Another Victory for The Onion: Education Edition

Wow, The Onion has scored yet another victory with this scathing article about education. I don't agree with what appears to be the underlying opinion of whoever wrote the article, but I still enjoyed its scathing humor. I don't think it's all doom and gloom, though: I genuinely think that one can reach students who are from the wrong side of the tracks or have other difficulties to overcome. (I do happen to believe a great deal in outreach and in attempting to inspire people.) At the same time, one shouldn't be naive and think that inspiration itself is enough, so it's not like there aren't any relevant implied points in this article.

Update: Thinking about this further, maybe the point of the author is that we should get behind all of our students --- and that is something with which I agree wholeheartedly. I was reading a more insidious message (i.e., not bothering with the difficult cases) into what I thought the author was suggesting, but maybe I was misreading the underlying opinion?

The Power of Fun-Noodles

So I was just walking past Walgreen's on Middlefield Road, and I noticed several large open boxes of fun-noodles (i.e., funnoodles --- or, apparently, "pool noodles" if one wants to use the official name) outside of the store. They appear like they might be on bulk sale (fingers crossed!), and the Techer in my soul screams "Opportunity!"

And there is a university nearby to whom we could demonstrate some Techer ingenuity...

So, who's with me?

(Honestly, I suspect that even in bulk, this is probably a several-hundred-dollar purchase. Where is the prank fund when I need it? And I'm doing work right now instead of actually trying to get this to work. But I have to admit that my heart and soul are both calling me...)