Jaystay,Originally Posted by jastay3
Your opinion in context is welcome. This, however, is not in context ansd the opinions are nearing the offensive. I suggest you go to this thread and introduce yourself.
Regards,
Tom
"Calling a voluteer military a "free lunch" is odd. The purpose of the military is to be the "uniforms that guard us when we sleep"-in other words to make sure that as many people can have a "free lunch" in that sense as is plausible.
I tend to think that using conscripts for Small Wars is ineffective(for, by necessity morale will be strained and conscripts cannot maintain the subtlety necessary). It is also unethical because few conscripts have an immiediate personal stake. Conscription should be reserved for times when the danger to the country is obvious, extrodinary, and immiediate.
In fact I think we should go the other way. Accept that Professionals are Professionals and don't worry to much when they are doing their jobs. We do our, "brave young men and women in uniform" no favors if we interfere with their task by sentimentilizeing them as if they were refighting World War II instead of dealing with what is basically another Savage War of Peace."<br>
In fact that is a very good reason to study war-to remind us that nothing unusual is happening. The whole point of terrorism is essentially theatrics. If we can acknowlege that it is a regretable part of life then it will be less effective.
That doesn't mean, "terrorism is a law-enforcement problem": it is the problem of whichever agency can deal with it conveniently. What it does mean is part of defeating terrorism is not being terrorfied. And part of that is letting people do their jobs.
Jaystay,
Your opinion in context is welcome. This, however, is not in context ansd the opinions are nearing the offensive. I suggest you go to this thread and introduce yourself.
Regards,
Tom
No offense was intended. If this sounded like it was insulting our troops it was not intended that way. It was a criticism of the rhetorical style in which they were described.
Currently a large number of the issues in distance education revolve around the lack of scholarly contact, peer to peer learning, cooperative learning, contextual learning, and much more of the in person learning gained from an instructor.
Many of these issues are about "presence" and a feeling of inclusiveness in the classroom.
If we're doing distance learning then we can't put the body in the classroom.. It's sort of a rule. What we can do is move the intellect into the virtual classroom. Using technology we can put the student in the classroom. There are two forms (synchronous, and asynchronous). Here on SWC we deal with asynchronous and yet friendships, alliances, and enmities are created. Using the appropriate technologies (a loaded euphemism for sure) we can put the intellect in the classroom. In many cases we can provide the same rich peer to peer, scholarly, cooperative learning environment regardeless of location.
We can use web cameras to put a face to a concept. We can listen to lectures, replay those lectures many times, in some cases we can shadow the student and interact inside of THEIR computer, instant messenger allows for much more ad hoc contact, flexibility means students are in a learning mode rather than managing mode. In our case we can provide more, better, consistent lecture content and learning modules.
All that being said distance learning isn't for everybody. My non-technical students use MySpace, FaceBook, Digg, BitTorrent, iTunes and understand and live with those technologies. For many of my students there has ALWAYS been an Internet. My students world context has to be reached to integrate my classroom context. They're ready for this shift in methodology.
There are several short falls, but most of them have to do with me as an instructor rather than the student.
I can't see the glass eyed look that says "I'm lost and the compass just fell in the bay". I have to adapt content extensively and in my case I use Socratic method to make the students interact for me to assess.
I can't see that student "a" is the one sitting down to take my test and that it isn't really student "b". It's unfortunate honor is not more rampant than cheating. The issue isn't with the student it is with me. I am the only one who can bestow trust. I just prefer to give exams that require the student to reference items they've already self identified early on as opinions that instantly show if somebody is cheating. If two grade points are based on an essay with multiple check in points and substantial referencing with the instructor cheating becomes near impossible.
I can't just "wing it" as an instructor. I've got to have every lecture ready for ANYBODY to comment and review. Since everything is recorded I'm always on and know if I flub it I'm a dead duck. Some professors can't deal with that.
These are just a few of the issues. Most though can be managed but some are "just the way it is".
I recently read the article from Parameters titled "The Coup of 2012". Within that paper it was discussed in depth how the military is used to cover the sins of society and "wars" on drugs, poverty, insanity all degrade the core capability of the military. Much like the military is used outside of it's core competency education is asked from the earliest levels to solve societies problems like abstinence, evolution, drugs and much more are handled politically rather than scholarly. In general over the last 100 years we've gone from "a" bachelors degree to concentrations, to vocational training, to specialization to the n'th degree. You can now get a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science in Graphical Simulation and Design (wooooooo).
Distance learning is a response to the idea that everybody should go to college. We as a society are pushing for universal college attendance. In some ways that is a great idea, but in the same vein we know that it is a doomed failure. Boosting the requirements for civics and personal responsibility along with academics in middle school would push the education further than any other action we could take. So after telling you how great distance learning is I'm going to be the first to tell you it doesn't solve all the problems. But, I'll leave you with one question (see Socratic method in action)
"Why do we send kids to school if we know that home schooled kids out perform their peers by several grades in academic achievement by a substantial margin? What is the difference?"
And, it isn't because home schooled kids are smarter. We know that IQ tests suggest home schooled kids are relatively average in intelligence just like their peers at school.
Sam Liles
Selil Blog
Don't forget to duck Secret Squirrel
The scholarship of teaching and learning results in equal hatred from latte leftists and cappuccino conservatives.
All opinions are mine and may or may not reflect those of my employer depending on the chance it might affect funding, politics, or the setting of the sun. As such these are my opinions you can get your own.
Perhaps this is irregular. I am sometimes unskilled of speech and can give offense accidently but I assure everyone no offense was intended. Nontheless I am appealing to the general opinion of SWC. Was I really out of line?
The more you post without appealing to the PMs of at least two moderators to introduce yourself and fill out your profile, the more out of line you are. You had best unscrew yourself quickly or you may end up here.
Example is better than precept.
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