Public schools have a hundred gimmicks to hide how ignorant their kids are. Critical thinking! Projects and portfolios! Common Core Standards! Constructivism! Creativity Curriculum! It's a long list. Sound and fury not signifying much. Tell you what. Let's put a bunch of ninth graders in front of a map. I submit we could measure their entire educational progress by just this simple request: Please point to Japan... Spain....Alaska...Panama.
If half the class couldn't do all four, then the principal would be reassigned to teaching first grade. We would see such a frenzy of improvement.
Article title: "Four Reason Why Educators Hate Geography"
http://www.rantrave.com/Rant/Four-Reasons-Why-Educators-Hate-Geography.aspx
.
There has never been a Miss Ebonics pageant because none of the potential contestants wanted to be Miss Idaho.
Idaho
Alaska
Ans: her New Jersey
Udaho.
What is so disheartening to me — and it’s nothing new — is how so few people know something as simple to learn as the cardinal points. I have to give directions to my workplace at least a few times every week, over the phone, and besides the usual problems (such as jackoffs who have to be completely in charge, even in a conversation where they purport to seek information), one big one is complete ignorance of what direction they’re headed. And of course, there are those who don’t know how to read, apparently, so they confuse I-196 with I-96; even people who live in Holland or that general direction persist in referring to both as “96”. “I’m coming there from Holland, we’re driving along 96.” That’s quite a feat.
That is another great suggestion! Thank you.
Some cannot name all “57” states.
All I know is that when I log on to FR, I know I’m headed for the right place.
I graduated from HS in the mid 1950s in CA. I never had a Geography course until college when it was required for a teaching credential. Of course I dealt with maps, etc. throughout my elementary and HS years, but not an actual geogrphy course.
I was amazed to find out that Geography is so much more than map reading and capitol identification. We had to learn exports, weather patterns, population and the means of production for various countries, etc. It’s a very valuable course when taught correctly. I still have the atlas I had to buy for that course in 1958. Of course, all of the names are wrong. Oh, yes. I did get an A. And I got married instead of getting that teaching credential.
“Africa has NO REASON to be poor”
Thomas Sowell disagrees.
They've got millions of reasons to be poor. They're called Africans.
You also come across timeless gems that get them thinking such as this one.
Not the first nor the last time: the red sea crossing and destruction of Pharo and his army, and Gen Allenby’s victory again at the same spot using the same bible passage and entry to Michmash to defeat the Turks in WWI. Brigadier Major Vivian Gilbert had found and read 1 Sam 13 and 14 the night before his Brigade was faced with menacing prospects at Michmash. They found the passage and used it against the Ottoman Turks and defeated them. This proved to be a fulfillment of prophecy in that it paved the way for Jewish immigration into their ancient and historic homeland: the diaspera began to return and fulfill bible prophecy.
This was in 1917 when the Ottoman Turks sided with Germany in the War and it had cost Turkey all of Palestine and later must have had an impact on the fall of the Ottoman Turks as a nation and the rise of the new Turkish nation under Attaturk years later I think. The Ottoman Turks had ruled Palestine for 4 centuries (previous 400 years). In September 1917 Gen Allenby arrived in Cairo and in December the same year he approached Jerusalem. Brigadier Major Vivian Gilbert was part of that army. In February 1918 Gen Allenby detached the brigade Major Gilbert was in to capture the Turkish garrison at Michmash before the invasion of Jericho. He said they were expecting a counter attack on Jerusalem by the Ottoman Turks. The General in charge of the Brigade that Major Gilbert was in had planned a frontal assault up the steep slopes and cliffs in daylight which was a frightening prospect to Major Gilbert. The Turkish garrison had several thousand men and there was only a Brigade to mount the attack on the position.
Major Gilbert knew he had heard the name of Michmash and searched for it in his bible finding it in 1st Samuel, Chapter thirteen and Chapter fourteen and fifteen. Jonathan with God's divine intervention had prevailed over 3000 years earlier and Major Gilbert had found the same passage located between the same two rocks. Major Gilbert woke up the commanding General of the Brigade and proposed they surprise the Turkish garrison thru the same passage by surprise that night. The General approved the plan and Major Gilbert's men were able to surprise the Turkish garrison and rout them causing them to retreat thinking that all of General Allenby’s army had attacked them which was very similar in tactic to what God blessed Jonathan with in battle 3000 years earlier.
...
http://www.sitedavis.com/michmash.html
It's TRUE!
It's also part of secular history.
When you know WHERE it happened, it matters.
“Africa has NO REASON to be poor”
Thomas Sowell disagrees.
When you look at WHO is running the countries, THAT is why they are poor. If ou had decent people there and running the countries, they’d be very prosperous.
A person’s race doesn’t make them poor.
"African" is not a race.
“When you look at WHO is running the countries, THAT is why they are poor. If ou had decent people there and running the countries, they’d be very prosperous.”
No one can deny the problem with their governance.
However, Dr. Sowell explored the subject at great length, and has some very persuasive arguments that the reasons they did not become prosperous in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries were...yes, you guessed it, geographical.
Mathematics: Queen & Servant of Science, by Eric Temple Bell
Did he also inform them that Alaska is the only state from which you can see Russia? I'm sure that would have elicited gales of laughter!
Gambell, Alaska. Those blue mountains across the water are in Russia.
Apparently school budget cuts mean no more globes or Mercator maps.
Orienteering is great!
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