Miss Evolution

[Faith No More]

That's not a very nice thing to say about Paul The Human is it?

Actually, I live in MI myself as well so that includes me, but not everyone in MI is stupid. There are a hell of lot of them though.

[Autumnlicious]

Yeah, well, when subjected to school-sanctioned bullying for no apparent reason that ends up giving you what appears, by all accounts, to be PTSD (my own cursory diagnosis, but one which some of my psych teachers have deemed plausible), having to teach yourself an important part of biology like Frederick Douglass teaching himself to read is a relatively minor grievance. That said, it's a damn shame that any teachers refuse to allow their students to learn something so vital to understanding a subject like biology.

When I was in middle school biology, I would read the entire class textbook end to end while not paying attention in class. Seeing this, a substitute teacher, after setting the rest of the class to work, asked me why. I told her I was bored. She looked a bit amused, and walked of.

Later on, our awful, uninspired middle school biology teacher got preggers and left. And who took over, but the substitute whom had caught me reading the textbook. After teaching her state-enforced lesson (rather quickly), she pulled out a telescope and asked me if I wanted to use it. I did - calibrated the damn thing and cleaned it (my dad has scopes, so I'm well versed on the techniques).

This continued for a week, before she announced the middle school science fair was coming around, but it was not mandatory. While saying the not mandatory part, she looked at me carefully.

I leapt, for the first time in middle school ever, at the opportunity for more work. With her guidance and encouragement, I threw myself into science itself. As a result, my first real science fair project, one examining the efficacy of collimation on telescopes through several methods, got to the county science fair, serving only to build my confidence more.

It is partly due to her observant and pedagogical character that I got to university, for she was one of the key people who helped get the ball rolling.

Interesting to see the path not taken in some people.

[Epimethean]

I LOVE that story. That is why I teach. Moments of absolute wonder, long term effects.

[Cinjin]

Who cares what these receptacles think about anything??

jesus christ - I've never heard so many "umms", "welllllls" and "uhhs" come out of one video!

[Autumnlicious]

Who cares what these receptacles think about anything??

jesus christ - I've never heard so many "umms", "welllllls" and "uhhs" come out of one video!

Then for Odin's sake, avoid judging Middle and High school science fairs. I've been in enough to know "Um", "well" and "uh" compose a whole language in it of itself.