At 07:08 PM 12/5/96 -0800, Steve Schear wrote:
This has all vanished is our zeal to protect youth and society from any activity which might lead injury or misuse. I can't even find a place to buy a niece a real chemistry set as tort laws have forced them from the market. When considering the plumeting interest and achievement of our youth in math and science we look nor further for a reason.
When Wernher von Braun (if the reader doesn't know who von Braun was, shame on your teachers. Hint: first human on the Moon.) first became interested in rocketry, he was a student of music. Classical piano, to be exact. He got his hands on a book about using rockets for space exploration. To his dismay, the book was full of mathematical equations. He went to his math teacher, asking him for help with the equations. The teacher must have been of help, since von Braun went on to become the single most knowledgable person in his field. And no, it wasn't piano playing. There is nothing like some real life challenges to spark a young person's mind. Today, conducting the experiments that fueled von Braun's imagination would be a felony. The mere posession of the chemicals he used in his early twenties is illegal. This country has set out on a project to dumb the minds of its young. With great success. -- Lucky Green <mailto:shamrock@netcom.com> PGP encrypted mail preferred Make your mark in the history of mathematics. Use the spare cycles of your PC/PPC/UNIX box to help find a new prime. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/justforfun/prime.htm