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Originally written by An Iffy Shaped Milk Bottle:

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As found in Wikipedia:
In online gaming, a greater distinction may be made between a 'newb' and a 'noob'. The common consensus is that a newb is someone who through their very nature of being a new player is inexperienced and naive to particular gaming mechanics or etiquette, whereas a noob is a player that is generally considered to be experienced, yet often makes mistakes or solecisms that would more likely be attributed to a newb.

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Originally written by root:

There are so many things wrong with this.

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Originally written by Maimonides:

stuff

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Originally written by Drakefyre:

make teaching "sexy" again.

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Originally written by Stillness:

Your saw blades are not finely honed?! That the problem. You can build or destroy with the proper saw and a skilled, steady hand.

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Originally written by Zeviz:

The problems with American school system are due to fundamental flaws in the system's structure, and can't be solved by just throwing more money at schools, even if in some cases more money is needed.

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One of the biggest problems is that American schools are run the same way as medieval universities, with each teacher the complete master of their classroom, protected by a tenure and only loosely guided by state education requirements. A system like that relies on each teacher being a brilliant educator, capable of developing a curriculum, making up good tests (a skill that takes years to master), keeping the students' attention, oh, and perhaps even teaching the material. Teachers like this do exist, but there will never be enough of them to fill every class in every school, no matter how much you pay.

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The solution that top education systems in the world have come up with is to have curriculum designed by professionals. You can't staff each classroom with a brilliant educator capable of making good lesson plans and fair tests that don't have to be graded on a curve, but you can find enough of them for a curriculum development commission. This is the approach taken by Russia and, I think, other countries with top school systems.

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As for the results of the two approaches: coming from an 8th grade in a good Russian school, my math level had matched at least 11th grade in a very good American school, and science level was also a couple grades ahead of my counterparts in an equally good American school. (It's harder to compare science level directly, because in Russia Chemistry, Physics, etc. are taught simultaneously, instead of teaching Physics in 9th grade, chemistry in 10th, etc.)

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PS As for original question of separating students by ability, it's hard to strike the right balance between every single student being forced to adhere to the same curriculum (Russian approach) and nobody being challenged to show any effort (American approach). The right answer is somewhere in between, but I don't know where.

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Originally written by Reluctant Big Sister:

Oh, that old thing. I made a bunch of pictures with it.. what, five years ago? When it was sort of new? I don't think I have any on this computer though. Apparently from seeing your pictures I must say it hasn't got anything really new. Pass.

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