Good for you Maya.

I belong to the rote route :( in Physics especially. Math was even worse. I enjoyed Biology much better because it was hard not to understand it's relevance.

Too many details that had to be remembered with no big-picture understanding!

Although the rote system hasn't taken my enthusiasm away, but it would have been much better to have had a better science education in school.

Maybe the Indian education system was closely patterned after the British one??

Devi

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Viathantilly@aol.com [mailto:Viathantilly@aol.com]
>Sent: Friday, April 20, 2001 3:47 PM
>To: science@lists.pdx.edu
>Subject: Re: quote of the week
>
>
>I agree with this. I got most of my enthusiasm for the
>mysteries of the
>natural world from high school. Granted, it was an American
>high school, but
>critics would probably make Hawking's argument for our system
>as well as for
>the UK's. Those who want to pay attention do and the
>test-takers learn
>everything by rote.
>
>maya
>
><< Far be it from me to disagree with Stephen Hawking...oh what the
>hell...science
> education success depends upon the student and the teacher.
>Contrairy to Mr.
> Hawking's experience in British education (which he seems to
>have survived
>quite
> well), my own experience was not one of rote learning. Some
>students take
> science that way, others do not.
>