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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: brushwud who wrote (438590)	12/5/2008 5:01:29 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 1573973

>> That's hard for me to believe. One of my closest friends in grad school year ago was from Germany and they had had more calculus in their equivalent of high school than the 9 or so hours I had in college. We had considerable discussions on this subject. They had also had some linear algebra at a very early age.

To: brushwud who wrote (438590)	12/5/2008 5:55:49 PM
From: Joe NYC	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1573973

brushwud, That's hard for me to believe. You mean if you ask a bus driver why the bus jerks when it stops, she'll remind you about the third derivative of displacement with respect to time? They have trade type schools for people who don't have what it takes to make it in high schools. There is a high school graduation exam. In some countries it is called matriculation. Students are tested on all of the high school material they have learned. In math, it includes US level Calculus material, and US college level Physics material in some schools, foreign language and some elective material depending on school. It is an exam, that people have nightmares for the rest of their lives. I still do. I think it was the hardest exam of my life. It spans several days. You have a written exam, and later oral exam. In the oral exam, you stand in front a commission of several people, draw a question, and then you talk. Very intimidating experience. Your 4 years of work in high school mean nothing. All that counts is the grade from this final exam. US College was a cakewalk after that. I was speaking to a guy from Senegal the other day, and they have the same thing in thier high schools over there (French education). He also has nightmares about it. Joe

To: brushwud who wrote (438590)	12/5/2008 5:58:06 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573973

In Europe, [calculus] is a requirement for graduation in most high schools. That's hard for me to believe. You mean if you ask a bus driver why the bus jerks when it stops, she'll remind you about the third derivative of displacement with respect to time? Or if you ask a store clerk how to integrate by parts, he'll tear off a scrap of paper and scratch on it something about u dv while thinking your accent is quite flawless for a stupid American who never learned this? LOL. I don't like you, brushwud, but you have your clever moments.

To: brushwud who wrote (438590)	12/5/2008 10:40:02 PM
From: combjelly	Respond to of 1573973

" You mean if you ask a bus driver why the bus jerks when it stops, she'll remind you about the third derivative of displacement with respect to time?" What Joe isn't telling you is that in most European countries, everyone doesn't go to the same high school. In Germany, for example, there are 3 levels, with only the top one feeding students into the university system. The middle one is for technicians and such and the lowest, which ends in something like 9th grade, is where you get the bus drivers and clerks. This has been proposed to be used here in the 1980s. But, given the fight to get and keep gifted and talented programs, this is pretty much a non-starter.