math

Peter Smagorinsky (psmagorinsky who-is-at uoknor.edu)
Fri, 19 Jul 96 16:54:32 -0500

I enjoyed the parody that Mike posted on changes in the presentation of math
problems. Just to prove that no parodist can possibly outdo the idiocy of
real human beings, the following really happened:

>* France Imitates Marge Schott: In June, France's Sports
>Minister Guy Drut ordered his Olympic synchronized swim team
>not to do its planned Holocaust-themed goose-stepping entrance,
>set to music from the movie Schindler's List. On the same day,
>France's Education Minister Francois Bayrou denounced a
>classroom exercise of a high school math teacher in a Paris
>suburb which asked how much carbon monoxide one of
>Hitler's trucks could produce in an hour, given the volume of the
>truck's cabin, the amount of the fatal dose, and the fact that death
>usually took 20 minutes. [New York Times-AP, 6-6-96] [Globe
>and Mail, 6-6-96]

Peter Smagorinsky
University of Oklahoma
College of Education
Department of Instructional Leadership and Academic Curriculum
820 Van Vleet Oval
Norman, OK 73019-0260
office phone: (405)325-3533
fax: (405)325-4061
psmagorinsky who-is-at uoknor.edu