school,teachers(Who think they know what there talking about),and reefs.

M

mandrin13

New member
I dont like when i'm at school and my teachers try to tell stuff about fish,reefs,scientific names,etc.and even in my geography textbook it says that corals are a type of plant that can lives below the water,and some can live above.:mad: .My science teacher tried to tell me that lampreys are a species of moray eel.:rolleyes: People say that it was a wast of money to spend $300 on the PC lights when i could have just put my tank in front of a window or buy an incandescent bulb.I have to go now by.

oh ya what do you think i can do about this?
 
I'm in 7th grade.We dont have biology yet.We are doing earth science.We were talking about evolution.And she started talking abou fish without bones.
 
I'm in 8th Grade. I know it can be a pain telling teachers about corals. One time I had a fight with my science teachers, we were debating whether Mangroves help reduce erosion. She kept calling them Mango Trees. Don't even get me started on corals. There are fish without technically bones though. Cartilaginous fishes; sharks, rays. Hagfish too.
 
boys and girls. when in a situation in which your teacher is wrong and giving misinformation the best way to manage this is to provide her or him with the facts and resource materials for their review. This should be done after class in a non-confrontational manner. I am sure that any reasonable adult would be more than happy to review the information so that they can update their lesson plans. I suspect most teachers want to disseminate appropriate information
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6734469#post6734469 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by staman
Ask your teacher where she got her "accreditation"--that should get a laugh...
Click to expand...

LOL!!!

I try to tell her a lot that she is telling the wrong info but most of the time she dosnt believe me because it my sound like i am just making something up to get attention or something.And also when i correct her in front of the class she says she never sayed that.Then everyone sides with her.(Probably because im new).
 
Never correct the teacher in front of the class, especially when you are right ;) Um, I've got to ask, what is the publishing date on that textbook that calls corals plants, turn of the last century? I'd suggest finding some more up to date Invertebrate Zoology and Icthyology text books from the library that you can bring in to show the teacher. Better to point out in a text book how corals are in the kingdom Anamalia and Lampreys belong to family Petromyzontidae from the superclass Agnatha which contains the primitive jawless fish. While the Moray eels belong to the family Muranidae from the order Anguilliformes, the true eels, and these guys most definately have teeth and belong the bony fish (class Osteichthyes). Or could just print this out and tell the teacher you just got the info from a Marine Biologist ;)
 
I am not really sure when the books were published, there atleast 3-5 yrs old. I go to a catholic school so they have to raise there own money for new books.
 
Got to be older than that, or indeed very very bad. IIRC that last time corals and anemone's were considered plants was sometime in the mid to late 1800's.
 
That's very, very sad... I've seen similar examples, but mostly in the public school biology programs.

I agree with pja & the others that said not to correct the teacher publically, and even in private, only in a nonconfrontational way. Ideally, a teacher should be looking out more for the TRUTH than his or her own pride, but unfortunately, this doesn't always happen, and teachers are human, too. Some of them are worse than others, and really take to heart that "I'm the teacher/superior, I couldn't possibly learn something from a 13 year old; how dare he try to correct me" stance, which I disagree with.

Especially if they don't own a reef tank and come in contact with these animals (plants?? LOL) on a daily basis, they will just swallow everything in these old books. I agree with what the others said about showing them good references in more recent, correct books. Don't make this a personal attack on their credibility & knowledge, they will almost all take this the wrong way. You could approach them after class and say "I don't think this is very accurate from everything that I've read, can I come in after school and show you some other newer references, please?" (as opposed to "Look, these books suck, you're teaching us all lies, and you don't know what you're talking about"... they will shut their ears off to this right away). If you know someone older, such as in a reef club, especially someone with a biology background who is willing to give them a call, this can also be a great ally to have on your side. Unfortunately, some teachers will not see someone younger as being worthy of correcting them, but will take it more seriously if they meet someone older with more authoritative information.

Lastly, you can print out info from the web, which is IMO one of the best sources lately if you look at the right sites... but the problem is that many in the older generation do not trust online sources as much (nor should you believe everything you read on the web... but it's more of a general distrust I'm talking about of internet sources, even ones that have been proven reliable over time). It may help if you print out from noncommercial, scientific sites such as NOAA.

If all else fails, and you feel like she is repeatedly snubbing you and not doing a professional job teaching the facts, you could go up a level and talk to the principle. I know this would be intimidating for most kids to do (not to mention "totally uncool" by most junior high standards :)), but if it's a principle you believe in strongly and you feel like she is letting her personal pride get in the way of teaching factual info, then I think it's worthwhile to do. I emphasize that is only after you've tried repeatedly the other steps above, and she still blows you off.
 
well i had a lot of information which i found out threw travling to provide teachers as i was growing up but went about it all the wrong way. part of going to school is to learn and to communicate effectivly. so if you do feel as though you need to say somthing to enlighten the class if you do your own reaserch and make up a small lesson to give to your class it will show your serious about providing the correct information and also you get a chance to provide your views on the subject. this might be uncool but as someone who was always in trouble in school and then did wonderful in collage bio classes i can guarante at least a small success
 
Yeah don't confront teachers in the middle of a class. When I was in high school a teacher called me out on why I wasn't paying attention in front of class. In front of class I responded that I though what we were doing in class was a pseudointellectual waste of time. She told me to F*** off in front of class, kicked me out, and at the end of that marking period failed me out of pure spite because my friends reported what she said. True story. The point is even if your teacher is a moron you can't put them on the spot. They are real people just like you, and who knows what they will do if you embarass them. They might not react well.
 
I have my chapter on reefs and ocean organisms starting on monday. I will be needing to go after school to show her ALOT!!!!
I have alredy looked ahead in the chapter. I've already seen alot of wrong things and i've only read the first page or two.

Desert Bandits did she really say f***off....(one more post and you will have 100)

and Pandora I would go to the principal, but she is mad at me already for a joke that I played on another student.It was soooooooooo funny thoughLOL!!!!! It was worth the referal.:lol: :lol: :jester:
 
mandrin: As you get older, I think you will find that all this petty "I don't like [blank]" and "I'm mad at [blank]" drama should in theory get in the way of the true issues less. In practice, unfortunately, personal feelings and "office politics" still can get in the way of business sometimes. When it comes down to it though, being an adult professional means you put your individual feelings for someone's personality aside. If you want to prove your point and make them think you are worthy of being taken seriously for your scientific knowledge, even despite your age, you'll have to learn to make these arguments objectively and separate them out from your personal feelings--otherwise, you'll just be that know-it-all kid who's all talk. If you conduct yourself maturely in this way, people will see you on this level too. What the joke you did was not make the principal "mad" at you, because they are not there to hold a grudge; if, for example, the next day, someone did something wrong to you, like steal your money in school, it is still his or her job to be an impartial judge and do what's right. What the practical joke did more was probably take away from your credibility, however. As you get older, stuff like that becomes more and more important.

Desert: Honestly, I kinda have a hard time believing she said that, and regardless of how much innaccurate junk she may have been teaching, saying something like "pseudointellectual waste of time" in the middle of class kind of gives me the impression that you are a self-important, snotty brat as well. If more than one student had really reported her as saying what she did, she would have lost her job, and not had the ability to fail you. So like I was telling mandrin, it's all how you conduct yourself... and that's an example of losing credibility, in the telling of that story. Sorry to be mean about it, but I gotta call em like I see em. :)
 
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