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From: ghot@ms.uky.edu (Allan Adler)
Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.misc,ut.general,uw.general,uw.math.grad,york.general
Subject: Re: Subtle Math Questions
Message-ID: <1991Apr23.014114.3603@ms.uky.edu>
Date: 23 Apr 91 01:41:14 GMT
References: <1991Apr21.194019.352@ms.uky.edu> <1991Apr22.221923.2370@groucho> <1991Apr23.005446.28791@agate.berkeley.edu>
Organization: University Of Kentucky, Dept. of Math Sciences
Lines: 50


The laudable suggestion has been made that we volunteer some time in the
local schools. Presumably the term "we" refers to people who are not already
working in the local schools.

I think there might be some value in trying to articulate what exactly
"we" might do when we go there to donate our time ? "We" don't all have
to do the same thing and in fact "we" might find it useful to draw up a list
of the things "we" might do, just in case any one of "us" is short on ideas.

The first thing "we" should do is talk to "them". I think "they" might have
some information that might be useful to "us", if not the other way around,
and in addition "our" impressions of "them" might also be stimulating.
I have not defined the term "them". I'm sure "they" have their own 
definition of "them" which might not mean "us", and we mgiht also talk 
to those that "they", at various times, refer to as "them".

The second thing that "we", who do not work in the local schools, should
do is to draw up a list of necessary and sufficient conditions under which
"we" would be willing to abandon our separate status and work in the local
schools. In making up this list, "we" should not be swayed by our impressions
of what is possible. The purpose of the list is as much to present an
alternative picture of local education, since there seems to be a real need
for one.

The third thing that "we" should do is to make some simple computations,
based on the list of necessary and sufficient conditions, of pertinent
figures related to funding this alternative picture: how many students,
how many working hours, how many students and how many hours does a teacher
have to teach, how many teachers does that require, how much do they have
to be paid, how much equipment is required ancillary to various approaches
to teaching (such as computers or laboratories in physical sciences or
in design of sculptures or machines), how many more books and which books
and at what cost, and what will it cost to guarantee us the time and f
flexibility and resources for our own scholarship, and so forth ?

Then "we" should bring this list (including signatures) to the attention
of politicians, media and other bodies concerned with the reform of
education and point out that there is an alternative to whatever they
may have been planning on.

Finally, "we" should pause and wonder why it is that "we" think that the
working and educational environment which "we" would insist on for ourselves
is not necessary unless "we" happen to be working there. "We" will feel a
little bit better making a charitable donation of our time to the local
schools, but "we" cannot seriously expect by such means to bridge the gap
between what the schools are and what they ought to be.

Allan Adler
ghot@ms.uky.edu