That Ordinary Kid Sure Can Play A Mean Pinball

[Ben Kenobi]

I don't see why even complete deafness (not sure what the term is, since "full hearing loss" doesn't actually mean you cannot hear at all, just are at a certain threshold by federal or state guidelines) should prevent you from being a teacher. Especially in the modern age of computers and such. Students would probably be happy to tweet their discussions/

There are challenges. I have to undergo assessments every year, to show that I can still teach. I don't make use of computers and stuff like that in my classes, just a white board with pens and things like that. Everything I say is written up on the board, so if you write what I write down during the lecture you'll do just fine. You could pass if you never listened to a word that I say, which is sort of the point of me teaching.

Questions, and stuff is the hardest part, but I have pretty strict rules. Students have to put their hands up and I don't have to answer their questions straight away. I can tell them to save it for another part of the lecture. This is far easier than what I have to do most days in talking to people where I don't get this convenience.

I'm also pretty good at speechreading, and I practice it. I should be ok when all my hearing eventually goes, which is why I've been practicing it for a few years now. I could probably do my job wearing good ear plugs.

[Alexander's Horse]

why can't you be cool like Tommy?

[Ben Kenobi]

he's a Roman Catholic convert and lives in Texas and is an apologist for apartheid. So I'm figuring some kind of progressive dementia, multiple personality disorder, deep-seated psychosis

South Africa's standard of living was better under apartheid than now. That's a fact. I'm sorry you don't like historical facts. Do I advocate for a return to apartheid? No. I simply state that the solution of apartheid for whites replacing apartheid for blacks is a failure. The solution is to preserve private property and protect all citizens of south africa from random violence. Only then will people want to invest again in South Africa and it will take a long time to replace the people they have killed and to recover their expertise.

And yes, Mandela was a terrorist.

I teach a very different historiography than you - one in which the Catholic church is responsible for much of the modern world and development that we see today. One that doesn't start with the Endarkenment.

[Sava]

And yes, Mandela was a terrorist.

[Ben Kenobi]

why can't you be cool like Tommy?

What is 'cool'?

I have the best, or maybe the second best curriculum in my school - there's another very good teacher and he's probably beat me out again when all the assessments come out! They give us quite a bit of freedom in what we teach so long as our students cover the required material. Mine is very old fashioned. It wouldn't look out of place from 1910 and I usually go back and go over what parts would I take out if this were 1910. What parts would get more of an emphasis?

[Ben Kenobi]

http://kitmantv.blogspot.com/2011/09/nelson-mandela-kill-whites-anc-songs.html

[Sava]

You are either the internet's best troll or a complete idiot. Either way, I salute you.

[Ben Kenobi]

I think it's funny that you call an explicit pacifist a potential 'serial killer', while someone who did kill people as part of a terrorist campaign is considered a saint, Sava.

[Tupac Shakur]

I realise you have a degenerative hearing complaint. I didn't realise you couldn't recognise Beethoven.

http://www.beethoven.ws/loss_of_hearing.html

Evelyn Glennie ? Lou Ferrigno ? Thomas Edison ? Francisco Goya ? Well- perhaps you just need a broader outlook on life.

This is one of the douchiest posts I have ever read. Wow.

[Zevico]

I suppose the fun police would also rule this sort of thing out...

You'll trundle that video out on any old excuse, won't you?

[N35t0r]

Wouldn't you?

[Alexander's Horse]

I'm thinking of putting it up for a grammy

[molly bloom]

Deaf doesn't mean mute.

But in Sister Ben Goebbels' case it does apparently imply 'self-pitying racist apartheid apologist who has never heard of Edison, Beethoven or Goya'. Not surprising- can anyone think of a major work of art produced praising South Africa's apartheid regime ?

Any major contributions to human civilization from those sc*mf*cks ?

No, didn't think so.

[molly bloom]

Beethoven provides small comfort for a child who is deaf. ...

Yeah right. If a deaf guy can't make it as a world famous composer, who can ?

Not much of a model for me.

Yeah too right. Famous, successful, not full of self-pity.

This is before the internet...

Ah. So before books and knowledge existed.

[molly bloom]

There are challenges. I have to undergo assessments every year, to show that I can still teach.

Who does these assessments ? Were they appointed by a Bush administration, par chance, Sister Goebbels Of The Big Lie ?