Phantom States-- probably not evidence that history is more complicated than biology (let alone that teaching it is harder) but still evidence that "government" is more complicated than people generally think.
Heh. Undoubtedly true--although I do recall reading a book where a college history teacher said that he spent the first half of the class un-teaching students all the crap they'd learned in high school.
That's something my first-year physics professor said: "Everything you learned before is a lie. It was a useful lie, because it was close enough to give you the tools to get here. Now, we're going to show you how and why it was a lie, and teach you several new lies." Student: "Uh, don't you mean the truth?" Prof: "No, new lies. The things we are teaching you here are ALSO all wrong, they're just closer to the truth and more useful in the things you'll be doing. You've got about three more sets of lies to go through before we reach the end, and that's not truth, that's just us throwing up our hands and saying 'I dunno?'"
Science of the Discworld, the book that Terry Pratchett wrote with a professor of maths and one of biology, has a lovely word phrase for it; 'lies to children' - incorrect models that nevertheless help you understand the world.
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Date: 2012-08-14 02:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-14 02:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-14 06:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2012-08-14 03:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-14 07:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-14 07:51 pm (UTC)Student: "Uh, don't you mean the truth?"
Prof: "No, new lies. The things we are teaching you here are ALSO all wrong, they're just closer to the truth and more useful in the things you'll be doing. You've got about three more sets of lies to go through before we reach the end, and that's not truth, that's just us throwing up our hands and saying 'I dunno?'"
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Date: 2012-08-14 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-15 03:15 am (UTC)