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Old 8th February 2009, 08:27 AM   #19
drkitten
Penultimate Amazing
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 21,629
Originally Posted by MattusMaximus View Post
And yes I'm a teacher. I teach high school AP physics & college physics/astronomy. There are a lot of damn good teachers out there, but I will also be the first to admit there are a lot of idiots in classrooms out there as well (and I don't mean the students).
Well, teaching is a skill. The broader skill mix you demand, the less levels you have to expect, because people can't be brilliant at everything.

If you want a brilliant physicist, it's hard enough to find them.
If you want a brilliant physicist who is also a brilliant teacher, it's much harder. So it's not surprising that the DoD -- which doesn't care about teaching -- hires better physicists than St. Grottlesex.

If you want a brilliant physicist who is also a brilliant teacher, a concert oboeist, and an Olympic gymnast.... I don't think such a person exists. So if you want to hire a physics teacher who can also play oboe in the school band and coach the gymnastics team, you'll have to settle for adequacy, or perhaps even "barely competent," in at least one of those areas.
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