My professors do it again

Well I'm not a history student, but anyway most of what is said is factual over here. The largest and stupidest I've come across iirc, was when a geography teacher said that a scale like 1:10,000 means that 1 cm is equal to 10,000km on the map, when I was 12 or so.

I remember getting angry, taking a streetmap with me after the lesson, and showing it to her:

"So 1cm is 10,000km you said?"
"Yes of course"
"So this road over here is hundreds of thousands of kilometers long?"
"Well, you have to measure the exact length and then multiply by 10,000 to get the length in km."
"And this same road is about... what, 1,000km wide?"
"Seems like it."
"Miss, but the world is only like 10 or 12 thousand kilometers from pole to pole! This road is longer than that!"

[forgotten the sequence here, but it was something that amounted to incredulity and a lack of acknowledgement of her mistake]

Jesus Christ.

There are an astounding number of people who don't know what the modifiers before various units mean, IE milli, centi, deci, deca, hecto (sp?), kilo, and more in each direction. Your teacher is one of them. Possibly she also didn't use the metric system in daily life?

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Originally Posted by DefenderofFuture

I'm at the University of Wisconsin, and my professor took the first half of the course telling us how the Gauls were better in every way than the Romans (I exaggerate, but she spent about as much time on the Gauls' technology as she did on the Romans' [it was a survey class]). A bit of a reactionary position, but it's a warm welcome compared to the common teaching that the barbarians were mental infants with clubs. :beam:

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I am applying to graduate school at UW...perhaps you can put in a good word for me? I can return the favor by...um...shaking your hand...yeah.

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Originally Posted by strategos alexandros

We do nothing before the battle of Hastings in my school. So far we have done in 3 years:

2 weeks on Norman conquest
a term on Henry VIII
2 lessons on the English civil war
Georgian and Victorian towns in England
More Tudors
French civil war
World war 1
World war 2
:thumbsdown: :wall:

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My school has been stuck on early american history (1750-1850) for 3 years now.

If I here the words "Huckleberry Finn" ever again, I will go insane.

I think what we are seeing by the various reactions to teachers and what they teach is a good example of how hard it is to create a quality and consistent curriculum that passes muster. Suprisingly, classes are often dictated entirely by either teachers preferences or oddly worse, teachers being forced to teach something they have NO interest in. You can easily see how inconsistencies occur.
I think what might be more helpful is how do we improve upon the teaching of history?

How can you get a degree in geography and not even know that 1:10,000 does not mean 1cm = 10,000km?

Utter brainf***, that's how I think.

And obviously, I expect a professor to be the ultimate source for anything related to his topic. And to not make any stupid comments on anything not related to his topic of expertise.

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Originally Posted by Beefy187

Considering that Marcus Aurelius and his general was not soo briliant like those in Julius Caesar's time ...
Maybe it was really like that coz Marcus Aurelius and his crew wasnt that great.

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I would take issue with that, but this is not the thread for it.

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Originally Posted by Metalstrm

And obviously, I expect a professor to be the ultimate source for anything related to his topic. And to not make any stupid comments on anything not related to his topic of expertise.

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You are in for a world of disappointment.

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Originally Posted by Metalstrm

How can you get a degree in geography and not even know that 1:10,000 does not mean 1cm = 10,000km?

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If the teacher was in a high school, she did not necessarily have a degree in geography.

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And obviously, I expect a professor to be the ultimate source for anything related to his topic. And to not make any stupid comments on anything not related to his topic of expertise.

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My general experience with professors at UW-Milwaukee is that they'll say anything that pops into their head. The professors I had at UW-Parkside, however were far more professional and if they didn't know something they say so and then go find an answer.

Well, not in my department really. The few professors we have are alright, and most are very learned. Ok, most like to talk shit about politics but who doesn't?

Haven't heard any professor stating that energy can be created out of nothing yet... hehe

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Originally Posted by Metalstrm

How can you get a degree in geography and not even know that 1:10,000 does not mean 1cm = 10,000km?

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Perhaps because you venture on the slippery slope of elementary math?

Well, in my time in public school in the US, this is what we learend in history classes: "Once there were the Greeks, and they did some things. Then the Romans came along and they conquered some people. Then William the Conqueror came and took over England. Then there were a few unimportant N American wars like the Revolution and US Civil War. Then WWII started and ZOMG!!! WE WON THE WHOLE THING ON OUR OWN!!!". The end. Tests will be on Friday.

Go figure.

Testy silence on Iraq, I see.

@Olaf

Huckleberry Finn! :D

@Anubis88

It's time to change school. Seriously. Or write in to the big bosses to expose the idiocy of this so-called 'professor'. With articles and proof of course, of which there is no lack of in this forum.

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Originally Posted by mlc82

Well, in my time in public school in the US, this is what we learend in history classes: "Once there were the Greeks, and they did some things. Then the Romans came along and they conquered some people. Then William the Conqueror came and took over England. Then there were a few unimportant N American wars like the Revolution and US Civil War. Then WWII started and ZOMG!!! WE WON THE WHOLE THING ON OUR OWN!!!". The end. Tests will be on Friday.

Go figure.

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That does seem how American history courses are structured. I was honor student and that's what it was like except there was alot more padding around the revolution and the great depression(we usually pretty much spaced out on Reconstruction and the Gielded Age).

