Miyamoto-san just 1-up'd Nintendo. I'm looking forward to his new venture.

Minor nitpick... a lynx is very different from a mountain lion/cougar/puma. Mayhaps you conflated the two four-letter feline names?

Let's not forget how Mario gets the Tanooki suit in the new game... By way of a floating, red, magical leaf. No animals were harmed... Unless Mario jumps on a Goomba or Koopa Troopa to get the the ?-block. ;-)

In the original, it's already a pre-made suit. Who say's it's real fur? It could be synthetic-fleece.

Gah! I'm debating the logic of Super Mario Bros. vs. PETA. Time to add a stamp to my Nerd Card.

"Any ol' port in a storm!"

While I won't argue your point about 8-bit mircocomputers vs. video game consoles, I fail to see how CD's, DVD's, and tablets have in any way created barriers. In fact, I would argue that while the creation tools for each of the earlier level technologies in your comparisons were less expensive by the time of the new technology's introduction than the new creation tools, CD's and DVD's both offered considerable improvements in the quality that a hobbyist producer could create. The creation tools also had a continual drop in price over time, usually while keeping the same higher quality compared to the previous generation. With regards to the walled garden tablets, if I recall correctly, the Andriod tools are free and the iOS tools are $100 a year (I could very well be wrong on that one). I hardly see that as paying dearly, especially given that to create for any system, one must have a version of that system to test on or an emulator running on more comprehensive hardware.

I don't know... Go ask the Mormons.

;-)

Do you mean the National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes?

I don't think Nintendo has ever sold their consoles at a loss. I'm 98% sure of that for the Wii, GameCube, and all versions of the DS.

Source: Slashot, 2006

My kingdom for a sock puppet account with mod points or the ability to post and mod the same discussion.

+1 Knows What is Up (i.e. Insightful)

Nice attempt at deflection of my comment, but let me state my question more clearly...

Why did you feel the need to put quotes around the word teacher?

You are absolutely, 100% correct that teaching is something that involves it's own specialized skill set, as not everyone who is good at something is good at teaching something. The best case scenario is to have someone who is knowledgeable about a subject, very good at the same subject, and able to express that knowledge and ability in a way in which it can be understood by each willing student. Most K-12 teachers have one or two of those. Very few seem to have all three.

You do seem to be a bit ignorant on the requirements of becoming a K-12 teacher. The requirements in California (off the top of my head - please pardon any that I forgot to include) are as follows:
- A Bachelor's degree. This can be in Liberal Arts, Fine Arts, Social Studies, Social Science, Mathematics, any form of Engineering, Philosophy, Biology, Physics, heck... Just about any degree that is a Bachelor of _____________.
- Knowledge/Study of subjects related to the subjects one will be teaching. This can be accomplished through college-level coursework ("general education" for multiple subject credentials or a specific number of credits for a single subject credential), or through a very in-depth subject matter competency test called CSET.
- A year of post-graduate courses covering various teaching methodologies, legal requirements and responsibilities of teachers (e.g. teachers must report indications of child abuse or face fines and/or jail time), unpaid onsite observation hours, and a semester of unpaid student teaching. If you're really lucky, you can get an internship and get paid for the student teaching, but that very rarely happens.
- A Preliminary Teaching Credential (multiple subject generally covers K-6 and a single subject for 8-12) that expires after 3 or 4 years (I can't remember the duration right now and do not want to go look it up).
- In order for the Preliminary Teaching Credential to be advanced to a full Teaching Credential, one must successfully complete a 2-year Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program which serves as a mentoring system for new teachers.

And that's just to become a full-time teacher. We then have to take 150 hours of professional development courses on our own time and paid for out of our own pockets over every five year period that we need to renew our teaching credentials. EVERY teacher that has entered the profession in the last decade or more has had to meet those requirements. Yes, there are older teachers that got in under previous systems, some of which have "lifetime" credentials that do not need to be renewed every five years, but they are fading from the workforce. So yes, it IS the norm to have at least an academic experience in what you are teaching. There is no Bachelor of Arts in Education program that I am aware of. Even if there was, there would still be the subject matter requirements. There are Masters Degrees in Education, but those have other uses than purely classroom teaching.

Isn't that exactly what you did there?

Again, go volunteer for a day or two and see the reality of today's education system from the other side of the desk.

While it is good that you are at least trying something, why not do more? You could put yourself out there as a candidate to make those changes. Better yet, go volunteer, find out what the problems really are, and then place your vote accordingly. Don't just look from the outside, but get involved and look within. Local school boards are often a good place to effect some real changes in the K-12 education system.

I don't quite understand your meaning of, "public schools' effective monopoly on K-12 education for all but the few." Would you please elaborate on that for me? I'm honestly curious as to what it is that you mean.

Excellent post. I couldn't have said it better.

Hell, having only 30 students in a class is a joy compared to a full load of 36 or an overload upper limit of 38. You'd be surprised at how much of a difference 2-3 students can make.

25 and lower is the "magic" number where class size is most effective.

So true. So very, very true.

You know, most, if not all, schools will gladly welcome volunteers. They can be guest speakers or classroom helpers. There may be need for a background check depending on locality, but I don't know of any school that would turn away a volunteer.