Brickbat: All This Science I Don't Understand

The Los Angeles Unified School District has suspended high school teacher Greg Schiller because the science projects two of his students were working on looked dangerous. The two projects, which officials describe as "imitation weapons," are designed to shoot small projectiles. Schiller teaches several classes, including two Advance Placement courses. He'd been sending in lesson plans to a substitute, but school officials ordered him to stop because it violated his suspension. He was also coach of the fencing team, which can no longer practice or compete because no one is there to supervise them.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

He was also coach of the fencing team...

HE WAS ALSO TEACHING CHILDREN TO SWING AT EACH OTHER WITH POINTED WEAPONS? WTF, LAUSD? In my day we made clocks that run on potatoes and learned to climb a rope and we didn't have school shootings and Miley Cyruses. On the other hand, in my old man's day they used to take their rifles to school during hunting season and they also didn't have those things, so I guess what I'm saying is the kids ended up learning a valuable lesson: bureaucrats on any level are morons.

[Heroic Mulatto]

we didn't have ... Miley Cyruses.

You didn't get an after-school handy while sitting on the drama club's couch?

[Rev Match]

The two projects, which officials describe as "imitation weapons," are designed to shoot small projectiles.

Is projectile motion no longer a part of physics class?

[Brian D]

Linear acceleration is EVIL!

[UnCivilServant]

Oh, it wasn't that bad, and it laid the foundation for rocket science, where mass was a function of time.

[WTF]

If they suspend kids for gun-shaped Pop Tarts, of course they will freak over something that actually moves a projectile.

[Rich]

Go ballistic, as it were.

[R C Dean]

[Applauds]

[Suthenboy]

"This is really hurting my students more than anything else," Schiller said. "I would never do anything to set up a situation where a student could be harmed."

Can Shiller really be this clueless?

[db]

Probably not, but the alternative is to accept the slippery slope. If no one ever tries to climb back up, it is inevitable to end up at the bottom.

[db]

The two projects, which officials describe as "imitation weapons," are designed to shoot small projectiles.

You can't get an imitation education in an environment that tolerates imitation weapons.

[Lady Bertrum]

Public education is child abuse.

[Drake]

I've found that private education is parent abuse.

[UnCivilServant]

I thought child abuse was public education. Hrmm. It did seem odd that supporting schools would involve hitting children with sticks.

[RishJoMo]

Come on dude, lets roll with it man.

http://www.GotsDatAnon.tk

[WTF]

Wow. That dude really knows what time it is. wow

[invisible furry hand]

i heard he made $8462 a month working in the internet

[An Innocent Man]

Dude's Belle Knox?

[Doctor Whom]

Will the LAUSD let teachers roll that beautiful bean footage, or has that been banned, too?

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

OH

MY

GOD

[UnCivilServant]

I'm sorry, God is unavailable at the moment. However, due to a routing error, we can put you through to the New York Department of Tax and Finance.

[Snark Plissken]

Another project used power from a AA battery to charge a tube surrounded by a coil.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic...to someone with a degree in education administration.

[Rev Match]

They though "AA battery" meant an anti-aircraft installation.

[Almanian!]

Now I understand why we were disciplined for shooting liquids out of test tubes in 10th grade Advanced Bio. Non-flammable, non-acidic-or-basic liquids. Against a painted brick wall.

The very idea that they let us loose with all kinda glass, and bunsen burners, and chemicals.....it's wonder we didn't mass murder-drone-kill everyone in the school.

AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED

My fave HS science class was Physics (AKA "Psychics"). That's where I learned how to play Euchre. Mr. Tesman used to let us play cards if we got our experiments done early. And I was in class with a bunch of smart fuckers, so - Euchre every day! Which came in handy in college....

[Rich]

In other edumacation news:

Dress Code For Parents Dropping Kids Off At High School

"We might make it into a fashion show."

[Andrew S.]

Just once, I'd like the county I live in to make the news for something that isn't irredeemably stupid. Is that so much to ask?

[UnCivilServant]

Yes.

[Rich]

Maybe.

[Steve G]

Meh, perhaps a few of the kids on the fencing team might get laid now...

*DISCLAIMER* I fenced in HS and one year of NCAA. Being a band geek gave me better chances with the ladies than fencing

[Rich]

Thrust! And parry.

[Jerryskids]

We made paper airplanes in sciece class. Ever gotten a paper cut from an imitation F-14? I've been there, man! Don't tell me imitation weapons aren't dangerous. You don't know!

[Rufus J. Firefly]

Geez, what would have happened if he re-enacted Tartaglia's study on trajectories with canons?

http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/li.....aglia.html

Fall of the West; California edition.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"Tartaglia's study on trajectories with canons?"

You studied canon law?

[R C Dean]

Cannon Law:

"The last argument of Kings."

[Robert]

Someone in the comment thread there figured this one out: He's the union rep. That's all this is about. If he'd been teaching some other course, the admin. would've had some other excuse to get rid of him.