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From: nather@ut-emx.UUCP (Ed Nather)
Newsgroups: soc.college,comp.edu
Subject: Re: Student and Course Integrity
Message-ID: <9288@ut-emx.UUCP>
Date: 7 Jan 89 07:40:25 GMT
References: <1217.23C35B05@rubbs.FIDONET.ORG> <13206@bellcore.bellcore.com> <13223@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
Lines: 37

In article <13223@bellcore.bellcore.com>, duncan@geppetto.ctt.bellcore.com (Scott Duncan) writes:
> In article <9264@ut-emx.UUCP> nather@ut-emx.UUCP (Ed Nather) writes:
> >
> >You can say "... NOT very important any more"; is that what you meant, and
> >just left out the "not?"  Or you can say "...are very important these days"
> >or "...now" but not as you phrased it.
> 
> (By the way, I meant to say "are VERY IMPORTANT and,
> especially in technical fields, cannot be ignored anymore."  But I don't think
> you could even imagine that from what got posted. 
 
Thanks for the clarification.  A missing line (especially when using an
unfamiliar text editor) can often be spotted right away, but sometimes
it "makes sense" -- like turning two pages in a book thinking it was one --
but was certainly not what was intended.  One example from years ago: my
wife was reading a book on child care, learning about breast feeding.
She turned two pages accidentaly, then let out a yelp when she read
"...first heat the needle, then plunge it into the nipple ..." 
> 
> perhaps the word 'skills' has taken on a really bad meaning of which I'm
> unaware.

I don't think it has yet, but I'm trying to promote the idea, because I
find it often used as a substitute for "understanding", a very different
internal process.  It takes skill to ride a bicycle or fly an airplane,
but it takes a lot more than "skill" to understand why a bicycle can
be balanced easily while it's in motion, but not while it's stopped.
I just feel the word is being misused, and in a dangerous way: it
suggests that being skilled at taking tests, for example, is the
equivalent of understanding the material the test covers.

Or, perhaps, you can put this down to an unreasoning prejudice on my
part against overused buzz-words.

-- 
Ed Nather
Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin