[OT] Teaching - was Re: [Gllug] Algorithm question

[John Winters]

Matthew King wrote:
[snip]
> 
> I asked him about it. There was plenty of other stuff in this and other
> subjects taught which was not on the syllabus.

It must have been a very long time ago then.  It's been ages since the 
compulsory syllabus was small enough to allow "plenty of other stuff" to 
be taught as well.

> He just wasn't a very
> good teacher. If he were, he'd at the least have given me [links to]
> some good reference material to learn it on my own.

Agreed - if any student *asks* about extra material then any half-way 
decent teacher will take the time to supply their curiosity, whether 
directly or indirectly.  I only wish that such students weren't quite so 
rare.

[snip]
> Like most other teachers there, including the head[s], he was only
> interested in league tables and forcing us onto them whether we wanted
> it or not.

Unfortunately, this way of working is in turn forced on the head and 
staff by short-sighted government directives.  It's very frustrating.

> It's a shame that the decent teachers weren't teaching any of the
> subjects I found interesting or useful.

It's very unusual for someone to find the badly taught subjects the most 
interesting; normally it happens the other way around.  The good 
teachers are the ones who can engender an interest in their respective 
subjects.

John
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