My dad is(was) an American History teacher (a fantastic one, and I can say that without bias), and I had the best, most thoughtful and intelligent World history teacher in high school, so I guess I'm really lucky.

Unfortunately, very few people that I know are as passionate about History as I am. Which is why the internet is the fucking shiznit.

For every person that is passionate about history on the internet, there are about 1000 who spout stuff they've seen on TV. Out of those 1000, 200 make comments on youtube. Out of those 200, 1 posts something like:

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those fucking traitors killed Ceasar greatest King and General in history ;/ burn in hell brutus , Kaska and other assholes ;/

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You too buddy, you too...

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Originally Posted by antisocialmunky

That does seem how American history courses are structured. I was honor student and that's what it was like except there was alot more padding around the revolution and the great depression(we usually pretty much spaced out on Reconstruction and the Gielded Age).

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The Gilded Age is perhaps the most important period in American History.

O rly?

Perhaps it because it was business as usual:

+Avoid Recession
+Oppressing Brown People
+Presidential Scandal
+Killing Trancendantalism and Romanticism - Realism, baby!
+Industialize
+Ignore the Outside World
+Increase the Wealth Disparity
+Nature -> Profit

that its forgotten.

like anybody doesn't follow those.

yeah, i must say, i can't even make effective searchs (if there ever was a time when it was possible) on google or other search engines anymore because i get spam keyword crap like adihaiosdhaosihfpadihaw0dhawdihawpdh hansa aslhfasisoifhaosihdasi goth asdiasodisaofihsaoifhosifhhoaef... this is the beloved internet of the masses- no thanks. most of the information i've ever found on the internet is wrong, unless using scholarly database guidance and such and it's still a pain to find anything worthwhile. i've had much more success in the crappiest university library.

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Originally Posted by antisocialmunky

O rly?

Perhaps it because it was business as usual:

+Avoid Recession
+Oppressing Brown People
+Presidential Scandal
+Killing Trancendantalism and Romanticism - Realism, baby!
+Industialize
+Ignore the Outside World
+Increase the Wealth Disparity
+Nature -> Profit

that its forgotten.

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Unfortunately, you're wrong.

It is the very industrial and social reform which took place during the Gilded Age which laid the groundwork for the fantastic success of the American Century.

I am not surprised that you didn't learn this in public school, where it is taught that all goodness springs from the bowels of FDR.

Well, that may very well be true of that period more than others, but that arguement is pretty much valid for all of a country's history. I would say its how broadly you defined 'business as usual.' I was refering to the relatively peaceful development of the country.

That's probably the real reason that people don't learn about it - no triumphs over adversity or a powerful enemy. The game is fairly dull until you finish teching up and start spamming marines and siege tanks at the enemy. Don't even get me started about what happens when the nukes and the battlecruisers begin showing up.

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Originally Posted by lobf

My dad is(was) an American History teacher (a fantastic one, and I can say that without bias), and I had the best, most thoughtful and intelligent World history teacher in high school, so I guess I'm really lucky.

Unfortunately, very few people that I know are as passionate about History as I am. Which is why the internet is the fucking shiznit.

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My Dad was a great history teacher as well, and probably part of the reason why I became such a history nerd myself. Most of the history teachers I had in high school were the usual "coach who also has to teach a subject in order to be a coach and couldn't care/know any less about it".

Admittedly we did study some on the Great Depression and other such topics, however there really wasn't any how and why to it, just memorizing terms, names, and dates. As boring as it could possibly be made- if it weren't for my already being deeply interested in history, thanks to public school I'd probably hate the subject just as much as most N American kids seem to.

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Originally Posted by mlc82

Well, in my time in public school in the US, this is what we learend in history classes: "Once there were the Greeks, and they did some things. Then the Romans came along and they conquered some people. Then William the Conqueror came and took over England. Then there were a few unimportant N American wars like the Revolution and US Civil War. Then WWII started and ZOMG!!! WE WON THE WHOLE THING ON OUR OWN!!!". The end. Tests will be on Friday.

Go figure.

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This reminds me of someone's summary of how The History Channel tends to present things as: there was the Romans and then there was Hitler...

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Originally Posted by Elmetiacos

This reminds me of someone's summary of how The History Channel tends to present things as: there was the Romans and then there was Hitler...

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Dude, that's... so history channel in a nutshell.

Don't forget mummies. The third most likely thing to see in the History Channel is something about mummies...

Humm, my history channel has been telling me that science says we're all going to suffer and die horridly because of global this, impact that, or methane whatever.

A teacher I had in 5th grade insisted that bats were insects and not mammals :shame:

That bats in Norwegian are called "flaggermus", literary "flying mice", did little impression on her.

She also claimed whales to be fish.

The history channel is infuriating. Every so often they have a quality program and you convince yourself that it's worth paying for cable just to see the random program. And then they fill the rest of the broadcast time with "modern marvels" and "histories mysteries" and stuff about UFOs and pseudoscience. You finally get just about fed up and then they have something quality on again.

A prof I used to have (now retired) who was a Russia specialist said that the series "Russia: Land of the Tzars" was the best documentary series on Russian history he had ever seen.

anyone's history teacher ever refered to "We Were Soldiers" for an accurate visual description of the vietnam war?:inquisitive:


though he made up for that by showing us Platoon and Full Metal Jacket :jester: